Charles Frederic Belcher

Sir Charles Frederic Belcher OBE (1876–1970) was an Australian lawyer, author, British colonial jurist and amateur ornithologist.
Born in Geelong, Victoria, C.F. Belcher was a son of G.F. Belcher, a former member of the Victorian Legislative Council. He was called to the bar first in Melbourne, and then, in 1909, at Gray's Inn, London. He entered Trinity College (University of Melbourne) in 1894, where he studied Law.
For much of his life he served the British Colonial Service in Africa and elsewhere. He was variously a magistrate in Uganda, Assistant Judge in Zanzibar, Puisne Judge in Kenya, Member of the Appeals Court of East Africa, Attorney General (1920-1923) and later High Court Judge (1924-1927) of Nyasaland, Chief Justice of Cyprus (1927–1930) and President of the Appeal Court of the West Indies (1930-1937). In 1930, he was appointed Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago, an office he held for the next seven years.
In June 1931 he received a knighthood in the King's Birthday honours.
He was a founding member of both the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) in 1901 and the Bird Observers Club in 1905. He was elected a Fellow of the RAOU in 1949.

Works

• Belcher, Charles F. (1914). The Birds of the District of Geelong, Australia. W.J. Griffiths: Geelong.
• Belcher, Charles Frederic. (1930). The Birds of Nyasaland. C. Lockwood & Son: London.
• Belcher, Charles Frederic. (1944). Genealogical notes relating to William Belcher of Kells (1730-1798) and his descendants. W. Boyd & Co: Nairobi.