Jonathan Belcher (July 23, 1710 – March 30, 1776) was a
British-American lawyer, chief justice, and
acting Governor of Nova Scotia during the period of 1760-63 when
Henry Ellis was in office as Governor but did not fulfil his duties.
In 1754, Belcher was sent to
Nova Scotia 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.[3] He also served on the
Nova Scotia Council. On July 28, 1755, he published a document which concluded that deportation of the Acadians was both authorized and required under the law.[4] 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 married in
King's Chapel,
Boston, 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.[6] They had five sons and two daughters.
Lieutenant Governor Belcher's residence (built 1749). Located on the site of
Province House, which still is furnished with his
Nova Scotia Council table.
^Bakan, Joel (2010). Canadian constitutional law. Toronto: Emond Montgomery Publications. p. 70.
ISBN978-1-55239-332-1.
^Bell, Whitfield J., and Charles Greifenstein, Jr. Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society. 3 vols. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1997, I:104, 223, 516, 519-25, 520, III:133,416, 497.