User:Tiamut/Draft/Claude R. Conder

Claude Reignier Conder (b. 1848 - d. ) was a military engineer who led a surveying and mapping expedition to Palestine in 1872 on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund. Born in Cheltenham, Conder studied at the University of London. At the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, he specialized in military engineering, earning recognition as a distinguished draughtsman and surveyor. He continued his studies at the Military Academy of Engineering at Cheltenham.

Commissioned to the post of lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1870, he was appointed to lead the PEF expedition in 1872. A military survey was to be conducted, beginning in the areas of Nablus, Samaria and Ramleh, and Conder worked on the survey for three years, assisted by Horatio Herbert Kitchener beginning in 1874, whom he had befriended during his days at the academy. Kitchener had to complete the mapping work alone after Conder took ill with malaria and left the work in October 1875.