Phillip Tapsell, born Hans Homan Jensen Falk (1777/1791? – 6 or 7 August 1873) was a Danish mariner, whaler, and trader who settled in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Tapsell first arrived in New Zealand at the

Bay of Islands The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for ...

on the ''New Zealander'' on 26 March

1810 Events January–March * January 1 – Major-General Lachlan Macquarie officially becomes Governor of New South Wales. * January 4 – Australian seal hunter Frederick Hasselborough discovers Campbell Island, in the Subantarctic. * J ...

. Salmond, Anne. ''Between Worlds''. 1997. Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd. . He commanded the whaling ship ''

Minerva Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...

'' in the 1820s. He was married three times. The first marriage was to Maria Ringa, conducted by the missionary

Thomas Kendall Thomas Kendall (13 December 1778 – 6 August 1832) was a schoolmaster, an early missionary to Māori people in New Zealand, and a recorder of the Māori language. An evangelical Anglican, he and his family were in the first group of mission ...

in the Bay of Islands on 23 June

1823 Events January–March * January 22 – By secret treaty signed at the Congress of Verona, the Quintuple Alliance gives France a mandate to invade Spain for the purpose of restoring Ferdinand VII (who has been captured by armed revoluti ...

, and claimed (by Tapsell himself) as the first Christian wedding in New Zealand. In

1828 Events January–March * January 4 – Jean Baptiste Gay, vicomte de Martignac succeeds the Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, Comte de Villèle, as Prime Minister of France. * January 8 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organiz ...

'Rotorua', from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 23 April 2009
/ref> or November

1830 It is known in European history as a rather tumultuous year with the Revolutions of 1830 in France, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland and Italy. Events January–March * January 11 – LaGrange College (later the University of North Alabama) ...

he settled in

Maketu Maketu is a small town on the Western Bay of Plenty coast in New Zealand. It is located roughly from Paengaroa, from Te Puke, from Tauranga, from Rotorua and from Whakatane. Maketu has an estuary from which the Kaituna River used to flow, ...

and began trading

flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. In 2022, France produced 75% of t ...

. His third wife was

Hine-i-turama Ngatiki Hine-i-tūrama Ngātiki (1818 – 2 April 1864) was a New Zealand Māori woman of mana, who identified with the Ngāti Whakaue iwi within Te Arawa. She was born in New Zealand in 1818, the daughter of Te Koeke and her husband Kahana-tokowai, ...

, who was killed in the

Battle of Orakau The invasion of the Waikato became the largest and most important campaign of the 19th-century New Zealand Wars. Hostilities took place in the North Island of New Zealand between the military forces of the Colony of New Zealand, colonial gover ...

. At one time Tapsell owned both Whakaari (White) and Moutohora (Whale) islands and he lived for a while on the latter. His great-grandson, Sir Peter Tapsell, was a member of the

New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Parliament () is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the Monarchy of New Zealand, Sovereign and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by his Governor-General of New Zeal ...

from 1981 to 1996 and a Speaker of the House.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tapsell, Phillip 18th-century births 1873 deaths Danish emigrants to New Zealand 19th-century Danish sailors New Zealand sailors New Zealand people in whaling New Zealand traders Australian people in whaling People from Maketu