Sir Charles Frederic Belcher

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(11 July 1876 – 7 February 1970) was an Australian

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

, British colonial

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

, and amateur

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

Biography

Born in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, C. F. Belcher was a son of G. F. Belcher, a former member of the

Legislative Council of Victoria The Victorian Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative Council s ...

. He was educated at

Geelong Grammar School Geelong Grammar School is a private Anglican co-educational boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located in Corio on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners Bay. Establ ...

, and entered

Trinity College, Melbourne Trinity College is the oldest residential college of the University of Melbourne, the first university in the colony of Victoria, Australia. The college was opened in 1872 on a site granted to the Church of England by the government of Victor ...

in 1894, where he studied law. He was first called to the bar in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 1902. In 1907 he moved to London, England to enroll at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

, and was called to the bar in 1909. For much of his life he served the

British Colonial Service The Colonial Service, also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions, under the aut ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and elsewhere. He served variously as Magistrate in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

(1914), Assistant Judge in

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

, Puisne Judge in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, Member of the Appeals Court of East Africa, Attorney General (1920-1923) and later High Court Judge (1924-1927) of

Nyasaland Nyasaland () was a British protectorate in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. After ...

, and

Chief Justice of Cyprus The chief justice of Cyprus was the head of the Supreme Court of Cyprus until 1961. The administration of Cyprus was taken over by the British government, following the Russo-Turkish War, under the Cyprus Convention, Convention of 4 June 1878. C ...

(1927–1930). In 1930, he was appointed

Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago The chief justice of Trinidad and Tobago is the highest judge of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and presides over the Supreme Court of Judicature of Trinidad and Tobago. He is appointed by a common decision of the President, the prime ministe ...

and President of the Appeal Court of the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

, offices he held until his retirement in 1937. He was a founding member of both the

Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union The Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU), now part of BirdLife Australia, was Australia's largest non-government, non-profit, bird conservation organisation. It was founded in 1901 to promote the study and conservation of the native b ...

(RAOU) in 1901, and the Bird Observers Club in 1905. He was elected a Fellow of the RAOU in 1949. In June 1931, he received a knighthood in the 1931 King's Birthday Honours as a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

. His son, engineer William Redmond Morrison Belcher, served during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

as a driver for the British Medical Aid Committee and later as a militiaman in the ''

Centuria ''Centuria'' (; : ''centuriae'') is a Latin term (from the stem ''centum'' meaning one hundred) denoting military units originally consisting of 100 men. The size of the centuria changed over time, and from the first century BC through most of ...

Malatesta''.

Works

*Belcher, Charles F. (1914). '' The Birds of the District of Geelong, Australia''. W.J. Griffiths: Geelong. *Belcher, Charles Frederic. (1930).
The Birds of Nyasaland
'. C. Lockwood & Son: London. *Belcher, Charles Frederic. (1944).
Genealogical notes relating to William Belcher of Kells (1730-1798) and his descendants
'. W. Boyd & Co: Nairobi.

Notes

References

*Robin, Libby. (2001). ''The Flight of the Emu: a hundred years of Australian ornithology 1901-2001''. Carlton, Vic. Melbourne University Press.

External links

* 1876 births 1970 deaths Australian emigrants to South Africa Australian Knights Bachelor Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Geelong Grammar School People educated at Trinity College (University of Melbourne) Australian ornithologists Chief justices of Trinidad and Tobago East Africa Protectorate judges Nyasaland judges British Cyprus judges Sultanate of Zanzibar judges Uganda Protectorate judges British Trinidad and Tobago judges Attorneys-general of Nyasaland {{Australia-ornithologist-stub