Government of Ontario Archives of Ontario
| Skip Navigation Menu | Ministry of Government Services home page. Government of Ontario Central Web Site. Contact us for questions and comments. Search the Ministry of Government Services Web site Site map for Archives of Ontario Website.Version français de cette page.
Location: Ministry of Government Services > Archives of Ontario > Online Exhibits > Eyewitness: Thomas Burrowes on the Rideau Canal > Context > The Man: His Life > Education

Education - Section Title
Eyewitness: Thomas Burrowes on the Rideau Canal - Side Banner        
Lithograph: Royal Sappers & Miners, Uniforms and Working Dress, 1825

Click to see a larger image (379K)
Royal Sappers & Miners, Uniforms and Working Dress, 1825
George B. Campion, Drawing Master
Coloured lithograph
9.5 cm x 25.4 cm (5¾" x 10")

Thomas Burrowes was born in the town of Worcester, England, in 1796. As a 17-year-old – perhaps attracted by the opportunity to learn a trade at a new military school at Chatham, Kent – he enlisted in the Royal Sappers and Miners. He thereafter embarked on a course of formal study, with specially prepared textbooks and practical exercises in field defence, bridge-building, siege works and demolition. He learned how to construct batteries and pontoons, as well as mastering practical geometry and the drawing of plans. Surveying was not part of the regular course at that time: that was something Burrowes learned later, from a civilian colleague in Canada.
Previous: The Man: His Life Previous: The Man: His Life Thomas Burrowes on the Rideau Canal - Home Page Next: The Man: His Life - In Canada Next: His Life - In Canada
Previous | Home | Next