Thomas Kendall

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Thomas Kendall (1820)

Thomas Kendall (* 1778 in North Thoresby , Lincolnshire , England ; † August 1832 in Jervis Bay , Australia ) was an Anglo-New Zealand missionary and linguist who settled in New Zealand on the mission of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) , where the first Victorian settled founded similar Sunday schools and published the first dictionary Māori - English in 1815 .

Live and act

Early years

Thomas Kendall was on 13 December in 1778 in North Thoresby in the English county of Lincolnshire baptized. Although his date of birth is unknown, his year of birth can be assumed to be 1778. His father, Edward Kendall , late married a much younger woman, Susanna Surfit (or Sorflitt ). Thomas was probably the fifth child of seven in the family and was raised religiously by his mother.

At the age of 14 he left home to find work. He found employment with a lawyer in whose family he also lived. A year later he switched to teaching at a village school in Immingham . William Myers , the vicar of the village, was impressed with his intelligence and recommended that he study theology and Latin . At the age of 18, Kendall followed his tutor Myers to North Somercotes in Lincolnshire and assisted him at school. In addition, he had 15 acres of farmland available for cultivation.

On November 21, 1803 he married Jane Quick case in Kirmington ( North Lincolnshire ). They had nine children together. Kendall became a grocer and self-employed textile merchant in North Thoresby , but could not support his family from it. Following a speculative deal, he traveled to London in November 1805 , where he came into contact with Reverend Basil Woodd , a prominent representative of the revival movement .

London

Enthusiastic about Woodd's messages, he sold his business in January 1806 and went with his family to London, where he became a supporter of the Bentinck Chapel parish and was supposedly reborn there . He earned his family support as a teacher.

Rooted in deep religiosity and guided by ideals shaped by illusions , Kendall applied to the Church Mission Society (CMS) in 1808 to become a missionary settler in New Zealand. Samuel Marsden , clergyman and representative of the CMS from New South Wales , was able to convince the CMS of the sense of a mission project in New Zealand and traveled back to Sydney in August 1809 with William Hall and John King , but without Kendall, to tackle the project in New Zealand .

Instead, Kendall was instructed to become familiar with the Church Mission Society's new teaching methods , based on the methods of Andrew Bell and Joseph Lancaster . Kendall continued to work as a teacher until May 1813, when he was allowed to travel.

New Zealand

Thomas Kendall together with the Māori chiefs Waikato and Hongi Hika (1820)

After arriving in Sydney , Kendall and his family of seven had to wait until March 14, 1814, until Samuel Marsden, the head of the mission project, finally brought him to New Zealand. On June 10, when they arrived in the Bay of Islands , Kendall and Hall met the two Māori chiefs Hongi Hika , leader of Ngāpuhi Iwi, and his nephew Ruatara, representative of Hikutu Hapū .

Accompanied by Māori chiefs Hongi Hika , Ruatara , Korokoro and Tui , they traveled back to Sydney on August 22nd to meet with Marsden. After Marsden had come to an agreement with the Chiefs on the mission project and the possibility of trade, Kendall, Hall and John King were able to travel to New Zealand on November 28, 1814 under Marsden's direction. With the approval of the Governor of New South Wales and under the protection of the two Chiefs Hongi Hika , Ruatara , Marsden opened the first mission station in the northern Bay of Islands in December 1814 and Kendall became its director. Previously, Governor Lachlan Macquarie had appointed him with effect from November 12, 1814 as Justice of the Peace ( Justice of the Peace ) for New Zealand.

Kendall studied the Māori language from the beginning and published a simple vocabulary and textbook in Sydney in 1815 under the title " A korao no New Zealand - New Zealand's first book ". On August 12, 1816, he opened a first school in Rangihoua Bay with 33 students, but had to close it again at the end of 1818 due to lack of support.

In 1818 he sent a manuscript of his continued linguistic research to the Church Mission Society in London. But Cambridge University professor Samuel Lee Oriental linguist and former protégé of CMS had doubts about the accuracy of Kendall's notes.

