Darrell Duppa

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Lord Byron Phillips Darrell Duppa (October 9, 1832–January 30, 1892) was a pioneer best known for naming Phoenix, Arizona. Born in Paris, France as the son of the British Consul there, he eventually moved to the United States after resigning his commission as a Colonel in the British Army as a result of a fatal duel, and traveled to Prescott in 1863, then the capital of the disputed Arizona Territory. By then he was fluent in five languages and the Classics, carried a well-worn library with him: Juvenal, Ovid, Homer in the original, and could quote Shakespeare by the hour from memory.

Duppa is recognized as one of the founders of Phoenix, Arizona, with his friend Jack Swilling - and eventually built a ranch north of Phoenix. Phoenix was founded in 1868 (and later incorporated in 1881), and the name proposed by Duppa related back to the story of the mythical Phoenix's rebirth from the ashes. The basis being the rebirth of a city of canals, rebuilt on the site of the ancient Hohokam canal systems that dated back to about 700-1400 AD.

He also gave the name of the Phoenix suburb Hayden's Ferry the name of Tempe, after how the delta of the Salt River in Hayden's Ferry reminded him of the Vale of Tempe in Greece.

He also founded New River, north of Phoenix. He was known for his hospitality, polish and toughness.