Captain Herbert John Clifford (1789,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

– 9 September 1855,

Tramore Tramore (; ) is a seaside town in County Waterford, on the southeast coast of Ireland. With humble origins as a small fishing village, the area saw rapid development upon the arrival of the railway from Waterford City in 1853. Initially, the to ...

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

) was an officer in 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 ...

during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

and the founder of the

Loochoo Naval Mission The Loochoo Naval Mission (1843-1861) was a Church of England mission society to provide Christian outreach to outlying Ryukyu Islands, today part of Japan but a sovereign country during those times. The work of the mission was significant both in ...

(1843). In 1818, he published ''Vocabulary of the Language Spoken at the Great Loo-Choo Island, in the Japan Sea'', which "remained the single most important source on Ryukyuan in the West for decades." Clifford's father was John Duke Clifford, and he moved from Cloonlurg, Sligo, Ireland to

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

, and married Elizabeth (Collins) Clifford (1788). Captain Clifford was born the following year. He attended the

Halifax Grammar School The Halifax Grammar School (HGS) is an independent, coeducational day school in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located in south-end Halifax, near Saint Mary's University. Approximately 575 students attend the school. At the high school lev ...

with General John Beckwith. He entered the navy in 1802. He was on board when it captured the on 23 February 1805. On , he took part in the capture of the . During the Napoleonic Wars, he fought in the

Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811 The Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811 was a series of amphibious operations and naval actions fought to determine possession of the French Indian Ocean territories of Isle de France and Île Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars. The campaign la ...

and was at the

Invasion of Isle de France The Invasion of Isle de France was a complicated but successful British amphibious operation in the Indian Ocean, launched in November 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars. During the operation, a substantial military force was landed by the Royal N ...

and was chosen as the bearer of despatches to England. In 1816, he went to Lord Amherst's Embassy to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, with

Basil Hall Basil Hall (31 December 1788 – 11 September 1844) was a British naval officer from Scotland, a traveller, and an author. He was the second son of Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, an eminent man of science. Biography Although his family home was ...

. He then went to the Loo Choo Islands in 1816 and created a dictionary. Clifford became the founder of the mission to the Loo Choo Islands. He worked with Bernard Jean Bettelheim. He worked as superintendent of the Coast Guard at

, Ireland for 27 years (1823–1855) until his death at age 66.

Legacy

Author

Patrick O'Brian Patrick O'Brian, Order of the British Empire, CBE (12 December 1914 – 2 January 2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of sea novels set in the Royal Navy during t ...

wrote about Captain Clifford on board HMS ''Boadicea'' is his novel ''

The Mauritius Command ''The Mauritius Command'' is the fourth naval historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1977. Aubrey is married and the father of twin girls, owner of a cottage with a fine observatory he built. He ...

''. Clifford wrote Loochoo Naval Mission (LNM): The Claims of Loochoo on British Liberality, London, 1850, 5th edition.

References

{{Reflist History of Nova Scotia Christian missionaries in Japan British Protestant missionaries Protestant missionaries in Japan