Thomas Kendall
Encyclopedia
Thomas Kendall was a New Zealand
lapsed missionary
, recorder of the Māori language
, schoolmaster
, arms dealer, and Pākehā Māori
.
, Lincolnshire
, England
, where influenced by his local minister Reverend William Myers he came under the spell of the evangelical revival within the Anglican Church. Dates of his early careers are disputed. While a teenager he moved with Myers to North Somercotes
, where he was assistant schoolmaster and also helped run Myers' 15 acres (6.1 ha) farm. Kendall also tutored a gentleman's children in Immingham
, where he met Jane Quickfall. On 21 November 1803, he married her and set up business as a draper and grocer. The business did not prosper.
In 1805, while attempting to sell a cargo of hops
in London, Kendall visited Bentinck Chapel, Marylebone
, and underwent some form of religious experience following the preaching of Basil Woodd and William Mann. He sold his business and moved his family to live in London, joining the congregation of that church and taking a job as a schoolmaster. In 1808, he decided to become a missionary.
More than 150 years previously, Dutch sailor Abel Tasman
and his crew had become the first Euroepeans to sight New Zealand
, and 40 years previously the coast had been mapped by Captain James Cook. However, extensive European contact with the Māori people had only begun in the previous decade. This was mostly by whalers operating out of shore bases; however, a few traders had formed a small settlement at Kororareka
in the natural harbour of the Bay of Islands
. This had gained a reputation for drunken lawlessness and corruption, with the sailors accused of encouraging prostitution and alcoholism among the Māori as well as kidnapping or press-ganging them. While there was some truth to this the sailors were in a poor position to present a threat to Maori, and lived largely by grace of these martial people. Nevertheless, as far as the Church Missionary Society was concerned, they were heathen souls to be converted.
A mission to New Zealand was promoted by Samuel Marsden
, a Church Missionary Society agent in New South Wales
. In 1809 Kendall was chosen to head a mission with William Hall and John King.
, including Ruatara
and the rising war leader of the Ngapuhi
, Hongi Hika
, who had helped pioneer the introduction of the musket
to Māori warfare. Hongi Hika and Ruatara travelled with Kendall when he returned to Australia on 22 August. The Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie
, gave permission for the foundation of the mission in November and appointed Kendall Justice of the Peace and magistrate. The governor also presumed to extend his own powers over New Zealand, issuing a proclamation that "natives are not to be carried off from New Zealand or the Bay of Islands by masters of vessels, or seamen or other persons without permission of chiefs, made in writing under hand of Revd Thomas Kendall, resident magistrate".
Thomas Kendall gained knowledge of the Māori language while in New Zealand and subsequently published, A Korao no New Zealand! The New Zealanders First Book! (1815).
and minor chief Waikato. It is possible that Hongi Hika
wished to visit Britain and from his perspective Kendall was accompanying him. Although the Church Missionary Society disapproved of the trip, Hongi Hika
and Waikato were a social success. Kendall was ordained a priest on 12 November 1820 by the bishop of Ely (though limited to New Zealand because of his lack of classical languages). The Rangatira and Kendall spent five months in Britain, mostly working with Lee in Cambridge, where Kendall's views about the language were justified (if some of his other theories were not; for example, Kendall believed the Māori were descended from Egyptians). Lee and Kendall's A grammar and vocabulary of the language of New Zealand was published in 1820.
While in England, Hongi Hika
was introduced to King George as the "King of New Zealand" and told Marsden's ban on trading muskets was not correct. He was shown over the Woolwich arsenal and given a suit of armour by the King along with other gifts. Many of these were traded for muskets as they stopped at Port Jackson
on their return voyage. In the following years, the guns helped him conquer a significant northern portion of the North Island in the Musket Wars
and made him a man of considerable importance.
to assert leadership among other settlers, but it was a friendship bought in part by supporting the trade in firearms for Hongi Hika
's warriors, a trade Kendall himself profited by. The Church Missionary Society were understandably opposed, but Kendall felt they failed to understand the practicality of the situation, where the Anglican mission existed at Hongi Hika
's pleasure. On 27 September 1821 all the missionaries signed a letter written by Kendall defending the gun trade, saying he could not dictate what was sold to Maori: "They dictate to us! It is evident that ambition and self interest are amongst the principal causes of our security amongst them."
Around this time Kendall had begun an affair with Tungaroa, one of his school pupils who worked as a servant in his household. She was the daughter of a Rakau, a prominent Māori tohunga
or priest and wise man. When the affair was discovered the pair eloped, living among nearby Maori. However, the relationship had ended by April 1822. Jane took Kendall back, although he was unapologetic. One sailor wrote his rationalisation of the relationship with a Māori woman was "in order to obtain accurate information as to their religious opinions and tenets, which he would in no other way have obtained". Kendall indeed began a serious flirtation with Māori religious beliefs, an exploration he set out in a series of seven letters between 1822 and 1824. In 1822 he wrote that the "sublimity" of Māori spirituality saw him "almost completely turned from a Christian to a Heathen".
