John Clements Wickham ( 1798 - 1864)

Scottish explorer, naval officer, magistrate and administrator.

He was first lieutenant on HMS Beagle during its second survey mission, 1831–1836, under captain Robert FitzRoy. After that expedition, Wickham was promoted to Commander and made captain of the Beagle on its third voyage, from 1837 and conducted various maritime expeditions and hydrographic surveys along the Australian coastline. In 1843, after his retirement from the Royal Navy, Wickham was made Police Magistrate and, later, Government Resident of the Moreton Bay District, in the Colony of New South Wales. Wickham retired in 1859, when the Moreton Bay District was separated from NSW. When the Queensland and NSW governments disagreed over which was responsible for his pension, Wickham moved to France, where he died.