John By

Lieutenant-Colonel John By (7 August 1779 – 1 February 1836) was an English military engineer. He is best known for having supervised the construction of the Rideau Canal and for having founded Bytown in the process. It developed and was designated as the Canadian capital, Ottawa. Life and career By was born in Lambeth, Surrey, the second of three sons of George By, of the London Customs House, and Mary Bryan. Nothing certain is known about By’s early education; Andrews suggests that it could have been at Sir Thomas Rich's School in Lambeth. He gained a good knowledge of arithmetic and writing; competence in English, French and Latin; and some drawing skills, as he was admitted at age 13 to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He graduated from the academy in 1799. In August of that year, he was gazetted a second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery; by the end of the year he had transferred to the Royal Engineers. In 1800 he was posted to the fortifications at Plymouth, which were being modernised. In July 1802 By was posted to Canada, where he worked on the fortification of Quebec City and on improving the navigability of the Saint Lawrence River. In early 1811 By returned to England. He was almost immediately posted to Portugal, where he served during the Napoleonic wars before falling ill (probably with malaria); he was back in England in August. The Royal Engineers' Window in Rochester Cathedral indicates that By served without injury during the conflicts.