"Lord" Darrel Duppa

The table provides quick facts regarding his life with fascinating articles about him below.

Birth	October 9, 1832 Paris France	Grew up in Hollingbourne House, Maidstone, Kent, England close to Canterbury Cathedral.
Parents	Baldwin Frances Duppa British Consul to France	Catherine (Darrell) Duppa Brother: Baldwin Frances Duppa, born Feb 1828
Education	Cambridge	Fluent in 5 languages and the Classics. Carried a well worn library with him: Juvenal, Ovid, Homer in the original. Quoted Shakespeare by the hour from memory.
Arrived in Arizona	December 1863	Prescott
Accomplishments	Named Phoenix and Tempe.	One of the founders of Phoenix. Founded New River. Owned a ranch north of Phoenix. Built a home at 115 W. Sherman in 1870 (Duppa-Montgomery Homestead 115 W. Sherman, Phoenix, AZ 85003. Phone: (602) 253-5557. Free admission. Open Sundays 2pm-5pm, Nov-May. This adobe dwelling may be the oldest home in Phoenix. Exhibits include period furniture and historical artifacts). Known for his hospitality, polish and toughness. Successfully stood off the Apache.
Burial	Pioneer & Military Cemetery 1400 West Jefferson, Phoenix, AZ "Why don't you go back to the old country?" "It is useless at this time of life. To do so would require a radical change in my life, and I have lived so many years on the frontiers of civilization that I now have no desire to again assume the life and the attendant."	DAR erected headstone. The resting place of pioneers 1-Governor Benjamin Joseph Franklin (great grandson of Benjamin Franklin), 2-Lord Darrell Duppa, and 3-The Lost Dutchman, Jacob Waltz. Directions: Enter below Madison portion of Pioneer and Military Memorial Park from the center gate on Madison. Walk due south approximately 1/4 of the length of the cemetery. The Duppa grave will be on your left, slightly east of the center of the cemetery. Those wishing to tour the cemeteries or the restored 1897 home must make reservation with the volunteers at 602-534-1262.

How Darrell Duppa, known as “Lord” Darrell by his friends, made it to Arizona, no one is certain (see new notes at the bottom of the page. 8/3/03) but he is credited with giving Phoenix and Tempe their names. We know he was listed as a miner in Prescott in 1864 (see below), that he had arrived there in December, 1863 and was listed as a farmer on the 1870 Phoenix census. The home he built in 1870 still stands at 115 West Sherman, the oldest home in Phoenix, located southwest of today's Bank One Ballpark and west of Central Park. Since he regularly received money from his family in the amount of $12,000 per year, he was a “remittance man”. His parents, Baldwin Francis Duppa, and Catherine (Darrell) had an older son, born in February 1828, who was named for his father and would have been inherited any titles or land. Darrell's childhood home was Hollingbourne House, Maidstone, Kent, England although he was born in Paris, France when his father served as a British consul. Maidstone is the home of Leed's Castle, and close to Canterbury Cathedral. His Cambridge education was evident in his knowledge of languages (he spoke five often using them all), his polish and bearing but Darrell was a loner, preferring to read newspapers or selected volumes to socializing.

Hayden wrote notes about him as one of the notable locals who pioneered this basin. Darrell and Jack Swilling were friends and you’ll find their names peppered throughout the founding years of this area. Jack, a Lieutenant in the Confederate Army, had been a successful gold prospector in Prescott and started the Swilling Irrigation Company in 1868. My guess is the two of them moved into the Phoenix valley together.

Below is one of the most fascinating accounts of "Lord" Darrell but this piece also tells you a little about life in Phoenix prior to “civilization" and the characters who tamed the land. Duppa built a home which still stands in downtown Phoenix as well as ran “the station” at New River in 1868. The stage stop at New River had a south road to Phoenix, an eastern road to Fort McDowell ( Fountain Hills) and a north road to Prescott. As late as 1947, New River marked the end of the old paved Black Canyon Highway, which turned into a winding dirt road continuing on to Prescott.”.

Taken from Roadside History of Arizona by Marshall Trimble. Pp 174-175. Captain John G. Bourke, author of On the Border with Crook, wrote the following:

“Darrell Duppa was one of the queerest examples to be found in Arizona, and I might add in New Mexico and Sonora as well. There was nothing superfluous about Duppa in the way of flesh, neither was there anything about the “station" that could be regarded as superfluous, either in furniture or ornament. Duppa was credited with being the wild, harum-scarum son of an English family of respectability, his father having occupied a position in the diplomatic or consular service of Great Britain, and the son having been born in Marseilles. Rumor had it that Duppa spoke several languages-French, Spanish, Italian, German-that he understood the classics, and that, when sober he used faultless English. I can certify to his employment of excellent French and Spanish, and what had to my ears the sound of pretty good Italian, and I know too that he was hospitable to a fault, and not afraid of man or devil. Three bullet wounds, received in three different fights with the Apaches, attested his grit, although they might not be accepted as equally conclusive evidence of good judgment. The site of his “location” was in the midst of the most uncompromising piece of desert in a region, which boasts of possessing more desert land than any other territory in the Union. The surrounding hills and mesas yielded a perennial crop of cactus, and little of anything else.

