science

Mary Ann Rocque

Mary Ann Rocque is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mary Ann Rocque rather than just read about it. In short: Mary Ann Rocque, born Mary Ann Scalé, (c. 1725 - May 1774) was an English cartographer. Her booklet titled A Set of Plans and Forts of America (1765) included two of the earliest published maps of the city of Albany, New York and also celebrated British victories over the French in North America.

Key takeaways

Mary Ann Rocque belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mary Ann Rocque to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mary Ann Rocque from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mary Ann Rocque, born Mary Ann Scalé, (c. 1725 - May 1774) was an English cartographer. Her booklet titled A Set of Plans and Forts of America (1765) included two of the earliest published maps of the city of Albany, New York and also celebrated British victories over the French in North America.

Family Mary Ann Scalé was born in England, the daughter of Bernard Scalé (who died in 1743) and niece of Peter Scalé. She was the older sister of Dublin-based surveyor and cartographer Peter Bernard Scalé. Rocque married apothecary Edward Bew sometime before 1743. In 1751 she married cartographer John Rocque, her brother's mentor, who held the titles "Chorographer to the Prince of Wales" and "Topographer to His Royal Highness the Duke of Glouchester". John Rocque died in 1762.

The Scalé and Rocque families were Huguenots. Another French cartographer in London, Louis Stanislaus de la Rochette, was married to her sister, Margaret.

Career In widowhood, Mary Ann Rocque took over her husband's Topographer title and carried on the family business in the Strand, going into partnership with Andrew Dury. In 1762, Rocque published her late husband's A survey of the County of Surrey, the first large-scale survey of the English county of Surrey. Not content to maintain her late husband's business, Rocque published new and significant maps after his death. In 1763, she published a new edition of her husband's The Environs of London Reduced from an Actual Survey in 16 Sheets, with a dedication "to the Right Honorable George Montague Earl of Cardigan, Baron Brudenell &c." In 1765, she published A Set of Plans and Forts of America, a compilation atlas booklet consisting of thirty plans of forts and locales that had played important roles in the recently concluded French and Indian War; the atlas also included a small Plan of the City of Albany, which among other things showed the location of Fort Frederick along the city’s northwest edge. Rocque's plan of Fort Federick and of the City of Albany are considered the two earliest published maps of the city of Albany, New York. A Set of Plans and Forts of America were described by academic researcher Will C. van den Hoonaard as "a paean to British victory and a celebration of the enlarged empire". Around 1769, Rocque transferred most of her family cartography business to printer and publisher Carington Bowles (1723-1793). Maps published by Mary Ann Rocque are in many libraries and archives, including the National Archives, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the United States Military Academy, the University of Virginia, the British Library, and the UK Hydrographic Office. Some of Rocque's maps were published under the name M. A. Rocque.

Death Rocque was buried 8 May 1774 at St James's Church, Paddington.

References

External links A Set of Plans and Forts in America at the Massachusetts Historical Society WO 78/5745 `A Topographical Map of the County of Surrey... by John Rocque' Published by Mary Ann Rocque. Three sheets (1768), at the National Archives.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mary Ann Rocque

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mary Ann Rocque claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mary Ann Rocque before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mary Ann Rocque ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mary Ann Rocque

In research: Mary Ann Rocque appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mary Ann Rocque in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mary Ann Rocque is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1720s births, 1774 deaths, 18th-century English businesspeople, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mary Ann Rocque outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mary Ann Rocque in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mary Ann Rocque means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mary Ann Rocque out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mary Ann Rocque in simple terms?

Why does Mary Ann Rocque matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mary Ann Rocque?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mary Ann Rocque.