John Clements Wickham
Encyclopedia
John Clements Wickham was a naval officer, magistrate and administrator. He was a Lieutenant on HMS Beagle
during her second survey mission from 1831 to 1836, which took the young naturalist
Charles Darwin
on what became the subject of his book, The Voyage of the Beagle
. Wickham was then made captain, and Commander of the Beagle on her third voyage which set off in 1837 and conducted various maritime expeditions and hydrographic
surveys along the Australia
n coastline.
On his retirement from the Royal Navy, he was made Police Magistrate for the Moreton Bay District of the Colony of New South Wales, arriving in 1843. He relinquished the post on his being made Government Resident of that district. On the separation of the district to become the Colony of Queensland in 1859 he decided to remove himself to southern France where, denied a pension, he died in 1864.
, a Yorkshire village which later became depopulated. In 1638, two brothers, Richard and Thomas Wickham, were among the families to emigrate to America with Rev. Ezekiel Rogers
after he was suspended as Rector of the parish church in 1638 for his non-conformist beliefs. Thomas married Sarah and their fifth son, Samuel Wickham, was born in 1664; he later settled in Rhode Island
and became a Freeman of that Colony and a Deputy. Samuel Wickham married Barbara Holken in 1691 and their fifth son, Benjamin Wickham, was born 17 November 1701 at Rhode Island. Benjamin was chosen by the Rhode Island colonial Assembly in 1756
to be Lieutenant-Colonel of a Regiment raised for the second expedition against Crown Point
. In 1757, a deputy for Newport
he became Speaker of the House of Deputies. Benjamin married Mary, daughter of Colonel John Gardner in 1743 and Samuel Wickham, their sixth and youngest son, was born at Newport, Rhode Island in 1758. This Samuel rose to the rank of Lieutenant in the Royal Navy; while he was attached to the Portuguese Navy as an instructor he was given the rank of Captain-Lieutenant. He fought on the British side in the War of Independence after which he left America and settled in Scotland. On 16 June 1795 he married Ellen Susan Naylor at Gibraltar. John Clements Wickham was born to them on 21 November 1798 at Leith in Scotland.
In 1825 he was appointed Second-Lieutenant on the British warship Adventure under the command of Phillip Parker King, son of Philip Gidley King
, third Governor of New South Wales. The Adventure and the "Beagle" were ordered to survey the coasts of the southern part of South America and Tierra del Fuego.
In 1831 Wickham transferred to the Beagle as First Lieutenant under Captain Robert Fitzroy
to complete the survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, and then to survey the coast of Chile and Peru; from the Galapagos Islands
they crossed the Pacific exploring the Society Islands
, the Navigator
and Fiji
island groups, New Zealand, Port Jackson
, Van Diemen's Land, and on to King George's Sound. The "Beagle" left Australia crossing the Indian Ocean, visiting the Keeling (Cocos) Islands and Mauritius
; then recrossing the Atlantic via Saint Helena
, Ascension Island
, Bahia
and Pernambuco
returning to England in 1836. It was on this journey of the Beagle that Charles Darwin travelled.. Also on this second voyage of the Beagle was Philip Gidley King (1817–1904); Wickham and King were life-long friends and brothers-in-law as they married sisters, the daughters of Hannibal Hawkins Macarthur. The artists Augustus Earle
and, later, Conrad Martens
were also on board.
On 10 January 1837 he was promoted from Lieutenant to Captain; in the same list, his shipmate from the first two journeys of the Beagle, John Lort Stokes was made Lieutenant. Wickham was given command of the Beagle with John Lort Stokes as his lieutenant.
In 1839 Lieutenant John Lort Stokes
sighted a natural harbour which Wickham named Port Darwin
after their former shipmate, the naturalist. This later became a settlement which developed into the territorial capital and most populous city of Australia's Northern Territory. In 1841 Wickham fell ill and resigned his command which was taken over by Stokes, who continued the survey and completed the voyage in 1843. Darwin also took a Galapagos tortoise
named Harriet which he gave to Wickham, who brought it to Brisbane. The tortoise gained fame for her longevity
, living 175 years until 2006.
at the Moreton Bay
District of New South Wales (now Queensland
). From 1853 he was Government Resident in the Moreton Bay Dstrict, residing at Newstead House
.
, where he lived until his death in 1864.
