Edward James Bedford

Rear Admiral Edward James Bedford (18 August 1810 – 1 July 1887) was a Royal Navy officer noted for his work as a surveyor, particularly in Scotland.

View of Carsaig Bay and Loch Buie, Isle of Mull, from an Admiralty Chart of 1862

Bedford was the second son of Lieutenant Frederick Bedford, R.N.[1] He entered the Navy in February 1824. His first assignment was with HMS Snap under the command of Lieutenant Frederick Bullock.[2] Snap was surveying the coast of Newfoundland, determining the precise positions of the many headlands that had been well charted by James Cook, but without the aid of chronometers.[3] He was then with HMS Alert and HMS Seringapatam in South America and the Pacific.[2]

Bedford joined the survey of Great Britain in 1832, and was promoted to Lieutenant in June of that year. He was engaged in the survey of the coast of Scotland from 1843-1847 in HMS Shearwater 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 coast in 1853. He was made a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1854.[2]

Bedford's surveying work in Scotland led to the publication of about 20 Admiralty Charts.[4] The coloured fair chart of his survey of Loch Awe (1861) was singled out by John Washington, Hydrographer of the Navy as "one of the most beautiful ever sent in".[5]

Admiralty Chart Loch Awe, Surveyed 1861

Bedford was transferred to HMS Lightning in 1864, working on the west coasts of Britain.[2][6] He compiled the Sailing Directions for the Bristol Channel, first published in 1869.[7] He retired in 1870, and was promoted to Rear Admiral in the retired list in 1878.[2] He was married to Miss Swainson, of Liverpool, by whom he left a family. He died on 1 July 1877.[1]

References
  1. "Admiral Edward James Bedford Obituary". The Times Register of Events: Obituaries for 1887. p. xlv.
  2. Dawson, Llewellyn Styles (1885). Memoirs of hydrography, including brief biographies of the principal officers who have served in H.M. Naval Surveying Service between the years 1750 and 1885. Part 2. - 1830-1885. Eastbourne: Henry W. Keay. p. 53.
  3. Ritchie, George Stephen (1967). The Admiralty Chart: British Naval Hydrography in the Nineteenth Century. Hollis & Carter. p. 104. OCLC 1082888087.
  4. Dunsterville, Edward (1864). Admiralty Catalogue of Charts, Plans, Views, and Sailing Directions, &c. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. pp. 6–14.
  5. Day, Archibald (1967). The Admiralty Hydrographic Service, 1795-1919. H.M. Stationery Office. p. 78. OCLC 1082894797.
  6. Rice, A. L. (1986). British Oceanographic Vessels, 1800-1950. Ray Society. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-903874-19-9.
  7. Bedford, E.J. (1879). Sailing Directions for the Bristol Channel (3 ed.). London: Hydrographic Office of the Admiralty.
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