Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 30.djvu/61

 JOHNSTON, ALEXANDER KEITH, the elder (1804–1871), geographer, fourth son of Andrew Johnston, by Isabel, daughter of Archibald Keith of Newbattle, was born at Kirkhill, near Penicuik, Midlothian, on 28 Dec. 1804. He was educated at the high school and university of Edinburgh, was apprenticed in 1820 to the Edinburgh engraving firm of James Kirkwood & Sons, and in 1826 went into partnership as an engraver with his brother William [q. v.] His first maps appeared in ‘A Traveller's Guide Book,’ 1830. On 8 Feb. 1840 he was appointed geographer at Edinburgh in ordinary to the queen. In 1842 he made a tour in Germany, visited Berlin, Dresden, Munich, and Frankfort, and was introduced to some of the most eminent German geographers. For the rest of his life he resided chiefly in Edinburgh, but paid a visit to Paris, where he met Humboldt, in 1845, and made a tour in Palestine in 1863. He was elected fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1843, of the Geological Society in 1845, and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1850. The Royal Geographical Society of Berlin gave him a diploma in 1848, and the London International Exhibition of 1851 awarded him a medal for a globe illustrative of physical geography, the first ever constructed. In a paper read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1851 he exposed the perfunctory manner in which the work of the Scottish ordnance survey was done, and thus initiated a salutary reform. He was honorary secretary and one of the founders of the Scottish Meteorological Society, was elected in 1862 a member of the Edinburgh Geological Society, received the degree of LL.D. from the Edinburgh University in 1865, and was awarded the patron's or Victoria medal by the Royal Geographical Society in 1871. He was also a fellow of the Geographical Society of Paris, and a corresponding member of the Imperial Geographical Societies of Vienna and St. Petersburg, of the Geographical Society of Bombay, and of the Geographical and Statistical Society of America. He died at Ben Rhydding, Yorkshire, from effusion of blood on the brain, on 9 July 1871, and was buried on the 14th in the Grange cemetery, Edinburgh. He was a member of the congregation and a personal friend of Dr. Candlish, whom, on the secession in 1843, he followed to his new free St. George's Church, with which he remained closely connected throughout life.

Johnston married, on 3 Aug. 1837, Margaret, daughter of Robert Gray of Edinburgh, by whom he had eleven children, of whom six survived him. His eldest son was Alexander Keith Johnston [q. v.] Johnston's principal publications were: 1. ‘The National Atlas of Historical, Commercial, and Political Geography, accompanied by Maps and Illustrations of the Physical Geography of the Globe by Dr. Heinrich Berghaus, Professor of Geography, Berlin, and an Ethnographic Map of Europe by Dr. Gustaf Kombst,’ Edinburgh, 1843, fol.; lithographic edition, omitting the section on physical geography, 1854, fol. 2. ‘The Physical Atlas of Natural Phenomena: a series of Maps and Illustrations of the Geographical Distribution of Natural Phenomena, embracing: i. Geology, ii. Hydrography, iii. Meteorology, iv. Natural History,’ Edinburgh and London, 1848, 1850, 1856, fol. This work, the first physical atlas ever published in England, was dedicated to Humboldt, at whose suggestion it had been undertaken. 3. Atlas to Alison's ‘History of Europe,’ Edinburgh, 1848, 1850, 1853, 4to. 4. ‘The Dictionary of Geography, Descriptive, Physical, Statistical, and Historical, forming a complete general Gazetteer of the World,’ London, 1850, 1859, 1860, 1862, 1864, 1867, 1877, 8vo. 5. ‘Atlas of Physical Geography,’ Edinburgh and London, 1852, 4to. 6. ‘Atlas of General and Descriptive Geography,’ Edinburgh and London, 1852, 1863, 4to; ‘school’ edition, 1852, 4to; ‘elementary school’ edition, 1853, 4to, 1858, 8vo. 7. ‘A School Atlas of Physical Geography,’ Edinburgh and London, 1852, 1869, 8vo. 8. ‘Atlas of Classical Geography,’ Edinburgh and London, 1853, 1866, 4to. 9. ‘Atlas of Astronomy,’ ed. J. Hind, Edinburgh and London, 1855, 1869, 4to, 8vo; ‘school’ edition, 1855, 8vo. 10. ‘Atlas of the United States, British and Central America,’ 1857, fol. 11. ‘The Royal Atlas of Modern Geography, exhibiting in a series of entirely original and authentic Maps the present condition of Geographical Discovery and Research in the several Countries, Empires, and States of the World,’ Edinburgh and London, 1861, 1868, 1872, 1873, 1877, 1887, fol.; ‘Handy Atlas,’ 1868, 1873, 1887, 1890, fol. 12. The atlas in Bryce's ‘Family Gazetteer and Atlas of the World,’ London, 1862, 8vo. 13. ‘The Half-crown Atlas of General Geography,’ Edinburgh, 1869, 1880, 1884, 8vo. 14. ‘The Shilling Atlas of Modern Geography,’ Edinburgh, 1869, 8vo; 1876, 4to. 15. ‘The Sixpenny Atlas,’ Edinburgh, 1869, 8vo; 1876, 4to. 16. ‘Atlas of the British Empire,’ Edinburgh and London, 1870, 12mo. 17. ‘The Half-crown Atlas of British History,’ Edinburgh and London, 1871. Besides the above-mentioned works, Johnston was the draughtsman of a vast number of maps of all sorts and sizes, published separately and in series. 

