John George Bartholomew played a key part in establishing the Bartholomew dynasty of Edinburgh mapmakers as a pioneering global force in cartography.  He was also a founder of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, which has shared many Directors with ScotWays over the years.

He was also a key member of the group of young Edinburgh professional men who revived the Rights of Way Society in the 1880s and 1890s, particularly in pursuing the bold legal case to defend the Jock’s Road right of way in Glen Doll, but also in supporting James Bryce in his Parliamentary campaign for a right of free access to mountains and moorlands, and in lobbying for the Local Government (Scotland) Act of 1894 which placed a duty on local councils to assert and maintain rights of way.

The Society’s long-sustained links to the Bartholomew family have hugely benefited our cartography in guides and path maps since then.