BLASCHKE, WILLIAM JOHN, was born at Breslau, Prussia, in 1809. Passing through Basle at the time of the revolution he volunteered for service and was wounded. After serving for three years as a lieutenant in the Landwehr on the Rhine and three and a half in Algeria, he left the army as a non-commissioned officer. Having married, he came to New Zealand as a military settler for a period of ten years, arriving by the Bernicia (1848). Blaschke settled in Taranaki and became naturalised. In 1853 he was elected to represent Omata in the Provincial Council and served till 1856. Finding his means unequal to the expense of breaking in bush land, he left his family in New Plymouth and went to Melbourne to seek his fortune. Hearing of the outbreak of the Taranaki war and the removal of his wife and family to Nelson for safety he returned to New Zealand in Dec 1860 and became a volunteer. As he was not a fluent English speaker, he could not receive a commission. The Taranaki hostilities being over, Blaschke entered into negotiations with the Government and the Hamburg firm of F. C. Godeffroy and Son to bring from Germany 500 married couples between the ages of 20 and 40. The scheme was suspended on the outbreak of the Waikato war.

N.Z.C.; App. H.R., 1863 D.5.

Reference: Volume 1, page 53

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