Edward Belcher
Encyclopedia
Admiral
Sir Edward Belcher, KCB
(27 February 1799 – 18 March 1877), was a British naval officer and explorer. He was the great-grandson of Governor Jonathan Belcher
. His wife, Diana Jolliffe, was the stepdaughter of Captain Peter Heywood
.
, Nova Scotia
, the second son of Andrew Belcher
and entered the Royal Navy
in 1812. At the age of 15 or 16, as a midshipman in the Royal Navy, Belcher invented two improved ship's anchors (models of which are in the collection of the Science Museum, London).
's expedition to the Pacific
and Bering Strait
, as a surveyor. He subsequently commanded a surveying ship on the north and west coasts of Africa
and in the British seas. Belcher married Diana Jolliffe in 1833 and three years thereafter took up the work which Beechey had left unfinished on the Pacific coast of South America
. He was on board the bomb vessel
HMS Sulphur, which was ordered to return to England
in 1839 by the Trans-Pacific route. Belcher made various observations at a number of islands which he visited, was delayed by being despatched to take part in the war in China
in 1840.
In 1841, the then Commander Belcher landed on Possession Point
at the north shore Hong Kong Island
and made the first British survey of Hong Kong
harbour. After the war's end in 1842 he reached home and for his services was made a Knight Bachelor
in the following year. He was then engaged in HMS Samarang, in surveying work in the East Indies
, the Philippines
, Geomun-do
(Port Hamilton) and other places, until 1847.
expedition in search of Sir John Franklin
. This was unsuccessful; Belcher's inability to render himself popular with his subordinates was peculiarly unfortunate in an Arctic voyage, and he was not wholly suited to command vessels among ice. Four of the five ships (HMS Resolute, Pioneer, Assistance, and Intrepid) were abandoned in pack ice, for which Belcher was court-martialed but acquitted. One of the ships, HMS Resolute, was later recovered, intact, by an American
whaler
. Timbers from the ship were later used to manufacture a desk
, which has often been chosen by presidents
of the United States
for use in the White House
Oval Office
.
in 1867 and an admiral in 1872.
, Belcher Bay
and The Belcher's
in Kennedy Town
. His name is also commemorated in the Belcher Islands
, in the Canadian Arctic.
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
Sir Edward Belcher, KCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(27 February 1799 – 18 March 1877), was a British naval officer and explorer. He was the great-grandson of Governor Jonathan Belcher
Jonathan Belcher
Jonathan Belcher was colonial governor of the British provinces of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and New Jersey.-Early life:Jonathan Belcher was born in Cambridge, Province of Massachusetts Bay, in 1682...
. His wife, Diana Jolliffe, was the stepdaughter of Captain Peter Heywood
Peter Heywood
Captain Peter Heywood was a British naval officer who was aboard HMS Bounty during the mutiny of 28 April 1789. He was later captured, tried and condemned to death as a mutineer, but subsequently pardoned...
.
Early life
Belcher was born in HalifaxCity of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, the second son of Andrew Belcher
Andrew Belcher (merchant)
Andrew Belcher was a merchant, politician and justice of the peace from Halifax, Nova Scotia.Belcher's father, Jonathan Belcher was Nova Scotia’s chief justice from 1754 to 1776...
and entered the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
in 1812. At the age of 15 or 16, as a midshipman in the Royal Navy, Belcher invented two improved ship's anchors (models of which are in the collection of the Science Museum, London).
Surveys
In 1825, he accompanied Frederick William BeecheyFrederick William Beechey
Frederick William Beechey was an English naval officer and geographer. He was the son of Sir William Beechey, RA., and was born in London.-Career:...
's expedition to the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
and Bering Strait
Bering Strait
The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...
, as a surveyor. He subsequently commanded a surveying ship on the north and west coasts of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and in the British seas. Belcher married Diana Jolliffe in 1833 and three years thereafter took up the work which Beechey had left unfinished on the Pacific coast of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. He was on board the bomb vessel
Bomb vessel
A bomb vessel, bomb ship, bomb ketch, or simply bomb was a type of wooden sailing naval ship. Its primary armament was not cannon —although bomb vessels carried a few cannon for self-defence—but rather mortars mounted forward near the bow and elevated to a high angle, and projecting their fire in a...