JOHNSTON, ALEXANDER KEITH, the younger (1844–1879), geographer, eldest son of Alexander Keith Johnston [q. v.], by Margaret, daughter of Robert Gray of Edinburgh, born at Edinburgh on 24 Nov. 1844, was educated at the Edinburgh Institution and the Grange House school, and carefully trained for the profession of a geographer by his father and private tutors. From April 1866 to July 1867 he was employed by Messrs. Stanford of Charing Cross as superintendent of the drawing and engraving of maps, in which capacity he had a hand in the preparation of the ‘Globe Atlas of Europe,’ and the series of maps illustrating Murray's ‘Handbook for Scotland.’ He then studied German and German geographical methods in Leipzig, Berlin, and Gotha. On his return to England in 1868 he was elected a life member of the Royal Geographical Society, of which he was map-draughtsman and assistant-curator from April 1872 to November 1873. In June 1869 he took charge of the geographical department of the London branch of Messrs. W. & A. K. Johnston's business. In November 1873 he accepted the post of geographer to a recently appointed commission for the survey of the territory of Paraguay. The commission was much hampered by want of money, but Johnston nevertheless succeeded in making some valuable discoveries, which he communicated to the British Association on his return to England in 1875. He also published an interesting narrative of his travels in the ‘Geographical Magazine’ for the same year, and communicated to the Royal Geographical Society a paper entitled ‘Notes on the Physical Geography of Paraguay,’ published in the ‘Proceedings’ of that society in 1876. In June 1878 he was appointed leader of the Royal Geographical Society's expedition to the head of Lake Nyassa, and, leaving England in November, reached Zanzibar in January 1879. It was the rainy season, and the expedition did not really start before May. It had hardly left Dar es Salaam on the African mainland for the interior before Johnston was attacked by dysentery, and he was soon too ill to walk. He pushed on nevertheless, and from the stretcher on which he was carried continued to direct the expedition until he succumbed at Berobero, 120 miles from Dar es Salaam, on 28 June. He was buried beneath a large tree, in the trunk of which were carved his initials and the date of his death. The expedition was carried to a successful issue by his subordinate, Joseph Thomson [q. v.] Johnston did not marry.

Johnston's principal works are: 1. ‘The Library Map of Africa,’ 1866. 2. ‘A Map of the Lake Regions of Eastern Africa, showing the Sources of the Nile recently discovered by Dr. Livingstone. With Notes on the Exploration of this Region,’ &c., Edinburgh, 1870, 8vo. 3. ‘Handbook of Physical Geography,’ Edinburgh and London, 1870, 8vo. 4. ‘The Surface Zones of the Globe. A Handbook to accompany a Physical Chart,’ Edinburgh, 1874, 8vo. 5. A revised edition of Milner's ‘Universal Geography,’ London, 1876, 8vo. 6. ‘The Book of Physical Geography,’ London, 1877. 7. The volume ‘Africa’ in Stanford's ‘Compendium of Geography and Travel,’ London, 1878, 8vo; new edit. by Ravenstein and Keane, 1884, 8vo. 8. A revised edition of Dr. James Bryce's ‘Cyclopedia of Geography,’ London, 1878, 8vo; new edit., 1880, 8vo. Also the following posthumous works: 1. ‘Handbook to the Terrestrial Globe,’ Edinburgh and London, 1879, 8vo. 2. ‘A Physical, Historical, Political, and Descriptive Geography,’ London, 1880, 8vo; 4th edit., revised by Ravenstein, 1890, 8vo. 3. ‘Handbook to the School Physical Map of America,’ Edinburgh and London, 1880, 8vo. 4. ‘A School Physical and Descriptive Geography,’ 2nd edit. London, 1882, 8vo; 5th edit., revised by Ravenstein, 1889, 8vo. 