Last update July  2009   Created by Tony Maple:  imlac2005@grapevine.com.au
From where did the “Blundell” name come?
Several members of the Australian Maple family have Blundell in their name, but there seems to be only distant connections between those people. So from where did the Blundell name come?
My theory is that it was adopted from a well-known English businessman, Member of Parliament, racehorse breeder and philanthropist, Sir J. Blundell Maple.  Blundell Maple began life in his father’s humble furniture store in the Tottenham Court Road. His business acumen enabled him to build a huge furniture empire. When he died in 1903 his estate was valued at over two million pounds.
His only surviving daughter, Grace Emily Blundell Maple, inherited his fortune and became one of the richest women in the  British Empire. She  married a minor German aristocrat and diplomat, Baron Hermann von Eckardstein, but they divorced in 1907 in  sensational circumstances.
In 1910 Grace married William Ernest George Archibald Weigall. In 1920 Weigall was knighted and appointed Governor of South Australia. Lady Weigall accompanied him and they lived in South Australia until April 1922.  During their time in South Australia the Weigall name was attached to several institutions, the Lady Weigall Hospital at Barmera being one example.
It seems likely that Australian Maple parents adopted the Blundell name from the well-known  English Maple family.
The wife of the Governor of South Australia, Lady Weigall, in 1922, (formerly Grace Emily Blundell Maple)
Sir J. Blundell Maple in Vanity Fair
Albert Jno Blundell MAPLE    b. 1889
Keith Blundell MAPLE-BROWN  b. 1903
Walter Blundell MAPLE    b. 1909
Lindsay Blundell MAPLE   b. 1918
Australian “Blundell” Maples
The Courier-Mail (Brisbane) Saturday 17 March 1934
ASHES WILLED FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
LONDON, March 15.
…Lady Weigall, the wife of a former Governor of South Australia, paid a glowing tribute to Australia and Australians. She remarked that as a proof of her sincerity she had directed in her will that following cremation her ashes should be scattered to the four winds from Mount Lofty overlooking the "loveliest city in Australia, where she had hundreds of dear friends.”