A major memorial to Captain William Hans Blake hangs inside Windsor’s St Matthew’s Anglican Church, but what is his connection to the Hawkesbury?
William Hans Blake was born in 1832, the son of George Hans Blake and, like his father and grandfather, joined the Royal Navy.
One of his first engagements was in Africa suppressing the slave trade. William then travelled to the West Indies and the Mediterranean and in 1854 fought in the Crimean War and was mentioned in despatches “as maintaining his position with steady gallantry under a smart fire of bursting shell.”
Later he was involved in the China Wars and was highly commended by his superiors.
He sailed to New Zealand in 1859 and fought in the Maori Wars of the 1860s. In command of a group of seamen, he was shot in the chest, and the bullet lodged near his heart, affecting him for rest of his life. He was promoted to the rank of Commander and awarded a life-long pension for his bravery.
William then travelled throughout the Pacific and arrived in Sydney on board the HMS ‘Falcon’ in 1866. While in Sydney, he met Henrietta Fitzgerald and they married in 1868.
Henrietta was born in Windsor in 1846, daughter of Robert Fitzgerald, pastoralist and politician, and Elizabeth Henrietta née Rouse. She was the granddaughter of Richard Fitzgerald and Mary Ford, emancipated convicts. Richard built the Macquarie Arms in Windsor in 1815.
The couple returned to England where William was promoted to Captain. Between 1868 and 1870, three children were born. George Hans Sotheby, Henrietta Rosa and William Lascelles Fitzgerald.
In 1873 Blake sailed to the west coast of Africa, participating in the Ashantee War. In 1874 he was struck down with a fever and died as a result.
The bullet from his wound received in New Zealand was removed at the post mortem and given to his wife and later bequeathed to his children. Blake was buried with full honours. His wife returned to England and died there in 1913.