In Brisbane
, Wickham Terrace and Wickham Street as well as a Kedron
sporting house
are named in his honour. The Wickham River in the Northern Territory is also named after him.
In 1922, Ismail Street in Ayr was renamed Wickham Street in his honour.
HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, at a cost of £7,803. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom in which...
during her second survey mission from 1831 to 1836, which took the young naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
on what became the subject of his book, The Voyage of the Beagle
The Voyage of the Beagle
The Voyage of the Beagle is a title commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as his Journal and Remarks, bringing him considerable fame and respect...
. Wickham was then made captain, and Commander of the Beagle on her third voyage which set off in 1837 and conducted various maritime expeditions and hydrographic
Hydrography
Hydrography is the measurement of the depths, the tides and currents of a body of water and establishment of the sea, river or lake bed topography and morphology. Normally and historically for the purpose of charting a body of water for the safe navigation of shipping...
surveys along the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n coastline.
On his retirement from the Royal Navy, he was made Police Magistrate for the Moreton Bay District of the Colony of New South Wales, arriving in 1843. He relinquished the post on his being made Government Resident of that district. On the separation of the district to become the Colony of Queensland in 1859 he decided to remove himself to southern France where, denied a pension, he died in 1864.
The Wickham family
The origins of the Wickham family were RowleyRowley, East Riding of Yorkshire
Rowley is a small village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated south of Little Weighton and approximately south-west of Beverley town centre....
, a Yorkshire village which later became depopulated. In 1638, two brothers, Richard and Thomas Wickham, were among the families to emigrate to America with Rev. Ezekiel Rogers
Ezekiel Rogers
Ezekiel Rogers was an English nonconformist clergyman, and Puritan settler of Massachusetts.-Life:He was a son of Richard Rogers, who held the living of Wethersfield in Essex, and younger brother of Daniel Rogers. He graduated M.A. from Christ's College, Cambridge in 1604, and became chaplain in...
after he was suspended as Rector of the parish church in 1638 for his non-conformist beliefs. Thomas married Sarah and their fifth son, Samuel Wickham, was born in 1664; he later settled in Rhode Island
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original English Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of North America that, after the American Revolution, became the modern U.S...
and became a Freeman of that Colony and a Deputy. Samuel Wickham married Barbara Holken in 1691 and their fifth son, Benjamin Wickham, was born 17 November 1701 at Rhode Island. Benjamin was chosen by the Rhode Island colonial Assembly in 1756
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
to be Lieutenant-Colonel of a Regiment raised for the second expedition against Crown Point
Crown Point, New York
Crown Point is a town in Essex County, New York, USA. The population was 2,119 at the 2000 census. The name of the town is a direct translation of the original French name, "Point au Chevalure."...
. In 1757, a deputy for Newport
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
he became Speaker of the House of Deputies. Benjamin married Mary, daughter of Colonel John Gardner in 1743 and Samuel Wickham, their sixth and youngest son, was born at Newport, Rhode Island in 1758. This Samuel rose to the rank of Lieutenant in the Royal Navy; while he was attached to the Portuguese Navy as an instructor he was given the rank of Captain-Lieutenant. He fought on the British side in the War of Independence after which he left America and settled in Scotland. On 16 June 1795 he married Ellen Susan Naylor at Gibraltar. John Clements Wickham was born to them on 21 November 1798 at Leith in Scotland.
Naval career
On 21 February 1812 John Clements Wickham joined the Royal Navy. By 1815 he was an Admiralty Midshipman and was posted to HMS Nightingale and in 1818 was posted to HMS Hyperion before being paid off. He passed his Lieutenant's examination in 1819.In 1825 he was appointed Second-Lieutenant on the British warship Adventure under the command of Phillip Parker King, son of Philip Gidley King
Philip Gidley King
Captain Philip Gidley King RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. He is best known as the official founder of the first European settlement on Norfolk Island and as the third Governor of New South Wales.-Early years and establishment of Norfolk Island settlement:King was born...
, third Governor of New South Wales. The Adventure and the "Beagle" were ordered to survey the coasts of the southern part of South America and Tierra del Fuego.
