Benjamin Robert Blencowe (1807–1895)
A family emigration to New South Wales
When Benjamin Robert Blencowe crossed the world to New South Wales around 1861, he did not come as a dreamer chasing luck. He brought hard‑earned experience from English shops and boardrooms, a practical eye for how towns grow, and a steady sense of duty to his family. He traveled with his wife Eleanor (née Hargrave) and a son, leaving behind a child at school and a married daughter for the moment. Another son had already made his life in New England. There was excitement in the cabin and worry at the railings; they carried both with them. In time, scattered branches of the Blencowe family would find their way to the same land, and Benjamin would set about turning knowledge into opportunity.
Early life and work in England
Benjamin was born in 1807 at Mixbury (Brackley), Northamptonshire, a market town threaded by lanes and hedgerows, not far from the county lines of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. His working life began, as so many did, in the push and pull of small trade. By 1833 he ran a shop in Adderbury as a linen‑draper, haberdasher and hatter. It was honest, everyday work—bales of cloth, ribbons, hats on pegs, accounts in ink. When debts overtook him, he surrendered stock and effects to satisfy creditors. It was a public setback, but it did not finish him. He learned from it: how cash flow bites, how trust matters, and how to pivot.
Turning points and foresight in England
In the 1840s, Britain’s energy swung from canals and turnpikes to steam and steel. Railways promised faster trade, steadier markets, and a new kind of geography: the distance between places measured by timetables, not miles. In 1845, Benjamin took his seat as a director of the London, Worcester & South Staffordshire Railway. This was a different kind of work—papers on long tables, maps pinned with routes, capital calls, and public meetings where directors explained what rails could do for towns and families. He saw up close how a line could lift a market square, how goods moved when the right infrastructure was in place, and how careful governance turned big ideas into reliable service.
Marriage; the beginning of a connection of family to the New South Wales Colony
The very same year his business failed in Adderbury, Benjamin married Eleanor Hargrave (b. 1810) sister to Richard Hargrave by then a succesful landowner and entrepreneur in the NSW Colony. So, on 28 November 1833, in East Greenwich, London they began a life together that was to be very full.
By 1851, he stood behind the counter at 9 Market Place in Buckingham, a Georgian building on the heart of the square. He ran a wine and spirits business with an inn attached. Doors opened and closed all day; barrels came off carts; travelers traded stories by the fire. It was a bustling, respectable enterprise—the kind of business that rewards sound judgement, fair dealing, and an ability to read the flow of people and goods. When he eventually sold up and looked beyond England, he carried with him a simple lesson: put yourself where the traffic moves, and build a life that can move with it.
Emigration and first steps in New South Wales
In 1857 the family connection to Richard Hargrave in the NSW colony seems to have been the catalyst for the family’s emigration, in this year, eldest son Johua Benjamin age 20 went to join his uncle. Joshua’s first job in the colony was probably learning the Cattle business from the Hilgrove Station his Uncle owned. As per the family plan 4 years later Benjamin and Eleanor made the momentous decision to join Joshua in NSW Colony.
The voyage to Sydney asked for resolve, and the arrival demanded it. Shortly after reaching the colony in 1861, the family faced the death of a young son, Richard Hargrave. Many deaths on the voyage were recorded at the port of arrival. Grief and ambition sat side by side: the loss was keen, but there was work to be done.
Benjamin did what he knew—he stepped into retail. By 1862, he joined a grocery partnership in Sydney. The venture was short‑lived; partnerships fail for all sorts of reasons—capital strain, supply problems, personalities. He did not dwell on it. What mattered was the habit that had carried him from Adderbury to Buckingham to a railway boardroom: try, learn, and shift tactically to where his experience could do the most good.
Building a life in New England: work, place, and the promise of rail
In the 1870s Benjamin turned toward Armidale and the New England tablelands, where his son Joshua had selected land and settled at Middle Farm. It was a district of creeks, grass, and cold nights, and a growing appetite for brewing. Benjamin became a brewery proprietor around 1874. Brewing was practical work—grain, water, and the craft of patience—paired with the economics of supply and demand. Barrels were heavy; roads were slow; customers were loyal when you earned it. He had once served on a railway board; he knew what easier transport could do for farmers, brewers, and towns.
In Armidale the talk of rails grew louder throughout the 1870s—survey pegs, petitions, and the hope of connection to coastal markets. The station finally opened in 1883. New England’s producers could ship more reliably, and towns stepped into a wider economy. Benjamin did not lead the government railway; that was not how New South Wales worked. But he understood the case and stood among locals who made it. He spoke the language of infrastructure—the hard numbers and the human benefits—and he positioned his family’s work to meet the age: brewing first, then a maturation into land and service. His English time as a director had given him the confidence to say, “This is how rails change everything,” and his Australian years gave him the chance to help make that change useful.
Family: reunions, losses, and continuity
Across the years, the Blencowe family drew together in the colony. Joshua married and built his life at Middle Farm. In 1881, Benjamin’s married daughter, Eleanor Hargrave Painter, arrived in New South Wales with her children, making Sydney her home. Another son, Robert, had reached the colony as a teenager in 1864, later marrying, working as an bank accountant in Sydney, and raising a family. There were losses—children who did not survive; a son, Joshua, who died in 1890—and there was pride. The family took on land, ran businesses, and found their footing in a new country.
The continuity is clear in small, telling moments. Joshua, the farmer, later turned inventor along with running his farm.
Appendix The Family Facts
Benjamin Robert Blencowe, his wife Eleanor (née Hargrave), and a son reached the Colony of New South Wales around 1861. One son had already settled in New England, another stayed at school in England, and a married daughter remained in Oxfordshire for a time. Over the next two decades, they reunited in Australia.
