George Everest Passed Away

Today in Masonic History George Everest passed away in 1866.

George Everest was a Welsh surveyor and geographer.

Everest was born on July 4th, 1790 in Crickhowell in Powys, Wales.

In 1818, Everest was commissioned in the Royal Artillery. He was assigned to be the assistant to Colonel William Lambton. Lambton had started the Great Trigonometrical Survey of the subcontinent in 1806. In 1823 when Lambton passed away, Everest succeeded him as the superintendent of the survey.

In 1830, Everest was appointed as the Surveyor-General of India.

In 1832, Everest built his home in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India. The house was situated in a way one side of the house looks out over the Doon Valley and the other looks out over the Aglar River valley. It also has views of the snow covered Himalayas. The house includes a laboratory Everest used as well. There have long been plans to turn the house into a museum. Unfortunately the house has since fallen into disarray, though. It is almost completely stripped of contents. In the yard there are deep cisterns, actively used when Everest lived there. Unfortunately they have now become a danger to people and animals because they are open.

In 1843, Everest retired and returned to Great Britain. Once there he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1862 he was elected as the vice-president of the Royal Geographical Society.

In 1865, Mount Everest was renamed in honor of Everest and to translate it into the English language by the Royal Geological Society. Everest was opposed to this change and wanted to see the name remain what it was in Nepal, which is Sagarmāthā and in Tibet, which is Chomolungma.

Everest passed away on December 1st, 1866.

Everest was initiated into Neptune Lodge No. 441. He later joined the Prince of Wales Lodge No.493 (previously No. 259) in February of 1829.

This article provided by Brother Eric C. Steele.