Charles Collier Michell

Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Collier Michell, KH (29 March 1793 in Exeter – 28 March 1851 in Eltham, London), later known as Charles Cornwallis Michell, was a British soldier, first surveyor-general in the Cape, road engineer, architect, artist and naturalist.

Born in Exeter, Devon, and called Charles Cornwallis Michell later in his life because of the proximity to Cornwall of his birthplace, Michell was educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1809. He headed a brigade at the battles of Vittoria and Toulouse, took part in Waterloo and was appointed teacher of military drawing at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst on 24 March 1824 and professor of military fortification at Woolwich on 25 December 1825 and promoted to the brevet rank of major shortly thereafter. He was fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and French.

Michell was appointed as surveyor-general at the Cape in 1828, (having probably heard of the post through his cousin Rufane Donkin) at the same time holding the positions of superintendent of public works and civil engineer. For performing these functions, he received an annual salary of £800. The surveyor-general's duties included taking charge of the detailed surveys needed to produce a good map of the Colony, improving passes and roads and surveying the Colony's border accurately. He was an outstanding architect, designing various churches such as St. Paul's in Rondebosch and St. John's in Bathurst. He suggested improvements to Table Bay Harbour and designed lighthouses at Mouille Point, Cape Agulhas (supposedly modelled on the Pharos of Alexandria) and Cape Recife.

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