As a result of the letter of 27 September 1821 the Church Missionary Society dismissed Kendall in August 1822. Samuel Marsden
, who also knew of Kendall's affair and his close relationship with Hongi Hika
, returned to New Zealand in August 1823 to sack him in person. When the Kendalls' ship, the "Brampton", ran aground while leaving, Kendall decided to stay, claiming divine intervention. In a letter of 25 July 1824 to the Church Missionary Society, Kendall confessed his past "errors".
, Chile
. This job did not last, and his family settled in New South Wales, where he obtained a grant of 1280 acres (5.2 km²), including large stands of cedar at Narrawallee Creek, Ulladulla. His son Thomas Surfleet Kendall acquired the neighbouring farm. He bought the cutter "Brisbane".
Thomas Kendall died in 1832 when the "Brisbane" sank with all hands off Sydney while bringing wood and cheese from his farm to market.
In the decade after Hongi Hika
died and Kendall left in 1825, widescale conversion of Māori to Christianity occurred. Kendall attempted to continue his work on the Māori language in Australia, having drafted a substantially improved Māori grammar, but Marsden prevented its publication.
He had ten children by Jane Quickfall, eight of whom survived him:
One of his grandsons, Henry Kendall
, was an Australian poet.
A biography is The Legacy of Guilt: a life of Thomas Kendall by Judith Binney.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
lapsed missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
, recorder of the Māori language
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
, schoolmaster
Schoolmaster
A schoolmaster, or simply master, once referred to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British public schools, but is generally obsolete elsewhere.The teacher in charge of a school is the headmaster...
, arms dealer, and Pākehā Māori
Pakeha Maori
Pākehā Māori is a term used to describe early European settlers in New Zealand who lived among the Māori. Some were kept by the Māori as slaves, while others settled in Māori communities by choice, many being runaway seamen or escaped convicts...
.
Early life: Lincolnshire and London, 1778-1813
A younger son of farmer Edward Kendall and Susanna Surflit, Thomas Kendall was born in 1778. He grew up in North ThoresbyNorth Thoresby
North Thoresby is a village in Lincolnshire situated between Louth and Grimsby, approximately from each with a population of 2,062 with 50.5% of the population being over 60....
, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where influenced by his local minister Reverend William Myers he came under the spell of the evangelical revival within the Anglican Church. Dates of his early careers are disputed. While a teenager he moved with Myers to North Somercotes
North Somercotes
North Somercotes is a large coastal village with a population of approximately 1800 people, located in the Marshes area of Lincolnshire, England.- General :...
, where he was assistant schoolmaster and also helped run Myers' 15 acres (6.1 ha) farm. Kendall also tutored a gentleman's children in Immingham
Immingham
Immingham is a town in North East Lincolnshire, located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary...
, where he met Jane Quickfall. On 21 November 1803, he married her and set up business as a draper and grocer. The business did not prosper.
In 1805, while attempting to sell a cargo of hops
Hops
Hops are the female flower clusters , of a hop species, Humulus lupulus. They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, to which they impart a bitter, tangy flavor, though hops are also used for various purposes in other beverages and herbal medicine...
in London, Kendall visited Bentinck Chapel, Marylebone
Marylebone
Marylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It is sometimes written as St. Marylebone or Mary-le-bone....
, and underwent some form of religious experience following the preaching of Basil Woodd and William Mann. He sold his business and moved his family to live in London, joining the congregation of that church and taking a job as a schoolmaster. In 1808, he decided to become a missionary.
The Church Missionary Society
The Anglican Church Missionary Society was, at the time, a powerful organisation with a number of political connections, including the Colonial Secretary. It had recently adopted an experimental policy of sending lay preachers with practical skills to new missions, with the idea of bringing native peoples the benefits of English culture and religion – and the hope that men who could make their living from a trade might be welcomed by indigenous people where theologians were not.More than 150 years previously, Dutch sailor Abel Tasman
Abel Tasman
Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the VOC . His was the first known European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand and to sight the Fiji islands...
and his crew had become the first Euroepeans to sight New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, and 40 years previously the coast had been mapped by Captain James Cook. However, extensive European contact with the Māori people had only begun in the previous decade. This was mostly by whalers operating out of shore bases; however, a few traders had formed a small settlement at Kororareka
Russell, New Zealand
Russell, formerly known as Kororareka, was the first permanent European settlement and sea port in New Zealand. It is situated in the Bay of Islands, in the far north of the North Island. As at the 2006 census it had a resident population of 816, an increase of 12 from 2001...
in the natural harbour of the Bay of Islands
Bay of Islands
The Bay of Islands is an area in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located 60 km north-west of Whangarei, it is close to the northern tip of the country....
