Date Published:
January 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Henry Wolsey Bayfield

Bayfield, Henry Wolsey (1795-1885), naval officer and surveyor, was born at Hull, Yorkshire, England, on January 21, 1795. He entered the Royal Navy in 1806, when only eleven years of age, and was in the service for more than fifty years. In June, 1817, he was appointed Admiralty surveyor in British North America; and during the forty years that followed he surveyed lakes Erie, Huron, and Superior, the gulf of St. Lawrence, the straits of Belle Isle, the Coast of Labrador, the island of Anticosti, Prince Edward Island, the Magdalen islands, Cape Breton, Sable island, and the coast of Nova Scotia from Halifax to the gut of Canso. He attained the rank of commander in 1826, flag rank in 1856, the rank of vice-admiral in 1863, and that of admiral in 1867. From 1827 to 1841 he lived in Quebec, and from 1841 to his death, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Here he died on February 10, 1885. In 1838, he married Fanny, only daughter of General Charles Wright. See Capt. J. G. Boulton, Admiral Bayfield (Trans. Lit. and Hist. Soc. Quebec, no 28).

Source : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. I, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 398p., p. 191.