Early life and work in England
Name: Benjamin Robert Blencowe
Born: 1807, Brackley, Northamptonshire, England
Married: 28 November 1833, East Greenwich, London, to Eleanor Hargrave
English occupations (in order)
1833 — Linen and clothing: Ran a shop in Adderbury (linen‑draper, haberdasher, hatter). He faced debts in 1833 and assigned his stock and effects to a trustee. It was a setback, but he kept going.
1845 — Railways (director): Joined the London, Worcester & South Staffordshire Railway as a director during Britain’s rail boom. This shows he could see how big projects change towns, trade, and family fortunes.
1851 — Wine & spirits, innkeeper: Operated at 9 Market Place, Buckingham. A busy, well‑placed business in the heart of a market town.
Arrival in Australia
Arrival: About 1861 (based on “years in the colony” noted later).
Family loss: Son Richard Hargrave Blencowe died in New South Wales in 1861, possibly on or just after the voyage (deaths were often registered on arrival).
Wife’s death: Eleanor died 16 April 1883, Enfield, NSW.
Children
Total: Six children; three died in childhood.
- Eleanor Hargrave Blencowe (1834–1918). Married Joseph Painter in England (1860); arrived in NSW in 1881 with two sons; lived in Sydney as a widow.
- Joshua Benjamin Blencowe (1837–1890). First to emigrate (1857); married in the colony; lived and died at Middle Farm, Armidale.
- Robert Blencowe (1839–1839). Died in infancy.
- Robert Blencowe (1839–1848). Died aged 8; buried in Buckingham.
- Richard Hargrave Blencowe (1845–1846). Died in Buckingham.
- Richard Hargrave Blencowe (1846–1861). Died in New South Wales.
- Robert Blencowe (1848–1941). Arrived 1864 aged 16; first married at Armidale (1884); by 1891 an accountant at a Sydney bank; later remarried with children.
Work and enterprise in Australia (in order)
1862 — Grocer (Sydney): Benjamin quickly used his retail know‑how to enter a grocery partnership reported in the Sydney Morning Herald. The partnership ended that year, and he moved on to new ventures.
1874 — Brewer (Armidale): Listed as a brewery proprietor in New England. Brewing relied on grain, clean water, equipment, and steady local demand.
1880s–1895 — Gentleman (Enmore): Lived as a retired investor with his widowed daughter in Sydney’s inner‑west. No evidence of late‑career trade.
Residence and death
Death: 12 July 1895, aged 88.
Place: At his daughter’s home, 20 Edgeware Road, Enmore (Newtown), NSW.
Burial: 17 July 1895, Enfield, NSW.
Summary of the will (NSW Will Books)
Testator: Benjamin Robert Blencowe, “Gentleman,” of Enmore.
Executors/Trustees: Son Robert Blencowe (clerk, Enmore) and Sydney Hargrave (clerk, Walcha/New England).
Estate instructions: Trustees to convert all property to cash after his death.
Distribution:
- One‑third: To son Robert Blencowe.
- One‑third: To daughter Eleanor Hargrave Painter.
- One‑third (trust): Income to daughter‑in‑law Lydia Blencowe (formerly Lydia Gadsden), widow of Joshua Benjamin, of Middle Farm, Armidale.
Achievements and family impact
- From setback to leadership: After the 1833 shop debts, Benjamin rebuilt his career, rose to a railway directorship in 1845, and ran a respected wine and inn business by 1851. This shows grit and good judgement.
- Railway foresight carried to Australia: His English railway experience gave him a clear view of how railways lift towns and trade. In the 1870s, as a brewery owner and father of a New England farmer, he stood among locals who wanted the Armidale line. While NSW railways were government‑run, his business standing and knowledge made him a credible voice in that climate of support.
- Enterprising in a new colony: He stepped straight into Sydney retail, then committed capital to brewing in Armidale — practical moves that matched local needs and his skills.
- Planning for family security: His 1895 will protected his widowed daughter and daughter‑in‑law, and set up his children for the next chapter. The family went on to farming, grazing, and invention (for example, Joshua Benjamin’s bottle‑closure patent), showing how opportunity and effort carried across generations.
Social context snapshot
1860s Sydney: A fast‑growing port city where shop partnerships and licensed trades helped newcomers get established.
1870s–1880s New England: Brewing and farming grew with surveys and then rail in 1883, connecting producers to bigger markets and lifting land values.
1890s Enmore: A settled inner‑west suburb with terraces, tram/rail links, and the comfort to retire, invest, and live close to
References & Sources
- Birth and Early Life records, Brackley, Northamptonshire (1807).
- Parish Marriage Registers, East Greenwich, London (Nov 1833).
- Corporate Records: London, Worcester & South Staffordshire Railway Director List (1845).
- UK Census 1851: 9 Market Place, Buckingham.
- Emigration Records: Arrival of Joshua Benjamin Blencowe (1857).
- NSW Death Registry: Richard Hargrave Blencowe (1861).
- Sydney Morning Herald Business Notices (1862).
- Greville’s Post Office Directory: Armidale Brewery Listings (1874-1875).
- Historical Records of the NSW Government Railways: Armidale Extension (1883).
- NSW Electoral Rolls: Enmore/Newtown District (1890s).
- Obituary Notices: Sydney Morning Herald and local New England Gazettes (July 1895).
- NSW Will Books: Testamentary Records for Benjamin Robert Blencowe, Enmore.
- The research of Pat McClenaghan and the Blencowe Book (2001).