Delacombe, Captain William Addis
d. 1902
During the British and American joint occupation of San Juan Island (1859-1872), Captain Delacombe, an experienced officer who had served in the Baltic during the Crimean War and had survived the explosion on board the HMS Bombay, replaced Captain Bazalgette, the English commandant stationed there, in 1867.1 Until the British departed from San Juan in 1872, Captain Delacombe was the commandant of the Royal Marine detachment at the English Camp, on the northern end of the Island, where he lived with his wife (Isabella Anne Harris, 1835-1922) and children.2
In the English Camp, Captain Delacombe oversaw the replacement of old buildings, and the construction of several new structures including the elaborate new quarters for the commanding officer and his family.3 Delacombe and his wife planted an English formal garden at the camp, in an area which had been made fertile during generations of its use as a shell midden by the W̱SÁNEĆ.4
The relatively equal ranks of the two English and American commanding officers on the Island allowed for relaxed relations until the balance was offset by the arrival of a new American officer with a higher rank.5 In response, Captain Delacombe requested the promotion of his own rank to Lieutenant Colonel, to set the two officers on “equal footing.”6 However, Rear Admiral George Fowler Hastings (Commander-in-Chief in the Pacific) opposed and prevented the promotion.7
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Bazalgette, George

Hastings, George Fowler

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San Juan Island