Jonathan Belcher (July 23, 1710 – March 30, 1776) was a British-American lawyer, chief justice, and Colonial Governor of Nova Scotia.

Biography

Born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, the second son of

Jonathan Belcher Jonathan Belcher (8 January 1681/8231 August 1757) was a merchant, politician, and slave trader from colonial Massachusetts who served as both governor of Massachusetts Bay and governor of New Hampshire from 1730 to 1741 and governor of New J ...

and Mary Partridge, Belcher entered

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

, where in 1728 he received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree. In 1731 he proceeded to

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

, also at Harvard. In 1730, he entered the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's I ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, to read law, and in 1734 was called to the English bar. In the meantime he had been admitted as a fellow-commoner to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, where in 1733 he received another master's degree in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

. He later received a third master's degree from the College of New Jersey (now

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

). In 1754, Belcher was sent to

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 ...

to become the first Chief Justice of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court. Prior to Belcher's arrival Nova Scotia had no formally trained law officers. He also served on the

Nova Scotia Council Formally known as "His Majesty's Council of Nova Scotia", the Nova Scotia Council (1720–1838) was the original British administrative, legislative and judicial body in Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia Council was also known as the Annapolis Counci ...

. On July 28, 1755, he published a document which concluded that deportation of the Acadians was both authorized and required under the law. From 1761 to 1763, he was also Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. He negotiated the peace that led to the Burying the Hatchet ceremony in Nova Scotia. Belcher was a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

, elected in 1768. He died in office in 1776. He is buried in the Old Burying Ground in Halifax.

Legacy

Belcher gave his name to

Fort Belcher A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere' ...

(1761–67), after which Fort Belcher Road, Lower Onslow, Nova Scotia is named. The fort was built at the same time as Fort Ellis. Belcher married in

King's Chapel King's Chapel is an American independent Christian unitarian congregation affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association that is "unitarian Christian in theology, Anglican in worship, and congregational in governance." It is housed i ...

, on 8 April 1756 to Abigail Allen. A salver (silver platter) given to them on their wedding day is now in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

.Early American Silver in The Metropolitan Museum of Art By Wees, Beth Carver, Harvey, Medill Higgins, p. 112
/ref> They had five sons and two daughters.

Gallery

Sources

Nova Scotia Historical Society. 1914, p. 25
*

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belcher, Jonathan 1710 births 1776 deaths British emigrants to pre-Confederation Nova Scotia Governors of the Colony of Nova Scotia Converts to Anglicanism Harvard College alumni Princeton University alumni People from colonial Boston Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge People of colonial Massachusetts Colony of Nova Scotia judges