LIVED A CENTURY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 283, 30 November 1933, Page 3

LIVED A CENTURY.

DEATH OF BARONESS. STRANGE STORY RECALLED. CLAIM TO NEW ZEALAND « THRONE." The deatli of Baroness Mary Jane tie Thierry at her home in Svmonds Street yesterday, at the age of 100 years, directs attention to a remarkable event in the history of New Zealand when, well over 100 years ago, the man who was in later years to he her father-in-law, Baron Charles de Thierry, in 152:3 claimed the sovereignty of North Auckland. The Baronei-s de Thierry, wTio was horn in County Armagh, Ireland, in 1833, was married twice, her first husl»and, Mr. Brown, dying a few years .after lie and his family arrived in New Zealand in 18(i.">. There were live children of the marriage, hut of her second marriage, to Baron Charles Thomas Frederick de Thierry, son of the famous Baron de Thierry, there were no children. The Baroness experienced all the hardships that fell to the lot of the early pioneers, but she retained her faculties a ul alertness in her advanced years to a remarkable degree, and up till a year or two ago she could read and write without using glasses. She was also able to do her own housework. For over .'3O years she had lived in a house near the old windmill in Symonds Street. Maori Chiefs In London. The story of Charles, Baron do Thierry's claim to the Koyal Throne of New Zealand is a remarkable one. lie claimed descent from the French Koyal family, the Bourbons, and as a young man was a student at Queen's College, Cambridge. It was in 1820 that Thomas Kendall, an agent of the Church Missionary Society in New Zealand, brought to England two Maori chiefs, Jlongi and Waikato. Hongi was the more famous of the two. and incidentally proved infamous also. '11l England the two chiefs were made much of in society, and were even entertained by King George, from whom they received many gifts. Hongi and Waikato, instead of being treated as mere chiefs of Maori tribes, were regarded as reigning sovereigns.

It. was tlien that they met the Baron do Thierry, who became keenly interested in New Zealand, and spent considerable time discussing the country with Hongi and Waikato. Kendall, the missionary, suggested that the Baron should buy land in New Zealand and found a colony, and the proposal so appealed to the Baron that he paid to Kendall and Hongi £1100, which was to purchase all the land north of Auckland. Hongi, though taking his share of the money, had other plans, and it is known that on his way back to New Zealand he spent all the money he had in the purchase of muskets and ammunition, his desire being to conquer New Zealand. Deed Drawn Up. On August 7, 1822, on board the ship Providence, a deed for the purchase of land north of Auckland by the Baron do Thierry was drawn up. The ship was then in New Zealand waters, and the document was signed by three chiefs, Mudi Wai, Patuone and None, and was witnessed by the captain and first mate and Thomas Kendall. However, the deed did not include the whole of the land north of Auckland, but 40.000 acres at the source of the River Hokianga, the land to be transferred for 30 English axes. Whether the chiefs, fully understood the bargain is doubtful, because it was afterwards claimed that the axes were only a deposit on the purchase money.

Tlie deed was sent to de Thierry who, in 1523, applied to the Secretary of State for the Colonies for official recognition of liis intention to colonise New Zealand. He received an answer that New Zealand was not a possession of the Crown. The Baron then suggested that in order to enable him to establish his colony the (Toverniiient should advance him £10,000. Ho would repay the loan in kauri spars. His proposal was rejected, and the Baron then turned to France for assistance, but met with no success there. In a last attempt, he opened an office in London. This also failed. _ _ t Proclamation from Tahiti. Baron de Thierry is next heard of in 1835, at Tahiti, on hi* way to New Zealand, From Tahiti lie announced, oy proclamation that lie was coming to New Zealand to take possession of' his kingdom. However, the Baron's intention of founding a colony in New Zealand was not well received by the white residents of the Bay of Islands, and James Busby, a civil engineer, of Sydney, who had been appointed British Resident at Kororareka, near where Russell now stands, persuaded the important chiefs at Waitangi to sign a declaration of independence repudiating all of thc Baron's claims. In 1837 de Thierry sailed from Tahiti to Sydney, and on arrival there learned that Kendall had been drowned a few days earlier.

At Sydney de Thierry gathered together 93 persons of, so it is recorded, "a very infamous description," and sailed from Sydney. He crossed tlie Hokianga bar early on the morning of September 4, 1837. As his boat sailed up the river, the ships at anchor accorded liiiu tlie royal salute of 21 mms, and his landing was greeted with cheers. Flushed with triumph, he at once assumed the air of an emperor. But tragedy was pending. The natives repudiated de Thierry's right to the 40 000 acres, contending that the axes were only a deposit as part of the pill - chase money, and that instead of 30 axes, Kendall had only supplied 24. Gift of 5000 Acres. The natives began to treat the baron with contempt, and jeered at him, and the position became so serious when provisions began to run short that the majority of his 93 followers turned upon him. With his family, de Thierry had to flee to a hill which he named Mount Isabel, the name of a daughter. After bein" in seclusion some days, de Thierry came from his retreat. All danger had then passed, and he opened negotiations with Nene, the only one of the three chiefs who had signed the deed who was now alive. While repudiating the sale, Nene presented de Thierry with 5000 acres of land near Mount Isabel as consideration for the 24 axes which Kendall 'had delivered. v

From then there is 110 record of the movements of the baron until he is traced as a music teacher in Auckland. And so Charles, Baron de Thierry, first and last claimant to the throne of New Zealand, or as the Maoris a,t Hokianga in 1837 called him, King Pukanoa — King Pretender —lived his life and died in Auckland. An untidy little plot in Symonds Street Cemetery is his last resting place.