Sir George Henry Richards (13 January 1820 –14 November 1896) was
Hydrographer of the Royal 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 ...
from 1863 to 1874.
Biography
Richards was born in
Antony, Cornwall
Antony ( kw, Trevanta) is a coastal civil parishes in England, 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. ...
, 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 F ...
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 Dubouzet ...
, New Zealand, Australia and in the
First Opium War
The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...
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
Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primary p ...
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 ...
. 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 surroundi ...
after
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patr ...
. 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 Biosph ...
,
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 science, natural knowledge, incl ...
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
Mount Richards is a 2,377-meter-elevation (7,799-foot) mountain summit located in Waterton Lakes National Park, in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada. It is situated just north of the Canada–United States border, with the south footing of ...
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
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{{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