HMS Sulphur, which was ordered to return to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1839 by the Trans-Pacific route. Belcher made various observations at a number of islands which he visited, was delayed by being despatched to take part in the war in China
First Opium War
The First Anglo-Chinese War , known popularly as the First Opium War or simply the Opium War, was fought between the United Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty of China over their conflicting viewpoints on diplomatic relations, trade, and the administration of justice...
in 1840.
In 1841, the then Commander Belcher landed on Possession Point
Possession Point
Possession Point is a former point of land on the northwestern coast of Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong, before land reclamation moved the coast further north.- History :...
at the north shore Hong Kong Island
Hong Kong Island
Hong Kong Island is an island in the southern part of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km², as of 2008...
and made the first British survey of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
harbour. After the war's end in 1842 he reached home and for his services was made a Knight Bachelor
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in the following year. He was then engaged in HMS Samarang, in surveying work in the East Indies
East Indies
East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...
, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Geomun-do
Port Hamilton
Port Hamilton or Komundo, officially Geomun-do in Korean is a small group of islands in the Jeju Strait off the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula, located approximately at...
(Port Hamilton) and other places, until 1847.
Arctic expedition
In 1852, he was given command of the government ArcticArctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
expedition in search of Sir John Franklin
John Franklin
Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
. This was unsuccessful; Belcher's inability to render himself popular with his subordinates was peculiarly unfortunate in an Arctic voyage, and he was not wholly suited to command vessels among ice. Four of the five ships (HMS Resolute, Pioneer, Assistance, and Intrepid) were abandoned in pack ice, for which Belcher was court-martialed but acquitted. One of the ships, HMS Resolute, was later recovered, intact, by an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
whaler
Whaler
A whaler is a specialized ship, designed for whaling, the catching and/or processing of whales. The former included the whale catcher, a steam or diesel-driven vessel with a harpoon gun mounted at its bows. The latter included such vessels as the sail or steam-driven whaleship of the 16th to early...
. Timbers from the ship were later used to manufacture a desk
Resolute desk
The Resolute desk is a large, nineteenth-century partners' desk often chosen by presidents of the United States for use in the White House Oval Office as the Oval Office desk. It was a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880 and was built from the timbers of the British...
, which has often been chosen by presidents
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for use in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
Oval Office
Oval Office
The Oval Office, located in the West Wing of the White House, is the official office of the President of the United States.The room features three large south-facing windows behind the president's desk, and a fireplace at the north end...
.
Later life
Following his last active service, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the BathOrder of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
in 1867 and an admiral in 1872.
Legacy
Belcher is commemorated in Hong Kong through Belcher's StreetBelcher's Street
Belcher's Street is a main street in Kennedy Town of Hong Kong. It connects east Victoria Road and joins west Queen's Road West. A small section in its west end built a turn around for Hong Kong Tramway....
, Belcher Bay
Belcher Bay
Belcher Bay is a bay at Kennedy Town on the northwest shore of Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. It is east of Sulphur Channel. The bay is named after Edward Belcher, who surveyed the surrounding water and land in the Victoria Harbour in 1841....
and The Belcher's
The Belcher's
The Belcher's is a high-rise residential development situated in the Western Mid-levels area of Hong Kong Island. It consists of six residential buildings which were constructed in two phases; three buildings were constructed in each phase. Construction for the first phase was completed in 2000,...
in Kennedy Town
Kennedy Town
Kennedy Town is at the western end of Sai Wan on Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. It was named after Arthur Edward Kennedy, the 7th Governor of Hong Kong from 1872 to 1877...
. His name is also commemorated in the Belcher Islands
Belcher Islands
The Belcher Islands are an archipelago in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. Located in Hudson Bay, the Belcher Islands are spread out over almost . The hamlet of Sanikiluaq is on the north coast of Flaherty Island and is the southernmost in Nunavut. Along with Flaherty Island, the other large...
, in the Canadian Arctic.