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• Telephone: 01823 663965
• Fax: 01823 665775
• Email: Send Email
• URL: Visit Website

Category: Map Suppliers

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About Us

KEN ATHERTON, FRGS, FBCartS. Ken was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, and spent his formative years selling postcards, buckets and spades, beach balls and Blackpool rock to unsuspecting holiday makers. In 1963 he joined the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO). Over the years he has worked in a wide variety of geographical areas within the UKHO, as a compiler of Admiralty Charts, a Drawing Office manager and Head of two Chart Branches. In addition to the time spent working directly on Admiralty Charts he also held an appointment in Whitehall, London, and spent a total of 15 years developing air survey techniques for hydrographic charting. He was appointed Curator of Original Documents in 1991 and it was in this post that he developed his interest in the history of the UKHO and in maritime cartography in general. After 38 years with the UKHO Ken took early retirement at the end of March 2001. He now concentrates on freelance historical map and maritime chart research and operates under the title Sextant Consultancy as a reminder of the retirement gift presented to him by his colleagues the UKHO. Ken is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, a Fellow of the British Cartographic Society, Administrative Consultant to the British Cartographic Society, a member of the Society for Nautical Research, a member of the Defence Surveyors Association, a member of the South West Maritime History Society and a member of the Naval Historical Collectors and Research Association. He frequently gives talks and presentations linked to historical maritime cartography and the history of the UKHO. He has written a number of professional papers and appeared in and given professional advice to a variety of television programmes, including Simon Scharma's The History of Britain and Nicholas Crane’s The Map Man. He has lived in Somerset since moving to Taunton with the UKHO in 1968.

Presentations include:

The Archives of the UKHO. The History of Maritime Cartography in the UK. Longitude. Charting the Coast of Somerset. The Voyages of Captain Cook.

Non-cartographic presentations:

Having a Lovely Time, Wish You Were Here. The amusing and sometimes sad comments written on postcards. Collecting Crested China.

Tags

cartographer, cartography, historical map, lecturer , maps, maritime chart research , old maps , sea charts

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