Edward Belcher

Edward Belcher
Portrait by Stephen Pearce, c. 1859
Born	27 February 1799 Halifax, Nova Scotia
Died	18 March 1877 (1877-03-19) (aged 78) London, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1812–1865
Rank	Admiral
Commands held	HMS Sulphur HMS Samarang
Wars	First Anglo-Chinese War
Awards	CB (1841) China War Medal (1842) Long Service Medal (1848) Arctic Medal (1857) KCB (1867)
Spouse(s)	Diana Jolliffe (1830–33)

Admiral Sir Edward Belcher, KCB (27 February 1799 – 18 March 1877), was a British naval officer, hydrographer, and explorer. Born in Nova Scotia, he was the great-grandson of Governor Jonathan Belcher. He was briefly married (1830–33) to Diana Jolliffe, stepdaughter of Captain Peter Heywood, that marriage ending upon her application for legal separation for his having infected her with venereal disease.

Belcher was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the second son of Andrew Belcher and entered the Royal Navy in 1812.

In 1825, he accompanied Frederick William Beechey's expedition to the Pacific and Bering Strait as a surveyor. In 1836. he commanded a surveying ship on the north and west coasts of Africa and in the British seas. Belcher 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, having been delayed by being despatched to take part in the war in China in 1840.

On 25 January 1841, 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.