Historical records matching Charles Philippe Hippolyte de Thierry
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About Charles Philippe Hippolyte de Thierry
Baron found himself ‘landless gentry’ in New Zealand Charles de Thierry was one of life’s optimists. A slightly delusional Anglo-French ‘baron’, his first brush with New Zealand took place in the rarefied halls of learning at Cambridge University in 1820. It was here that he met the two Northland rangatira, Hongi Hika and Waikato, who had travelled to England to assist Professor Samuel Lee in compiling a Maori-English dictionary. The two leaders were also feted by society during their trip, and even met King George IV. “Charles de Thierry signed a deal with Hongi Hika to purchase 40,000 acres of land in the Hokianga. The price of land probably including a large number of muskets, which Hongi later used in his raids around the North Island,” says the Northland Manager of Heritage New Zealand, Bill Edwards. “De Thierry later claimed that Hongi had also appointed him ‘Sovereign Chief’ – a title that proved to be as worthless as the land transaction itself.” Full of expectation, de Thierry arrived in Tahiti en route to New Zealand in 1835 and announced his intention of taking up his fiefdom. When he arrived in New Zealand, however, he found a very different reality. “Charles de Thierry discovered that ‘his’ land had already been occupied – and that local rangatira Patuone and Nene strongly denied that Hongi had the right to sell land in what was most definitely their territory in the first place,” says Bill. “The two leaders felt sorry for de Thierry, however, and gifted his wife 800 acres. It still wasn’t enough for de Thierry to put into place his grand plan for colonisation however.” Visitors to de Thierry’s home at Rangiahua on the way to the Hokianga, described a poor but distinguished, well-mannered eccentric living with his wife and daughter in a one-roomed clay hut, with an earth floor, packing cases for furniture and hammocks for bedding. De Thierry’s big-noting in Tahiti had flow-on consequences in New Zealand however. “James Busby, the British Resident at Waitangi, heard about de Thierry’s grand designs, and was alarmed. His response was to use the situation as an opportunity to call a hui of Northland Maori tribal leaders at Waitangi with the intention of thwarting de Thierry’s plans,” says Bill. “The result was He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tirene – the Declaration of Independence – which asserted New Zealand’s independence as a sovereign nation, and which was signed by the Rangatira present.” Source: Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (2015) https://historicplacesaotearoa.org.nz/assets/Charles-de-Thierry1.pdf
After organising the flag, Busby turned his attention to helping the chiefs declare their autonomy. This project became urgent, in Busby’s eyes, when the grandiose Baron Charles de Thierry, signing himself “Sovereign Chief of New Zealand” and “King of Nuku Hiva”, advised the British Resident that he was on his way from Tahiti to set up an independent state in Hokianga. Busby considered the baron a threat to national security and took immediate steps to thwart him. Source: https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/a-sovereign-act/
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Charles Philippe Hippolyte de Thierry's Timeline
| 1793 |
April 23, 1793
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Bathampton, Bath and North East Somerset, Somerset, England (United Kingdom)
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| 1821 |
November 17, 1821
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Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England (United Kingdom)
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| 1823 |
July 20, 1823
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Marlybone, London, England
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| 1824 |
1824
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Cambridgeshire, England (United Kingdom)
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| 1828 |
January 3, 1828
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New York, United States
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| 1829 |
September 10, 1829
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Grundy Row, Baltimore, United States
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| 1864 |
July 8, 1864
Age 71
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Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
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July 8, 1864
Age 71
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Symonds Street Cemetery, Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
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