Thomas Kendall

American physicist (1926–)

Though his education was slight and he was plagued throughout his life with a variety of personal troubles, Thomas Henry Kendall (1839-1882) perseveredwith his verse to become Australia's best known 19th century poet. Kendall grew up on the southern coast of the continent and drew his inspiration from the surrounding natural environment as well as the local traditions.

Early Life

Kendall was born on April 18, 1839, in Kirmington, Australia, a twin son of Basil Kendall and Melinda McNally. Kendall's given names were Thomas Henry, but he was often referred to as Henry Clarence Kendall. With twin brother Basil, he was brought up among the mountains and cool rainforests of the south coast of New South Wales. Like his father before him, Basil Kendall, the poet's father, had led an adventurous life at sea before becoming a farmer. Basil and his wife settled on farmland in Kirmington, living in a primitive cottage where their sons were born.

In 1844, Basil Kendall moved his family to the coastal regions of Illawarra in the Clarence River district. Before he got married, Basil Kendall had lost almost all of one lung and, by this time, his health had begun to fail. He found it hard to support his family, which had grown to include three daughters. He died in 1851 when Henry Kendall was 12 years old.

After Basil Kendall's death, Kendall's mother moved her children back to the south coast, near Woolongong, and the family was soon scattered, the children taken in by various relatives who cared for them. Henry and his brother lived with relatives on the South Coast in Illawarra. The area was said to be especially beautiful, and the environment made an enormous impression on Kendall. The lush and beautiful surroundings influenced some of his later landscape poetry, especially in such works as "Bell Birds," "September in Australia," and "Narrara Creek."

In 1855, after a brief education, the 14-year-old Kendall followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and went to sea. He worked as a cabin boy on a whaling brig, the Plumstead, which was owned by his uncle Joseph. During the two-year voyage in the South Seas, the vessel stopped at many islands. Like the landscape of Australia, the sublime beauty of the Pacific scenery made a powerful impression on Kendall, and he referred to his experiences in two of his poems, "The Ballad of Tanna" and "Beyond Kerguelen." He found the rigors of life at sea, however, to be extremely harsh, and most of his memories of the experience were bad ones. This reaction to the experience seemed in keeping with his natural disposition. All throughout his life, even when he was a young boy, Kendall was, for the most part, unhappy. As he grew older, he was increasingly shy, inclined toward melancholy, and possessed of a keen ambition that often made him feel thwarted in his efforts. These qualities would contribute to a difficult adult life.

Started Writing Poetry

In March of 1857, he returned to Australia. Living in Sydney, and only 16 years old, he became the primary support of his mother and sisters, working at various jobs including errand boy, shop assistant, and public servant. Kendall was very devoted to his mother, who was an attractive, strong-willed woman who recognized in her son a gift for written verse. Kendall credited her with his later literary accomplishments. He always felt that he inherited his talent from her, and she helped with his education and encouraged him to write poetry.

By 1859, Kendall's poetry began to appear in newspapers and magazines published in Sydney and Melbourne. His first verse that appeared in print, published under the title "O tell me, ye breezes," appeared in The Australian Home Companion and Band of Hope Journal.

His poetry drew favorable notices in Australia and England and would lead to important and supportive friendships with people such as Henry Parkes, an editor; Charles Harpur, a well-known Australian poet; and Daniel Henry Deniehy, an orator and critic. In 1859, Parkes, then the editor of The Empire, a newspaper, published a poem, "Silent Years," signed by one "Mr. H. Kendall, N.A.P." Kendall had attached those initials to his name. They stood for Native Australian Poet. The next year, Parkes published Kendall's verses on the wreck of the Dunbar, titled "The Merchant Ship," which Kendall had written when he was sixteen.

Established Important Friendships

At the time, Kendall also sent some poems to The Sydney Morning Herald, which gained the attention of Henry Halloran, a civil servant and amateur writer, who contacted Kendall and tried to help him. Later, it was said of Kendall that he may have been unlucky in life but lucky in friendships, which proved beneficial to a young man who was shy and nervous.

During this period, Kendall's mother introduced him to Sheridan Moore, a well-known literary critic. Moore admired Kendall's work and helped to get his poetry published. Moore later would introduce Kendall to James Lionel Michael, a Grafton solicitor, who hired Kendall as his clerk. Michael was a cultured, literate man who also wrote poetry. Both a friend and an employer, Michael opened his huge, personal library to Kendall and encouraged the young man in his own poetic pursuits.

After employment in Grafton, Kendall had a somewhat nomadic work history and changed jobs and locations several times. For a while, he work in Dungog on the Williams River and then at Scone, where he only worked for a month or two before he returned to Sydney. In October of 1862, while living in Sydney, Kendall published his first volume of poetry, Poems and Songs. The collection gained favorable notices and proved to be popular.

More good reviews followed, including ones for his poem "The Empire" as well as for his work that appeared in the literary publication Athenaeum over the next four years. In 1866, his growing body of work received high praise by G. B. Barton in his Poets and Prose Writers of New South Wales.

In August of 1863, Parkes used his influence to secure Kendall a clerkship in the Surveyor-General's Department in Sydney at 150 pounds a year. In 1866, he was transferred to the Colonial Secretary's Office, where he earned 200 pounds a year. He combined these positions with some journalism work and continued writing poetry. His poetry from this period would later be published in two volumes, Leaves from an Australian Forest (1869) and Songs from the Mountains (1880). The poems demonstrated his appreciation of nature and of the beautiful Australian landscape and bush.

