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John Rocque (originally Jean;c. 1704–1762) was a French-born British surveyor andcartographer, best known for his detailedmap of London published in 1746.
Rocque was born in France in about 1704, one of four children of aHuguenot family who subsequently fled first toGeneva, and then, probably in 1709, to England. He became a godfather in 1728, which suggests he was at least twenty-one years old by that time.
In addition to his work as a surveyor and mapmaker, Rocque was an engraver and map seller. He was also involved in some way in gardening as a young man, living with his brother Bartholomew, who was a landscape gardener, and producing plans forparterres, perhaps recording pre-existing designs, but few details of this work are known. Rocque produced engraved plans of the gardens atWrest Park (1735),Claremont (1738), Charles Hamilton's naturalistic landscape garden atPainshill Park, Surrey (1744),Wanstead House (1745) andWilton House (1746).
Rocque is now remembered principally for hisMap of London. He began work on this in 1737 and it was published in 24 printed sheets in 1746. It was by far the most detailed map of London published up to that time and remains an important historical resource.
The map of London and his other maps brought him an appointment ascartographer toFrederick, Prince of Wales in 1751. A fire in 1750 destroyed his premises and stock, but by 1753, he was employing ten draughtsmen, andThe Small British Atlas: Being a New set of Maps of all the Counties of England and Wales appeared. There was a second edition in 1762.
He also surveyed and published maps of Middlesex, Oxford, Berkshire, & Buckinghamshire in 1760.[1]
Rocque spent six years inDublin (1754–60), where he produced a number of maps of the Irish capital, as well as county maps ofDublin andArmagh, city maps ofKilkenny andCork, and a series of sumptuously illustrated manuscript surveys of the estates of the thenEarl of Kildare.[2] In 1756, he published the first detailed printed map of Dublin, the 4-sheetExact Survey of Dublin (officially entitledAn Exact Survey of the City and Suburbs of Dublin in Which is Express'd the Ground Plot of all Publick Buildings Dwelling Houses Ware Houses Stables Courts Yards &c by John Rocque Chorographer to their Royal Highnesses The Late & Present Prince of Wales - 1756).[3] A detail from this map later featured on the IrishSeries B ten pound banknote (1976–1993).
Rocque also covered the hinterland of Dublin inA Survey of the City Harbour Bay and Environs of Dublin, published in four sheets in 1758.[4] These extended as far asSkerries and Cardy Rocks to the north,Carton House to the west,Blessington to the south-west andEnniskerry to the south. In 1760 the Irish engraverJohn Dixon engraved Rocque's map of County Dublin.[5]
Rocque married twice. His widow,Mary Ann Rocque, continued the business after his death.[6]