. This had gained a reputation for drunken lawlessness and corruption, with the sailors accused of encouraging prostitution and alcoholism among the Māori as well as kidnapping or press-ganging them. While there was some truth to this the sailors were in a poor position to present a threat to Maori, and lived largely by grace of these martial people. Nevertheless, as far as the Church Missionary Society was concerned, they were heathen souls to be converted.
A mission to New Zealand was promoted by Samuel Marsden
Samuel Marsden
Samuel Marsden was an English born Anglican cleric and a prominent member of the Church Missionary Society, believed to have introduced Christianity to New Zealand...
, a Church Missionary Society agent in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. In 1809 Kendall was chosen to head a mission with William Hall and John King.
First trip to New Zealand, 1813-14
After some delays and fundraising, Kendall and his family left for Sydney in May 1813. After further delays in Australia, Kendall and Hall took Marsden's vessel, the Active, and set out on 14 March 1814 on an exploratory journey to the Bay of Islands. They met RangatiraRangatira
Rangatira are the hereditary Māori leaders of hapū, and were described by ethnologists such as Elsdon Best as chieftains . Ideally, rangatira were people of great practical wisdom who held authority on behalf of the tribe and maintained boundaries between a tribe's land and that of other tribes...
, including Ruatara
Ruatara (chief)
Ruatara, was a chief of the Ngāpuhi iwi in New Zealand. He introduced European crops to New Zealand and was host to the first Christian missionary, Samuel Marsden....
and the rising war leader of the Ngapuhi
Ngapuhi
Ngāpuhi is a Māori iwi located in the Northland region of New Zealand, and centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands and Whāngārei.Ngāpuhi has the largest affiliation of any New Zealand iwi, with 122,214 people registered , and formed from 150 hapu, with 55 marae.-Foundations:The founding...
, Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika was a New Zealand Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāpuhi iwi . Hongi Hika used European weapons to overrun much of northern New Zealand in the first of the Musket Wars...
, who had helped pioneer the introduction of the musket
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
to Māori warfare. Hongi Hika and Ruatara travelled with Kendall when he returned to Australia on 22 August. The Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie
Lachlan Macquarie
Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB , was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony...
, gave permission for the foundation of the mission in November and appointed Kendall Justice of the Peace and magistrate. The governor also presumed to extend his own powers over New Zealand, issuing a proclamation that "natives are not to be carried off from New Zealand or the Bay of Islands by masters of vessels, or seamen or other persons without permission of chiefs, made in writing under hand of Revd Thomas Kendall, resident magistrate".
Thomas Kendall gained knowledge of the Māori language while in New Zealand and subsequently published, A Korao no New Zealand! The New Zealanders First Book! (1815).
Triumph in England, 1819-21
To defend his work Kendall made an unauthorised return to London in 1820, travelling with Hongi HikaHongi Hika
Hongi Hika was a New Zealand Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāpuhi iwi . Hongi Hika used European weapons to overrun much of northern New Zealand in the first of the Musket Wars...
and minor chief Waikato. It is possible that Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika was a New Zealand Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāpuhi iwi . Hongi Hika used European weapons to overrun much of northern New Zealand in the first of the Musket Wars...
wished to visit Britain and from his perspective Kendall was accompanying him. Although the Church Missionary Society disapproved of the trip, Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika was a New Zealand Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāpuhi iwi . Hongi Hika used European weapons to overrun much of northern New Zealand in the first of the Musket Wars...
and Waikato were a social success. Kendall was ordained a priest on 12 November 1820 by the bishop of Ely (though limited to New Zealand because of his lack of classical languages). The Rangatira and Kendall spent five months in Britain, mostly working with Lee in Cambridge, where Kendall's views about the language were justified (if some of his other theories were not; for example, Kendall believed the Māori were descended from Egyptians). Lee and Kendall's A grammar and vocabulary of the language of New Zealand was published in 1820.
While in England, Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika was a New Zealand Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāpuhi iwi . Hongi Hika used European weapons to overrun much of northern New Zealand in the first of the Musket Wars...
was introduced to King George as the "King of New Zealand" and told Marsden's ban on trading muskets was not correct. He was shown over the Woolwich arsenal and given a suit of armour by the King along with other gifts. Many of these were traded for muskets as they stopped at Port Jackson
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...
on their return voyage. In the following years, the guns helped him conquer a significant northern portion of the North Island in the Musket Wars
Musket Wars
The Musket Wars were a series of five hundred or more battles mainly fought between various hapū , sometimes alliances of pan-hapū groups and less often larger iwi of Māori between 1807 and 1842, in New Zealand.Northern tribes such as the rivals Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Whātua were the first to obtain...
and made him a man of considerable importance.
