'John Clements Wickham' (
December 21 1798–
January 6 1864) was a Lieutenant of
HMS ''Beagle'' during her second survey mission from 1831 to 1836 which took the young
naturalist Charles Darwin on what became the subject of his book, ''
The Voyage of the Beagle''. Wickham was then made captain, and Commander of the ''Beagle'' on her third voyage which set off in 1837 and conducted various maritime expeditions and
hydrographic surveys along the
Australian coastline.
In 1839 Lieutenant
John Lort Stokes sighted a natural harbour which Wickham named
Port Darwin after their former shipmate, the naturalist. This later became a settlement which developed into the territorial capital and most populous city of Australia's Northern Territory. In 1841 Wickham fell ill and resigned his command which was taken over by Stokes, who continued the survey and completed the voyage in 1843.
Wickham became the first Government Resident at the
Moreton Bay area of
Brisbane,
Queensland, where he was
police magistrate from 1843.