Blenheim Place

Running off Essex Street in Vogeltown, Blenheim Place was named in 1958 to commemorate the fifth Plymouth Company ship which arrived in Ngāmotu.

Weighing 374 tons, the barque Blenheim sailed under Captain John Grey from Plymouth in England on 2 July 1842 and docked at Port Eliot, opposite what later became New Plymouth’s railway station, nearly five months later on 19 November 1842.

Leaving with 159 passengers on board, the Blenheim arrived on the other side of the world with three additional travellers, all baby girls born during the voyage, and one less crew member, after William Mitchell from Aberdeen fell overboard on 5 July. A fourth girl was born but only lived for a few days before being buried at sea.

The names of several immigrants who arrived on the Blenheim can still be seen on maps of Taranaki, including Hurford Road, Parris Street and Smart Road.

The ship stopped at Port Nicholson in Wellington on 3 November, with 18 passengers disembarking, then carried on to New Plymouth. Settlers gathered on the beach to watch the Blenheim come in, particularly excited because it carried mail from England.

Captain Grey had trouble with his crew throughout the long voyage, mostly due to liquor. As well as the seaman who drowned, various crew members had to be placed in irons for refusing to obey orders and others were later tried for mutiny.

The Blenheim left New Plymouth in December 1842, sailing for Sydney then back to England via the East Indies. It later sank during a hurricane in the north Atlantic in September 1846.

Blenheim (known as Blindheim in German) is a village in Bavaria, located between Stuttgart and Munich. On 13 August 1704 allied English, German, Dutch and Danish forces led by John Churchill, 1^st Duke of Marlborough, and Prince Eugene of Savoy defeated the French and Bavarians during The Battle of Blenheim, a major victory during the War of the Spanish Succession.

Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, built by the state as a gift of thanks to Churchill, and the New Zealand town of Blenheim, were both named in memory of the battle.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.

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