Thereupon Kendal traveled unauthorized to London in 1820 with Hongi Hika and Waikato , Chief of Rangihaua . Despite the disapproval from the CMS, Kendall received recognition and wide attention. Together with the Māori chiefs , he and Professor Lee prepared a dictionary of the Maori language. The work was published in the same year under the name "A Grammar and Vocabulary of the Language of New Zealand" by the CMS in London.

On November 12, 1820, while he was still in London, Bishop Ely appointed him priest for New Zealand. Hongi Hika and Waikato were introduced to King George IV and the painter James Barry portrayed Kendall with the two Māori chiefs .

In July 1821, Kendall returned to New Zealand. Although he continued to be friends with Hongi Hika , he was increasingly losing recognition and support from the European settlers. In the course of the musket wars , he advocated the arms trade, in which he was also involved. In late 1821, Kendall had an affair with Rakau , Rangihoua's 17-year-old daughter . Although he ended the relationship in April 1822, Kendall was no longer sustainable for Samuel Marsden and the Church Mission Society . The affair, the arms trade, the tensions between him and the other missionaries and his letters to the CMS, in which he explained his view of mythology and worldview of the Māori , came to an end in August 1822 with his release. Marsden, who had delivered the release himself, tried to get Kendall to leave the country. But Kendall stayed and moved to Matahui in the southern part of the Bay of Islands district.

Despite his release, he continued to send seven letters, some drawings, and three deliveries of Māori carvings to the Church Mission Society in London between 1822 and 1824 . Lack of recognition and the fact that his family was also socially isolated kept Kendall looking for a change.

Chile and New South Wales

When a position as an employee at the British consulate in Valparaíso was advertised, he applied with success and went to Chile with his family in February 1825 . He worked there a. a. as a tutor for the consul's children and as an unofficial pastor for the UK local church. But his health, combined with the climatic conditions, forced him to leave Chile again in 1827. He went to New South Wales with his family, but Basil , his second son, stayed.

Kendall got the rights to 1280 acres of land on Narrawallee Creek near Ulladulla and started trading in cedar in Sydney. He also continued to research the Maori language, but Marsden successfully prevented any attempt at publication.

Kendall drowned in the wreck of his ship in August 1832. The schooner Brisbane capsized in Jervis Bay . The family stayed in Ulladulla. His son Thomas Surfleet Kendall also owned land there. His second son Basil was the father of the Australian poet Henry Kendall (1839-1882).

Works

  • Thomas Kendall: A korao no New Zealand - New Zealand's first book . printed by G. Howe, Sydney 1815 (English, Kendall's book was a vocabulary and introductory textbook for the Maori language. He wrote it in English and Italian. 200 copies were printed).
  • Thomas Kendall, Samuel Lee: A Grammar and Vocabulary of the Language of New Zealand . Church Missionary Society, London 1820 (English).

literature

  • Randal Mathews Burdon: Thomas Kendall . In: New Zealand Notables . Volume 3. Caxton Press, Christchurch 1950 (English, Biographical Essays).
  • Judith Binney : The Legacy of Guilt - A Life of Thomas Kendall . Bridget Williams Books, Wellington 2005, ISBN 1-877242-33-0 (English, first published in 1968 by Auckland University Press).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Māori New Testament Launch - Te Kawenata Hou. (PDF (102 kB)) Bible Society New Zealand, archived from the original on May 23, 2010 ; accessed on September 18, 2014 (English, original website no longer available).
  2. ^ Judith Binney: Kendall, Thomas. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, accessed January 11, 2011 ( Judith Binney is the only reliable source to date that indicates December 13th as the day of baptism. In the 18th century, it was uncommon for church records to give birth dates.) .
  3. ^ Judith Binney: Kendall, Thomas. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, September 1, 2010, accessed January 11, 2011 .
  4. ↑ a b Kendall Family. (PDF; 21 kB) University of Wollongong, accessed on January 11, 2011 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Kendall, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Anglo-New Zealand missionary and linguist
DATE OF BIRTH 1778
PLACE OF BIRTH North Thoresby , Lincolnshire , England
DATE OF DEATH August 1832
Place of death Jervis Bay , Australia