Belcher Jonathan Jr in Canada
Belcher Jonathan Jr
Jonathan Belcher, Jr. (1710-1776), chief justice of Nova Scotia, Canada. Belcher was born in Massachusetts, the son of Jonathan Belcher, colonial governor of Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard College (now Harvard University) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1728. In 1731 he went to England where he studied law at Cambridge University. In 1754 he was appointed chief justice of Nova Scotia, the first in the province, and a member of its Executive Council. Belcher’s insistence that laws made by the council were not legal caused the first representative assembly to be called in Halifax in 1758. On the death of Governor Charles Lawrence, Belcher administered the government of the province for four years and in 1761 was made lieutenant governor. Like his father, Belcher courted the favor of the monarchy in England. (1)