"Almost completely turned from a Christian to a Heathen", 1821-25
Kendall returned to New Zealand in July 1821. Kendall relied upon his friendship with Hongi HikaHongi Hika
Hongi Hika was a New Zealand Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāpuhi iwi . Hongi Hika used European weapons to overrun much of northern New Zealand in the first of the Musket Wars...
to assert leadership among other settlers, but it was a friendship bought in part by supporting the trade in firearms for Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika was a New Zealand Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāpuhi iwi . Hongi Hika used European weapons to overrun much of northern New Zealand in the first of the Musket Wars...
's warriors, a trade Kendall himself profited by. The Church Missionary Society were understandably opposed, but Kendall felt they failed to understand the practicality of the situation, where the Anglican mission existed at Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika was a New Zealand Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāpuhi iwi . Hongi Hika used European weapons to overrun much of northern New Zealand in the first of the Musket Wars...
's pleasure. On 27 September 1821 all the missionaries signed a letter written by Kendall defending the gun trade, saying he could not dictate what was sold to Maori: "They dictate to us! It is evident that ambition and self interest are amongst the principal causes of our security amongst them."
Around this time Kendall had begun an affair with Tungaroa, one of his school pupils who worked as a servant in his household. She was the daughter of a Rakau, a prominent Māori tohunga
Tohunga
In the culture of the Māori of New Zealand, a tohunga is an expert practitioner of any skill or art, religious or otherwise. Tohunga may include expert priests, healers, navigators, carvers, builders, teachers and advisors. The equivalent term in Hawaiian culture is kahuna...
or priest and wise man. When the affair was discovered the pair eloped, living among nearby Maori. However, the relationship had ended by April 1822. Jane took Kendall back, although he was unapologetic. One sailor wrote his rationalisation of the relationship with a Māori woman was "in order to obtain accurate information as to their religious opinions and tenets, which he would in no other way have obtained". Kendall indeed began a serious flirtation with Māori religious beliefs, an exploration he set out in a series of seven letters between 1822 and 1824. In 1822 he wrote that the "sublimity" of Māori spirituality saw him "almost completely turned from a Christian to a Heathen".
As a result of the letter of 27 September 1821 the Church Missionary Society dismissed Kendall in August 1822. Samuel Marsden
Samuel Marsden
Samuel Marsden was an English born Anglican cleric and a prominent member of the Church Missionary Society, believed to have introduced Christianity to New Zealand...
, who also knew of Kendall's affair and his close relationship with Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika was a New Zealand Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāpuhi iwi . Hongi Hika used European weapons to overrun much of northern New Zealand in the first of the Musket Wars...
, returned to New Zealand in August 1823 to sack him in person. When the Kendalls' ship, the "Brampton", ran aground while leaving, Kendall decided to stay, claiming divine intervention. In a letter of 25 July 1824 to the Church Missionary Society, Kendall confessed his past "errors".
Chile and Australia, 1825-32
The Kendall family remained living in the Bay of Islands until 1825, when he accepted a position as clergyman at the British consulate at ValparaisoValparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
. This job did not last, and his family settled in New South Wales, where he obtained a grant of 1280 acres (5.2 km²), including large stands of cedar at Narrawallee Creek, Ulladulla. His son Thomas Surfleet Kendall acquired the neighbouring farm. He bought the cutter "Brisbane".
Thomas Kendall died in 1832 when the "Brisbane" sank with all hands off Sydney while bringing wood and cheese from his farm to market.
In the decade after Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika was a New Zealand Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāpuhi iwi . Hongi Hika used European weapons to overrun much of northern New Zealand in the first of the Musket Wars...
died and Kendall left in 1825, widescale conversion of Māori to Christianity occurred. Kendall attempted to continue his work on the Māori language in Australia, having drafted a substantially improved Māori grammar, but Marsden prevented its publication.
He had ten children by Jane Quickfall, eight of whom survived him:
- Suzannah (?1804–1881)
- Elizabeth Jane (?1805–1870)
- Thomas Surfleet (1807–1883)
- Basil (1809–1852)
- Joseph (1811–1865)
- John (1813–1813)
- Samuel (1816–1827)
- John (1818–1895)
- Lawrence (1819–1881)
- Edward (1822–1902)
One of his grandsons, Henry Kendall
Henry Kendall
Henry Kendall may refer to:*Henry Kendall , British stage and film character actor*Henry Kendall , Australian ornithologist*Henry Kendall , Australian poet...
, was an Australian poet.
A biography is The Legacy of Guilt: a life of Thomas Kendall by Judith Binney.
External links
from the Dictionary of New Zealand BiographyDictionary of New Zealand Biography
The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography contains biographies for over 3,000 New Zealanders. It is available in both English and Maori. All volumes of the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography are available online....
- Thomas Kendall in 1966 An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand