Blencowe Gold Miners in Thames , New Zealand
Chapter 1: The Oxon/Warwickshire Blencowes 1800-1855
This is the story of two Blencowe brothers—William and Richard Nathaniel Blencowe—two men who left the industrial heart of England to chase the golden promise of the New Zealand frontier. It is a tale of shifting fortunes, frontier gold mining, and a legacy that stretched from the drapery shops of Liverpool to the rugged quartz reefs of Thames and Te Aroha.
The story of the ‘Gold Mining Blencowes ‘ in New Zealand begins with William Blencowe born circa 1826 in Berrington Oxfordshire.
William was born out-of-wedlock it seems, he was a son of Elias Blencowe (1808-1852) a Warwickshire Canal labourer, but we do not know who his mother was. It was not likely is was Jane Deeley who Elias later married and with whom he had 5 legitimate children with.
It seems William was left in care and in the 1841 census, working, age 15, as a servant to a Churchman in Aynho, Buckinghamshire. In care, he likely had the benefit of some education and was prepared for a life in the trade classes. In 1849, he was in the Drapery trade when he married Elizabeth Sweett in Birmingham.
By 1851, census ,William Blencowe was a Draper (perhaps with his own business). The census of that year finds him in Liverpool, head of a household that included Elizabeth and their baby daughter, Fanny Jane Blencowe.
While William was building his business in Liverpool, a younger step-brother Richard Nathaniel (born in 1842) was growing up in Warwick where Elias and Jane Blencowe were now residing. Richard grew up in Warwickshire and Iin September 1864, he married Emmalah (Emma) Fox in Birmingham.
Were Richard and William aware of each other in 1864 ?
I think we can safely say Richard knew nothing about he and William having the same father. It’s unlikely to have been a talking point in the family when growing up in Warwick, and William was living in Liverpool a long way from Warwick. It’s seems to me, they were not in communication prior to them actually being in the same location (goldfields) in New Zealand in the late 1860s.
Chapter 2: The Vanguard and the Settlers (1855–1867)
William Blencowe was the first to answer the call of the Pacific. In September 1855, he arrived in Auckland aboard the Egmont, a ship carry about 50-60 fee paying passengers (steerage would have cost 12 pounds for the passage) William apparently travelling alone to secure a future for his wife and daughter. He spent the next decade establishing a presence in the colony:
1857: William is recorded as a farmer and leaseholder at Waikere, Bay of Islands. (I speculate this was his first idea of opportunity in New Zealand and his plan was to eventually buy land, and farm ) however, it seems that didn’t work out.
1862-1863: He resided at Princes Street, Auckland, appearing on the electoral rolls for Auckland East. He could have been employed in Auckland with his experience in any retail operation.
Elizabeth and Fanny Jane eventually joined William, reuniting the family in Auckland. A record of the arrival of Elizabeth and child has not been found. exploits
Richard and Emma Blencowe Arrive 1865
Richard and Emma emigrated in 1865, paying their own passage and initially settling in Auckland before the lure of the gold pulled them elsewhere, when a momentous announcement was made within months of arrival .
Daily Southern Cross 6 February 1866
The Miners Campground
In early 1867, the government agent James Mackay set apart Block 27 in Thames as a camping ground for the massive numbers of miners arriving on the goldfields. It was here, in a “rough and ready” environment of tents and temporary shelters, that the Blencowe brothers’ lives began to revolve entirely around gold.
Diggers tents at camp at Shortland, Thames, C1868 Source: Digital New Zealand
Chapter 3: The Golden Years at Thames (1868–1873)
The year 1868 marked the beginning of a feverish period of mining for both brothers. They may have often worked (independently) within a few yards of each other, Such was the size of claims and the condensed nature of the exploitation.
June 1868: Richard registered his first land claim for gold at Waiotahi, Thames.
November 1868: William registered his first claim at Tararu, Thames.
17 September 1870 at Grahamstown (Thames)
Williams eldest daughter Fanny Jane Blencowe married George Edward Cooper, who was 16 years her senior. The anouncement called it a Golden Wedding because Father of the bride and Bridegroom were Miners.
The Mining Process
The mining work was labour intensive and one man could not work a claim on his own, because Thames was dominated by quartz reef mining. This required tunneling into hard rock, which made solo mining nearly impossible and highly impractical. On average 4-5 men were required and this led to amalgamation of claims and workers to get the quartz rock out. It was then taken to a Battery a large metal crusher, driven by steam, that reduced the rock to fine materia,l so that the ore could be washed out.
The very practical need to work together by the miners, led to further amalgamations, until companies were formed, not only to do the work, but to raise capital and employ labour. The Companies were being formed not only of miners, but speculators with capital to invest. Hence Richard and William both eventually transitioned from labouring to investment. Richard was first to do this in 1869, he became a Director of the Red Reef Gold Mining Company in October 1869, while William held 187 shares in the Tararu Battery Gold Mining Company by 1870.
Working in Proximity
This from goldfields researcher Kae Lewis “ It seems Richard and William were working on the goldfield for several years and as you say, in close proximity to each other. Thames goldfields was a close knit community in those days with the miners meeting almost on a daily basis at the 100 plus pubs in the town of Thames and scattered around the hills. They were all camping on their claims under very harsh conditions. During the winter it was wet cold and very windy up on these exposed hilltops so after the day’s labour they looked forward to meeting down at the pub for a pint. The water was undrinkable and/or non-existent up there so they needed to come down almost daily for drinks as well as food. They also relied on fellow miners to give them advice about the location of the best gold and techniques for mining it. I think its almost certain that Richard and William would have met up and would most likely have known each other well. All the miners knew each other well and news of someone with the same name would have travelled fast on the grapevine.”
Mining Land Registration became a way cheaply to move around the field and at low cost register ownership for just £1. The first claims made by William and Richard were in the same areas, William less mobile than the younger Richard stops in 1868 , but Richard moves to other sites within the Thames goldfield. The map below shows just the first four claims Richard made to illustrate the point. The table below shows that between 1868-1870 Richard (6) and William (2) made claims over these areas
| Type | Number | Name | Date | Location | District | Source/Comments |
| CL | 336 | Richard BLENCOWE | 19 June 1868 | Waiotahi | Thames | BACL 14397 1a Claim Register Thames |
| CL | 1169 | Richard BLENCOWE | 6 October 1868 | Tararu | Thames | BACL 14397 3a Claim Register Thames |
| CL | 1250 | Richard BLENCOWE | 2 November 1868 | Tararu Creek | Thames | BACL 14397 3a Claim Register Thames |
| MR | 13665 | William BLENCOWE | 10 November 1868 | Tararu | Thames | BACL 14358 2a |
| MR | 340 | Richard BLENCOWE | 13 January 1869 | Karaka | Thames | BACL 14358 3a |
| CL | 1531 | William BLENCOWE | 5 May 1869 | Tararu Creek | Thames | BACL 14397 4a Claim Register Thames |
| MR | 9637 | Richard BLENCOWE | 07 April 1870 | Karaka North | Thames | BACL 14358 3b |
| CL | 2223 | Richard BLENCOWE | 20 June 1870 | Waiokaraka Creek | Thames | BACL 14397 5a Claim Register Thames |
table obtained by surname search at the Goldrush website by Kae Lewis
The value of mining returns
By 1873, Richard’s “Blencowe Company” at Hape Creek was seeing tangible success, yielding nearly 34 ounces of melted gold from 30 tons of stone. While this wasn’t a significant crushing, In 1873, the yield of 34 ounces would have been worth roughly £132 or to put it in terms of purchasing power, in 1873 you could buy a modest cottage in Auckland or a significant plot of rural land.
Chapter 4: Te Aroha and the Final Reef (1880–1893)
As the previous chapter shows Richard was much the more mobile and adventurous miner and investor.
As the Thames fields matured, Richard and Emma moved to Te Aroha in 1880. The main driver for move was the Gold potential of Te Aroha, but the move also facilitated a rural lifestyle, a dairy farm and also a boarding house which Emma probably was most responsible for making happen. Emma had some substance as we shall see.
Richard became a prolific investor, buying thousands of shares in companies like Arizona, Diamond Gully, and Vermont Gold-Mining. In 1888, he became a Director of the Te Aroha Prospecting Company, a venture intended to tunnel deep into the hills to find the “New Find” reef.
A Drinking Problem
There is good evidence that early frontier days of drinking at the Miners Camp started to catch up with Richard. In 1880 he was convicted and fined 5s for drunkenness in Auckland. In 1883, it got so bad, that Emma took steps, and under a non-de-plume she brought a prohibition order against her husband . Which was made firm by the local Magistrate
Te Aroha 7 July 1883
Te Aroa Boarding House thrived and the farming of dairy cows was ongoing, attested to by an advertisement for a “boy to help must be a good milker” but the gold mining was another matter.
Te Aroa gold mining – a bad decision. It seems Richard’s decision to go to Te Aroa for gold in 1880 did not pay off. Not only was the gold ore scarce, it was complex to extract and as a consequence ,the years from 1883 -1891 were years of disappointment, financial stress and troubles with Richard management of the investments. In 1890, the Te Aroha Goldfield was in a state of significant transition and decline, which directly impacted Richard Blencowe’s extensive investments. Reports from this period characterize the district as a “tale of woe” for investors, as early excitement gave way to the reality of low-grade ore and high operational costs.
The Te Aroha Prospecting Company (1888–1890)
By 1890, Richard Blencowe was heavily involved as a Director of the Te Aroha Prospecting Company, a venture he helped launch in early 1888.
- Purpose: The company was formed to systematically explore the hills around Te Aroha, specifically looking for new reefs to replace the failing mines.
- 1890 Status: Reports from this time indicate that prospecting parties were “handicapped by lack of capital”. Despite Richard’s status as a director, the company struggled to find payable gold in the Mangakino Valley and other new areas.
Complex and “Refractory” Ore
The primary “report” shared by many investors in 1890 was the failure of existing technology to extract gold profitably.
- Ore Complexity: The gold at Te Aroha was found to be “refractory,” meaning it was complexed with other base metals and was extremely fine.
- Investment Loss: Reports noted that less than half of the gold present in the rock was actually being extracted. For an investor like Blencowe, who held thousands of shares in companies like the Arizona Gold-Mining Company (1,000 shares) and the Diamond Gully Gold Mining Company (250 shares), this meant massive capital was being lost to inefficient processing.
Financial Instability and Regulatory Issues
Local papers and Warden’s Court reports from the late 1880s leading into 1890 painted a picture of a man who was “buying a great many shares” but also facing legal scrutiny.
- Licensing Troubles: Richard reportedly got into trouble with the Warden’s Office for failing to apply for the necessary mining licenses to operate his own mines.
Death of Richard Nathaniel Blencowe January 1891.
While riding between Waihou and Te Aroha, Richard was thrown from his horse and struck a telegraph post, dying from a fractured skull on January 17.
Death of William Blencowe 1893
William Blencowe passed away in Thames in 1893 at age 68, having spent nearly four decades in the colony.
Both Emma and Elizabeth Blencowe though survived into the next century
Chapter 5: The Widow Years Auckland and Te Aroha (1891–1923)
Emma Blencowe, now a widow, ran a boarding house and became a well recognised figure in the Te Aroha community. She famously was one of the first to sign the 1893 Women’s Suffrage petition, helping to secure the vote for New Zealand women. She also voted as one of the first women entitled to do so in the world. Emma lived until 81 years, She died from influenza and pleurisy on 9 August 1923 in Te Aroha, New Zealand.
Emma in a latter stage of her life, source Te Aroha Museum
Elizabeth (Sweett) Blencowe lived her final years in Eden, Auckland, until her death in 1905.
Through both families, the name Blencowe became etched into the history of the New Zealand goldfields—from the first claims in the mud of Thames to the boardroom of Te Aroha’s prospecting ventures.
Chapter 6: In Conclusion
The question that remains for me is did Richard Nathaniel and William Blencowe ever know they had the same father? Aside from the fact they worked yards apart on the goldfields, probably drank together nightly and having a shared surname were probably more familiar with each, there appears to be no evidence they had any business connections. Richard went to Te Aroha and William stayed in Auckland and their families apparently never met.
So this story has a twist, that a remotely connected (by DNA) cousin (me) over 150 years later, knows something they didn’t ever discover about themselves.
Reference and Sources
- Blencowe One-Name Study. https://blencowe.one-name.net
- Family Search website
- Goldrush Online. Thames Records – Miners’ Rights, Claim Registers, Business Licenses. Retrieved from https://kaelewis.com/ThamesRecords.htm
- Emma Blencowe BFA Newsletter 2025- Andrea Ballantyne
- Papers Past. Digitised 19th-Century New Zealand Newspapers. Retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
- Goldmine Experience. History of the Thames Goldfield and Battery Operations. Retrieved from https://www.goldmine-experience.co.nz/history
- Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Thames in the Gold-Mining Era. Retrieved from https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/22335/thames-in-the-gold-mining-era
- Mindat.org. . Halcyon Mine (Karaka Creek), Thames-Coromandel District. Retrieved from https://www.mindat.org/loc-301714.html
- Thames NZ: Genealogy & History Resources https://thamesnz-genealogy.blogspot.com/
Notes
- Shortland and Grahamstown merged into and became known as Thames in 1870
- During the 1860s, the Thames district remained Māori-owned land, and the goldfield could only open after Hauraki iwi agreed to allow mining in 1867. Although no battles of the New Zealand Wars occurred in Thames itself, the region lay close to the Waikato conflict zone, and the aftermath of those wars shaped the political climate in which the goldfield was negotiated and established.
- Nathaniel’s sister, Jane born 1850 also emigrated in 1871. she travelled to Salt lake City in Utah where probably a converted Mormon, she married William Edward Smith and had 8 children by him
Jane Blencowe Smith 1850-1921