In 1831 Wickham transferred to the Beagle as First Lieutenant under Captain Robert Fitzroy
Robert FitzRoy
Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy RN achieved lasting fame as the captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, and as a pioneering meteorologist who made accurate weather forecasting a reality...
to complete the survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, and then to survey the coast of Chile and Peru; from the Galapagos Islands
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...
they crossed the Pacific exploring the Society Islands
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
, the Navigator
Outline of Samoa
The Independent State of Samoa is a sovereign island nation located in the western Samoan Islands archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean. Previous names were Samoa from 1900 to 1919, and Western Samoa from 1914 to 1997. It was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976...
and Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
island groups, New Zealand, Port Jackson
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Van Diemen's Land, and on to King George's Sound. The "Beagle" left Australia crossing the Indian Ocean, visiting the Keeling (Cocos) Islands and Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
; then recrossing the Atlantic via Saint Helena
Saint Helena
Saint Helena , named after St Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha...
, Ascension Island
Ascension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America, which is roughly midway between the horn of South America and Africa...
, Bahia
Bahia
Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...
and Pernambuco
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
returning to England in 1836. It was on this journey of the Beagle that Charles Darwin travelled.. Also on this second voyage of the Beagle was Philip Gidley King (1817–1904); Wickham and King were life-long friends and brothers-in-law as they married sisters, the daughters of Hannibal Hawkins Macarthur. The artists Augustus Earle
Augustus Earle
Augustus Earle was a London-born travel artist. Unlike earlier artists who worked outside Europe and were employed on voyages of exploration or worked abroad for wealthy, often aristocratic patrons, Earle was able to operate quite independently - able to combine his lust for travel with an...
and, later, Conrad Martens
Conrad Martens
Conrad Martens was an English-born landscape painter active in Australia from 1835.-Life and work:Conrad Martens' father was a merchant who came originally to London as Austrian Consul; Conrad was born in "Crutched Friars" near Tower Hill...
were also on board.
On 10 January 1837 he was promoted from Lieutenant to Captain; in the same list, his shipmate from the first two journeys of the Beagle, John Lort Stokes was made Lieutenant. Wickham was given command of the Beagle with John Lort Stokes as his lieutenant.
In 1839 Lieutenant John Lort Stokes
John Lort Stokes
Admiral John Lort Stokes, RN was an officer in the Royal Navy who travelled on HMS Beagle for close to eighteen years.Stokes grew up in Scotchwell near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. He joined the Navy on 20 September 1824...
sighted a natural harbour which Wickham named Port Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
after their former shipmate, the naturalist. This later became a settlement which developed into the territorial capital and most populous city of Australia's Northern Territory. In 1841 Wickham fell ill and resigned his command which was taken over by Stokes, who continued the survey and completed the voyage in 1843. Darwin also took a Galapagos tortoise
Galápagos tortoise
The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise is the largest living species of tortoise, reaching weights of over and lengths of over . With life spans in the wild of over 100 years, it is one of the longest-lived vertebrates...
named Harriet which he gave to Wickham, who brought it to Brisbane. The tortoise gained fame for her longevity
Longevity
The word "longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography or known as "long life", especially when it concerns someone or something lasting longer than expected ....
, living 175 years until 2006.
Magistrate and Government Resident
Wickham became the police magistrateMagistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
at the Moreton Bay
Moreton Bay
Moreton Bay is a bay on the eastern coast of Australia 45 km from Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources...
District of New South Wales (now Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
). From 1853 he was Government Resident in the Moreton Bay Dstrict, residing at Newstead House
Newstead House, Brisbane
Newstead House is Brisbane’s oldest surviving residence and is located on the Breakfast Creek bank of the Brisbane River,in the northern Brisbane suburb of Newstead, in Queensland, Australia...
.
Retirement
In 1859, Wickham moved to southern FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, where he lived until his death in 1864.
Honours
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Wickham Terrace and Wickham Street as well as a Kedron
Kedron State High School
Kedron State High School is a Queensland public secondary school which is located in the inner-northern suburb of Wooloowin in Brisbane, Australia....
sporting house
House system
The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...
are named in his honour. The Wickham River in the Northern Territory is also named after him.
In 1922, Ismail Street in Ayr was renamed Wickham Street in his honour.
Further reading
- A. A. Morrison, "Wickham, John Clements (1798–1864)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University (also available in hard copy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 2, (1967, Melbourne University Press) p 597).
- G.J. McCarthy, Wickham, John Clements (1798 - 1864), Encyclopedia of Australian Science 2010.