William Yates (1738–1802)[1] was an 18th-century British cartographer. He surveyed land in northern England, mostly in Lancashire.[2]
Yates grew up in the Low Hill parish of Walton, Liverpool.[3]
Early in his career, Yates was an assistant to Peter Perez Burdett.[4]
In 1769, Yates completed a survey for the Map of the Environs of Liverpool.[5]
Yates' survey of Lancashire (1786),[6] at one inch to the mile,[7] was "one of the eleven English county maps which received national recognition in the period 1759–1809". He received a gold medal from the Society of Arts.[8]
His 1775 trigonometrical survey of Staffordshire was described as "the last production of outstanding importance" before the end of the 18th century.[9]
In his will, made in 1802, Yates refers to his children: William Jr, George, Joseph, Sarah, Hannah and Patty.[3]
In the 1770s, he was living in Cleveland Square and working as a customs officer. Twenty years later, he was a resident of West Derby, Liverpool, employed as a surveyor of customs.[10]
Yates died in Liverpool in 1802.[11] He was interred at the city's St Thomas' Church on 30 November.[10]