Benbow Place

Running off Tavistock Street in Westown, Benbow Place was formed in 1971 as part of the “Catholic Block” of a large development of state houses created by the Ministry of Works’ Housing Division.

The name, officially accepted by New Plymouth City Council’s Works Committee in September 1973, was copied from a list of streets in England’s Plymouth, the original Benbow Street being located in a suburb called Morice Town. This was once a separate village in the parish of Stoke Damerel, the majority of which belonged to the St Aubyn family – New Plymouth’s St Aubyn Street was named after a branch of this noble clan.

Home to the Devonport naval base, Plymouth has many street names with a nautical theme and Benbow Street is no exception. It was named after Royal Navy officer John Benbow, who was born in 1653 and began his career as a butcher’s apprentice before running away to sea. He encountered African and Arabian pirates during tours of duty in the Mediterranean, adventures that earned him fame and the nickname “Brave Benbow”. John rose through the ranks to become an admiral, fighting the French in both the Nine Years War and the War of the Spanish Succession. Shot in the leg during a battle in the West Indies, he died in Jamaica in 1702, leaving behind a wife and at least seven children. A sculpture was erected in his memory in his hometown of Shrewsbury, and three Royal Navy ships were named in his honour. Robert Louis Stevenson even included a tavern named the “Admiral Benbow” in his book Treasure Island and there are various real pubs around Britain with the same name.

Benbow Street in the old Plymouth is home to Benbow’s Chippy, voted best takeaway in the city in 2021. Further west, a Cornish rugby team called the Penzance Pirates have a mascot known as Captain Benbow. The surname originally came from the Old English words “bendan” meaning to bend and “boga” meaning bow. Sometimes spelt Bendebow, it was first recorded in London in 1349 and became another word for an archer.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.