Alastair Macdonald (surveyor)

Macdonald decided to become a surveyor at the age of nine.^[1]

Macdonald took part in two Spitsbergen expeditions while at Cambridge University.^[1]

Macdonald joined the Directorate of Colonial Surveys in 1955,^[1] serving in field parties in Kenya, Southern Cameroons, Uganda, the Bahamas, Sarawak, Nyasaland, Bechuanaland and Zambia.^[1] In 1969 he was seconded to the government of Malawi.^[1]

From 1971 he served with the Ministry of Defence before becoming deputy director of the Directorate of Overseas Surveys.^[1]

In 1982 he moved to the Ordnance Survey where he was Director of Surveys and Production until his retirement in 1992.^[1][2]

In 2002 he spoke at the International Court of Justice in a case concerning the maritime boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria.^[3]

In 2009 he was awarded an MBE for services to the resolution of boundary disputes in Africa and to cartography more generally.^[4]

• Mapping The World, A History of the Directorate of Overseas Surveys 1946-1985, Alastair Macdonald, 1996, 210 pages, HMSO, Norwich, ISBN 0-11-701590-3