Charles Philippe Hippolyte de Thierry

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charles Philippe Hippolyte de Thierry

Baron Charles Philippe Hippolyte de Thierry (born April 1793 in Grave , North Brabant , Netherlands ; † July 8, 1864 in Auckland , New Zealand ) was a colonialist and, with his efforts to become King of New Zealand, one of the most colorful figures in the settlement history of the islands.

Life

Early years

Charles Philippe Hippolyte de Thierry stated that he was born in April 1793 in Grave, which was then part of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces . A source cites the 23rd of the month as his date of birth. After his only sister Caroline, he was the second child in the family and firstborn son of a total of six children.

His parents, Charles Antoine de Thierry , a French businessman, and his wife Marie Louise Pierrette de Laville fled the French Revolution and stopped in Grave before going to England in November 1794 . Charles Philippe's father took on the title of baron there, which the following generations of the family would carry from now on. During a visit to the family in Edinburgh , Charles Philippe became the godson of Charles X Philippe, who lived in exile in Britain and later became the last King of France .

First actuations

In 1814 Charles Philippe Thierry took part in the Congress of Vienna as secretary to the Portuguese Marquês de Marialva , served for a short time with the British 23rd Light Dragoons , followed by a brief activity as attaché to the French embassy in London in 1816.

In 1819, at the age of 26, he began studying theology at Magdalen College in Oxford and married Emily Rudge of Gloucester in May of that year , with whom he was to have a daughter and four sons. In 1820 he said he moved to a college in Cambridge , where he claims to have met the Māori chief Hongi Hika and the missionary of the Church Mission Society Thomas Kendall .

The idea of ​​becoming King of New Zealand

Thierry arranged the purchase of 40,000 acres of land at Hokianga Harbor in New Zealand through Thomas Kendall, with the ambitions of establishing a colony in New Zealand. After the purchase was carried out in 1822 and received no support from the British government, he approached the Dutch government in 1824 with a proposal to annex New Zealand and make him viceroy in return . While his proposal was being examined and considered, he was jailed in London for debt.

In 1825 Thierry went to Paris to offer his land in Hokianga as a colony to the French government and to appoint him as governor of the colony. He relied on the fact that the Māori chiefs had chosen him as sovereign of the island. After the French navigator and polar explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville discovered on his expedition from 1826 to 1829 that Thierry's statements were not based on any real basis, this gate was also closed to him. In addition, he fled to England because of a bankruptcy in Paris in 1826 in order to escape his creditors.

In 1827 Thierry left England for America ; In 1832 he traveled to Brazil , then to the Caribbean Islands , in 1834 to Panama and in 1835 to Tahiti , where he proclaimed himself King of Nuku Hiva , one of the Marquesas islands, and managed a private army. Everywhere on his travels he promoted the idea of ​​a colony in New Zealand, where he would like to become ruler .

In Tahiti he finally met Robert FitzRoy , the future governor of New Zealand , who called him a con man and immediately alerted James Busby and the missionaries in New Zealand about Thierry's plan.

In July 1837, Thierry sailed to Sydney , New South Wales , recruited colonialists, raised money and reached Hokianga on November 4, 1837. Once there, the purchase of his 40,000 acres of land was denied, but he was offered 800 acres of land in Hokianga on the condition that he abandon his higher aspirations for New Zealand. As a result, his colonialists withdrew their support and Thierry finally consented and settled for less land. Although he was not successful in business, he sent messages of his successful work to France in order to get support for his colony. With the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between the British government and the Māori chiefs on February 6, 1840, his dream was finally over.

Later years

During the New Zealand Wars from 1845 to 1846 he moved to Auckland , where he lived in poor conditions until 1850 and then sought his fortune in the gold fields of California , but remained unsuccessful. In December 1851 he got a job at the French consulate in Honolulu , where he worked for two years.

In May 1853, Thierry returned to Auckland and made a living teaching music and tuning pianos . He became friends with Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier and Governor George Gray and wrote his autobiography between 1854 and 1857 with financial support from Governor Gray , in which he described himself as an idealistic pioneer of the colonization of New Zealand and interpreted it as misunderstood. In the following years he experimented with the processing of flax and the production of cardboard and even became somewhat more successful around 1860.

Charles Philippe Hippolyte de Thierry died suddenly and unexpectedly on July 8, 1864 at the age of 71 in Auckland, where he was also buried.

literature

  • Richard Taylor : The Past and Present of New Zealand with its Prospects for the Future . William Macintosh , London 1868 (English).
  • Ruth Miriam Ross : Thierry, Charles Philip Hippolytus, Baron de . In: Alexander Hare McLintock (Ed.): An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . Wellington 1966 ( online [accessed December 15, 2015]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b De Thierry Families in New Zealand (PDF; 172 kB) - Lynly Lessels YATES Genealogy - (accessed April 5, 2010)
personal data
SURNAME Thierry, Charles Philippe Hippolyte de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thierry, Baron Charles Philip Hippolytus de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French businessman and colonialist in New Zealand
DATE OF BIRTH April 1793
PLACE OF BIRTH Grave , North Brabant , Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH July 8, 1864
Place of death Auckland , New Zealand