The dwelling itself was nothing but a ramada, a term which has already been defined as a roof of branches; the walls were of rough, unplastered wattle work, of the thorny branches of the ironwood, no thicker than a man’s finger, which were lashed by thongs of raw-hide to horizontal slats of cottonwood; the floor of the bare earth, of course-that almost went without saying in those days-and the furniture rather too simple and meager even for Cathusians. As I recall the place in mind, there appears the long, unpainted table of pine, which served for meals or gambling, or the rare occasions when anyone took into his head the notion to write a letter. This room constituted the ranch in its entirety. Along the sides were scattered piles of blankets, which about midnight were spread out as couches for tired laborers or travelers. At one extremity, a meager array of Dutch ovens, flat-irons, and frying pans, revealed the “kitchen,” presided over by a hirsute, husky-voiced gnome, half Vulcan, half Centaur, who, immersed for most of the day in the mysteries of the larder, at stated intervals broke the stillness with the hoarse command:”Hash pile! Come a ‘runnin’!” There is hardly any use to describe the rifles, pistols, belts of ammunition, saddles, spurs and whips, which lined the walls and covered the joists and cross-beams; they were just as much part and parcel of the establishment as the dogs and ponies were. To keep out the sand-laden wind, which blew fiercely down from the north when it wasn’t blowing down with equal fierceness from the south, or the west, or the east, strips of canvas or gunny-sacking were tacked on the inner side of the cactus branches.

My first visit to this Elysium was made about midnight, and I remember that the meal served up was unique if not absolutely paralyzing on the score of originality. There was a plenty of Mexican figs in raw-hide sacks, fairly good tea, which had the one great merit of hotness, and lots and lots of whiskey; but there was no bread, as the supply of flour had run short, and, on account of the appearance of Apaches during the past few days, it had not been considered wise to send a party over to Phoenix for a replenishment. A wounded Mexican, lying down in the one corner, was proof that the story was well founded. All the light in the ranch was afforded by a single table lantern, by the flickering flames from the cook’s fire, and the glinting stars. In our saddlebags we had several slices of bacon and some biscuits, so we did not fare half so badly as we might have done. What caused me most wonder was why Duppa had ever concluded to live in such a forlorn spot; the best answer I could get to my queries was that the Apaches had attacked him at the moment he was approaching the banks of the Aqua Fria at this point, and after he had repulsed them he thought he would stay there merely to let them know he could do it. This explanation was satisfactory to every one else, and I had to accept it.”

Son of Baldwin-Francis and Catherine (Darrell) of Hollinghouse near Maidstone, Kent, England. Never married.

Listed, Territorial Census, April, 1864, at Prescott, A.T., occupation, Miner, resident in Arizona 5 months, property valued at $800; U.S. Census, August 30, 1970, at Salt River Valley, occupation, Farmer: Named Phoenix and Tempe, Died at Phoenix, Maricopa County, A.T. January 29, 1892, aged 59. Buried, Odd Fellow Section, Old City Cemetery, Phoenix, Arizona; remains removed to Greenwood Cemetery, April 25, 1901, where a monument was erected by Maricopa Chapter, D.A.R.."

"BYRON PHILLIPS DARRELL DUPPA January 30, 1892 Death has again claimed another pioneer of Arizona. This time it is Byron Phillips Darrell Duppa, whose spirit took flight about 9 o'clock yesterday morning. Mr. Duppa came to the territory in 1863 and located at Prescott. He remained there until 1866 when he started for Salt River Valley and located on the ranch now owned by Sheriff John Montgomery. Since disposing of his ranch, the deceased spent the greater part of his remaining days in prospecting and he held interest in a number of mines which are as yet undeveloped. Among his friends and confidants he was know as "Lord" Duppa and he often attracted attention by his eccentricity of manner. He was a man of more than ordinary ability, polished and highly educated. He made but few acquaintances and he took more real pleasure out of life when alone in some secluded spot with his favorite English newspapers and the works of standard authors. His home was made with Dr. and Mrs. O.J. Thilbodo, and the family nursed and watched over him during his fatal illness. It is said that the deceased gave Phoenix and Tempe their names. Mr. Duppa was born in Paris, France, October 9, 1832. His parents were English and it is said that there was a romance connected with his life which caused him to emigrate to this country. The funeral will take place from the residence of Dr. and Mrs. Thibodo tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock and the obsequies will be conducted by the pastor of the Episcopal Church. "

8-3-03 New Notes on Darrell Duppa: tall, slender, somewhat long curly hair. Had been a colonel in the English army. Duelled with another colonel and killed him. Duppa resigned his commission and left for America. Received $3,000 every 4 months through Dr. O.J.Thibodo a physician/druggist in Phoenix. Darrell often spent his money before receiving it.
Feb. 1, 1871, settled on 160 acre section west of Jake Starar's place which he later sold to John B. Montgomery, a piece later known as Montgomery's addition (Duppa-Montgomery Homestead 115 W. Sherman, Phoenix, AZ 85003. Phone: (602) 253-5557. Free admission. Open Sundays 2pm-5pm, Nov-May. This adobe dwelling may be the oldest home in Phoenix. Exhibits include period furniture and historical artifacts) to the city of Phoenix.
Next, he opened the Agua Fria Station (New River)on the Wickenburg-Phoenix road which was known to travelers for its good appointments.
March 1872, while cutting hay some distance from the station with his Mexican helpers, 14 Apaches attacked them and Duppa was wounded in the leg.
Duppa's library: Juvenal, Ovid, Homer in the original. Quoted Shakespeare by the hour from memory.
He went to Paris in his teens, graduating from one of the highest institutions of learning. Then to Spain. From Spain to Valparaiso, Chile where the ship wrecked and all died except Duppa. He wandered around South America. Then went to New Zealand, then Australia and from Australia to California.then to Arizona. "Why don't you go back to the old country?" "It is useless at this time of life. To do so would require a radical change in my life, and I have lived so many years on the frontiers of civilization that I now have no desire to again assume the life and the attendant."