Musket Missionary: the story of Thomas Kendall (Part 1)

Aug 29, 2024

Peter Lineham, Professor Emeritus of Religious History at Massey University, sheds light on the tumultuous life of early missionary Thomas Kendall. Kendall is known for facilitating the musket trade that fueled the bloody Musket Wars in New Zealand. This conversation navigates his conflicting identities as a missionary and arms dealer. Lineham also discusses Kendall's role in transforming Te Reo Māori into a written language and his spiritual shift from Christianity towards Māori beliefs, unveiling a complex legacy interwoven with cultural exchange.

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ANECDOTE

The Broken Cask

Reverend Samuel Marsden was informed of a broken cask addressed to Thomas Kendall.
The cask, labeled "Leathers," actually contained muskets, infuriating Marsden.

INSIGHT

Musket Wars' Impact

The Musket Wars were some of the bloodiest in New Zealand's history, causing an estimated 20,000 Māori deaths.
This was a significant portion of the total Māori population, estimated at around 100,000.

ANECDOTE

Kendall's Troubles

Thomas Kendall had an affair with a young Māori woman and nearly got murdered by her fiancé.
He was also known for being an arms-dealing missionary with a sharp tongue.

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Early Missionary Thomas Kendall facilitated the sale of hundreds of muskets to Ngāpuhi Māori, helping to enable the bloodiest wars in New Zealand history. But there's more to Kendall's story. He was instrumental in the transformation of Te Reo Māori into a written language, and became so fascinated by Māori spirituality that he (in his own words) "almost completely turned from a Christian to a Heathen".

Thomas Kendall was among the very first missionaries to arrive in Aotearoa. In 1814 the devoted Calvinist and former schoolteacher threw caution to the wind, taking himself, his wife and five children to live alongside Māori at Rangihoua in the Bay of Islands.

Kendall had dreams of founding a school, teaching Māori to read and write - and eventually converting them to the Christian faith.

It all went wrong almost immediately. The school failed, Kendall fought bitterly with his fellow missionaries, his wife gave birth to another man's child, and he swiftly discovered the only way for the mission to survive in the Bay of Islands was by trading muskets to Māori - particularly the famous Ngāpuhi Rangatira Hongi Hika.

Over the next decade, Thomas Kendall facilitated the sale of hundreds of muskets to Māori, helping to enable the bloodiest wars in New Zealand history: The Musket Wars.

However, Kendall's most important legacy was formed during a trip to England in 1820 alongside Hongi Hika and another Ngāpuhi chief, Waikato. Together with an academic at Cambridge University, Kendall, Hongi and Waikato would create the first dictionary and grammar of Te Reo Māori.

In the first of a two part series of Black Sheep, William Ray speaks to religious historian Peter Lineham Professor Emeritus at Massey University and Ngāti Rarawa kaumatua Haami Piripi about the complex, fraught story of Thomas Kendall.

Further reading:

The Legacy of Guilt: a life of Thomas Kendall by Judith Binney
Thomas Kendall - Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
Hongi Hika - Dictionary of New Zealand Biography

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details