Sir George Henry Richards (13 January 1820 –14 November 1896) was Hydrographer of the Royal Navy from 1863 to 1874.

Biography

Richards was born in

Antony, Cornwall Antony ( kw, Trevanta) is a coastal civil parish and a village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated on the Rame Peninsula about three miles west of Torpoint and has a shop, a pub and a garage. There are two possible ...

, the son of Captain G. S. Richards, and joined the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

in 1832. His eldest son, George Edward Richards also became a Royal Navy officer and hydrographic surveyor.

Naval career

He served in South America, the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

, New Zealand, Australia and in the First Opium War in China. Promoted to captain in 1854, from 1857 to 1864 he was in command of the two survey ships: and .

Survey work in Canada

He was the second British commissioner to the

San Juan Islands The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific Northwest of the United States between the U.S. state of Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of Washington state, and form the core of ...

Boundary Commission and a hydrographer on the coast of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

in 1857–1862. He is responsible for the selection and designation of dozens of placenames along the British Columbia coast. In the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

area, for example, he named

False Creek False Creek (french: Faux ruisseau) is a short narrow inlet in the heart of Vancouver, separating the Downtown and West End neighbourhoods from the rest of the city. It is one of the four main bodies of water bordering Vancouver, along with Eng ...

. In 1859, after his engineer Francis Brockton found a vein of coal, he named

Brockton Point Brockton Point is a headland off the Downtown Peninsula of Vancouver, on the north side of Coal Harbour. Named after Francis Brockton, it is the most easterly part of Stanley Park and is home to a 100-year-old lighthouse and several hand-carved ...

and the area of

Coal Harbour Coal Harbour is the name for a section of Burrard Inlet lying between Vancouver's Downtown Peninsula and the Brockton Point of Stanley Park. It has also now become the name of the neighbourhood adjacent to its southern shoreline. Neighbourhoo ...

. In 1860, he named

Mount Garibaldi Mount Garibaldi (known as Nch'kaý to the indigenous Squamish people) is a dormant stratovolcano in the Garibaldi Ranges of the Pacific Ranges in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It has a maximum elevation of and rises above the surroun ...

after Giuseppe Garibaldi. Other landmarks in the area named by him are the Britannia Range, and

Brunswick Mountain Mount Brunswick (officially Brunswick Mountain), , is a summit in the Britannia Range of the North Shore Mountains on the Howe Sound side of the latter range. The mountain is located just northwest of the village of Lions Bay and is the namesake ...

and many features in the

Howe Sound Howe Sound (french: Baie (de /d')Howe, squ, Átl'ka7tsem, Nexwnéwu7ts, Txwnéwu7ts) is a roughly triangular sound, that joins a network of fjords situated immediately northwest of Vancouver, British Columbia. It was designated as a UNESCO Biosp ...

, Sunshine Coast, and

Jervis Inlet , image = MtFWAir.jpg , image_size = 260px , pushpin_map=British Columbia , caption = Mount Frederick William & the "elbow" of the inlet , image_bathymetry = Carte simplifiée baie Jervis.svg , caption_bathymetry = Map of Jervis Inlet , locat ...

areas. In 1863 he was appointed Hydrographer to the Navy and held that position until 1874 when he retired. At a time when the merchant navy was expanding rapidly and telegraphic underwater cable laying operations were intensifying, the Admiralty had a great need for more accurate ocean charts. It was in this context that Richards was asked to organise the scientific cruises of the H.M.S. Porcupine and the H.M.S. Lightning between 1868 and 1870, followed by that of the H.M.S. Challenger.

Later life

He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

in June 1866 and a corresponding member of the French Academy of Sciences in the same year. He was knighted in 1877, became a Knight Commander of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

in 1881 and became an admiral in 1884. He died in Bath, Somerset aged 76. A portrait of him by

Stephen Pearce Stephen Pearce (16 November 1819 – 31 January 1904) was an English portrait and equestrian painter. Forty-four portraits which he painted are in the National Portrait Gallery, London, which also contains two self-portraits. Life He w ...

, dated 1865, hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London. Mount Richards in

Waterton Lakes National Park Waterton Lakes National Park is a national park located in the southwest corner of Alberta, Canada. It borders Glacier National Park in Montana, United States. Waterton was the fourth Canadian national park, formed in 1895 and named after Waterto ...

in Alberta, Canada is named in his honor.Richards
Place-names of Alberta

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, George Henry 1819 births 1896 deaths English explorers of North America English hydrographers Explorers of British Columbia Fellows of the Royal Society Hydrographers of the Royal Navy Knights Bachelor Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People from Antony, Cornwall Pre-Confederation British Columbia people Royal Navy officers