Thomas Craskell
Thomas Craskell (died 1790) was a British engineer and painter active in Jamaica during the eighteenth century. He was a military engineer for much of his life. He was a lieutenant in the Engineer Corps among the troops Major-General Peregrine Hopson led in the invasions of Martinique and Guadeloupe in early 1759.
Thomas Craskell
Thomas Craskell · Public domain
- Occupation
- painter
In this article
Survey of Jamaica
His career as a marine painter involved working alongside Peter Monamy and Samuel Scott in the mid-eighteenth century. Craskell was familiar with naval technology, and showed precise rendering of sails and rigging in his paintings. There are only four known works by Craskell; two of these are in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. In 1758, he started the supervision of the King's House in Spanish Town. His son, also called Thomas Craskell, was a captain in the army who was appointed superintendent general of the Maroons to replace Major John James.
From 1756 to 1761 he worked with James Simpson in conducting a survey of Jamaica that resulted in three maps which could be combined to create an overall map 90 x 38 inches in size.
• Illustration — Cornwall
• Illustration — Middlesex
• Illustration — Surrey
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Thomas Craskell, revision 1289020491 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record.
Paintings
• Illustration — Knowles' Action, the Battle of Havana 1948, painted 1753
• Illustration — Illustration to map of Surrey, Jamaica, 1763
Map of the Surrey County, Jamaica , 1763
Thomas Craskell , James Simpson
Map of Cornwall County, Jamaica , 1763
Thomas Craskell , James Simpson
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Obituaries of Considerable persons with biographical anecdotes. The Gentleman's Magazine. 70. 467. 1790.
- 2.Porter, Whitworth. History of the Corps of Royal Engineers. Longmans, Green and Co. 189. 1889.
- 3.Rountree Tryon. Thomas Craskell biography.
- 4.Kaifala, Joseph. Free Slaves, Freetown, and the Sierra Leonean Civil War. Palgrave MacMillan. 2016. 9781349948543.
- 5.Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps. Thomas Craskell & James Simpson: To the Right Honorable Wills Earl of Hillsborough. Rare Maps.
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 21 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Paintings
17,867 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Thomas Christopher HoflandArtist
- Thomas CorriveauArtist
- Thomas Corsan MortonArtist
- Thomas CoutureArtist
- Thomas DavidsonArtist
- Thomas de KeyserArtist
- Thomas de PaepArtist
- Thomas DegeorgeArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Thomas Craskell?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.