View of Carsaig Bay and Loch Buie cropped from Admiralty Chart No 2813

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Edward James Bedford (18 August 1810 – 1 July 1887) was a Royal Navy officer noted for his work as a

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

, particularly in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Bedford was the second son of Lieutenant Frederick Bedford, R.N. He entered the Navy in February 1824. His first assignment was with HMS ''Snap'' under the command of Lieutenant Frederick Bullock. ''Snap'' was surveying the coast of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, determining the precise positions of the many headlands that had been well charted by

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

, but without the aid of chronometers. He was then with HMS ''Alert'' and in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

and the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. Bedford joined the survey of Great Britain in 1832, and was promoted to

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

in June of that year. He was engaged in the survey of the coast of Scotland from 1843-1847 in under the command of Captain Charles Robinson, and continued survey work in Scotland in various ships. He was promoted Commander in 1846, and was placed in charge of the survey of the

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

coast in 1853. He was made a fellow of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

in 1854. Bedford's surveying work in Scotland led to the publication of about 20

Admiralty Charts Admiralty charts are nautical charts issued by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) and subject to Crown Copyright. Over 3,500 Standard Nautical Charts (SNCs) and 14,000 Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) are available with the Admira ...

. The coloured fair chart of his survey of

Loch Awe Loch Awe (Scottish Gaelic: ''Loch Obha'') is a large body of freshwater in Argyll and Bute, Scottish Highlands. It has also given its name to a village on its banks, variously known as Loch Awe or Lochawe. There are islands within the loch such ...

(1861) was singled out by

John Washington John Washington (1633–1677) was an English merchant who emigrated across the Atlantic Ocean and became a planter, soldier and politician in colonial Virginia. In addition to leading the local militia, and running his own plantations, Washin ...

Hydrographer of the Navy The Hydrographer of the Navy is the principal hydrographical Royal Naval appointment. From 1795 until 2001, the post was responsible for the production of charts for the Royal Navy, and around this post grew the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office ...

as "one of the most beautiful ever sent in". Bedford was transferred to in 1864, working on the west coasts of Britain. He compiled the ''Sailing Directions for the Bristol Channel'', first published in 1869. He retired in 1870, and was promoted to Rear Admiral in the retired list in 1878. He was married to Miss Swainson, of Liverpool, by whom he left a family. He died on 1 July 1877.

References

External links

Coasts of Scotland on marine charts, 1580s–1900s
at the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in the ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedford, Edward James Royal Navy rear admirals British cartographers Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society 1810 births 1887 deaths