Marriage and Financial Difficulties

In 1867, despite his natural shyness, he gave a series of lectures at the Sydney School of Arts. After one of these lectures, coincidentally titled "Love, Courtship and Marriage," Kendall met Charlotte Rutter, daughter of a government medical officer and accompanied her home. They immediately fell in love and married the next year, the same year that Kendall received a prize for the best Australian poem for "A Death in the Bush." The contest's judge, author Richard Hengist Horne, wrote an article in Melbourne and Sydney newspapers in which he praised Kendall as a true poet. He also stated that if the contest had awarded three prizes instead of one, Kendall would have received the other two prizes for his other submissions, "The Glen of Arrawatta" and "Dungog."

The award and the praise bolstered Kendall's confidence enough that he decided he wanted to work exclusively as a writer. He resigned his post in the Colonial Secretary's Office in March of 1869 and moved to Melbourne with his wife and their recently born daughter. Kendall opted to move to that city because, at the time, it was a center of literary activity. Still, he found it difficult to establish himself on his writing alone. He tried to work as a full-time journalist, but his efforts met with little success. His second volume of poetry, Leaves from Australian Forests, received good reviews but made little money.

Suffered a Nervous Breakdown

Besides the financial problems, Kendall experienced some personal tragedies. In April of 1869, Michael, his friend and former employer, was found dead in the Clarence River. Also, in June, Harpur, the fellow poet who had encouraged Kendall, passed away. Meanwhile, personal problems plagued the troubled poet. By 1870, he and his wife lived in poverty, and he was suffering a drinking problem. After they returned to New South Wales that year, Kendall suffered a nervous breakdown and was placed in an institution.

When healthy again, Kendall again sought work as a journalist, writing prose and poetry, but his earnings were small. He also established friendships with George Gordon McCrae and Lindsay Gordon, two leading figures of the Melbourne literary scene. The friendships provided Kendall with encouragement but also brought him sadness. Kendall and Gordon had become very close, so it was devastating to Kendall when Gordon committed suicide at the age of 37.

The next two years were particularly troublesome for Kendall. The depression brought on by his friend's death further darkened his already melancholy spirit. In addition, his poor business sense and his alcoholism resulted in poverty that in turn led to a temporary breakdown of his marriage. Then, in 1871, his first-born daughter, Araluen, died. This, combined with his lack of success, led him increasingly to seek solace in alcohol. He returned to Sydney a broken man, and he would spend periods in a Sydney asylum seeking a cure for his addiction.

Attained Peace in Later Years

Fortunately for Kendall he recovered, thanks to the efforts of his devoted wife, who reconciled with him, and the help of some friends. He emerged from the darkest period of his life to find personal peace and produce his best poetic works.

Those friends - George and Michale Fagan - were timber merchants in Brisbane, and they took care of Kendall until he was well enough to take a position as storekeeper with their company. For the remaining years of his relatively short life, Kendall lived a tranquil existence with his wife and family. By this time, Kendall had two sons, and in 1876 he would have another son and a daughter.

During these final years, Kendall received some gratifying recognition for his talents. In 1879, he wrote the lyrics for the opening Cantata sung at the Sydney International Exhibition. He also won a prize for a poem he wrote about the Exhibition. In addition, his third collection of poetry, Songs from the Mountains (1890) earned him a huge profit. This last book published while he was still alive is generally regarded to include his best work, reflecting a greater command of the craft and demonstrating a high level of imagination.

In 1881, his old friend Parkes helped him secure the position of Inspectorship of State Forests at 500 pounds a year. The experience Kendall gained in the Fagan brothers' timber business proved especially helpful. However, by this time in his life, Kendall's health began failing, and the outdoor work drained him physically. During one of his forest inspections, he caught a chill that affected his lungs and brought about tuberculosis. He went to Sydney for treatment, but he died there on August 1, 1882, in his wife's arms. He was only 43 years old. He was buried at Waverley, which overlooked the ocean.

Kendall's wife survived him for more than 40 years. In all, they had seven children. The town Kendall in northern New South Wales was named after him. Kendall has been remembered long after his death, and a compilation of his work, The Poetical Works of Henry Kendall, was published in 1966.

Today, many regard his poetry to be the best produced by any Australian poet, and individual poems have been described as "singing pictures." His poetry has also been described as mellifluous and highly descriptive. Modern scholars marvel that he was able to produce such a copious and effective body of work in light of his personal troubles as well as the harsh surroundings of 19th century Australia.

Books

Kendall, Henry, Leaves from Australian Forests: Poetical Works of Henry Kendall, Lloyd O'Neil, 1970.

Online

"Henry Kendall: Australian Poet," ImagesAustralia.comhttp://www.imagesaustralia.com/henrykendall.htm (March 15, 2003).

"Henry Clarence Kendall," Bartleby.com,http://www.bartleby.com/224/1202.html (March 15, 2003).

"The Poems of Henry Kendall," Project Book Read,http://tanaya.net/Books/phknd10/index1.html (March 15, 2003).

Stevens, Bertram, "Biographical Notes, Henry Kendall-Preface, " http://www.krackatinni.netfirms.com/Henry-Kendall.html (March 15, 2003).

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Thomas Kendall (13 December 1778 – 6 August 1832) was a New Zealand schoolmaster, lapsed missionary, recorder of the Māori language, arms dealer, and Pākehā Māori.

Contents 1 Early life: Lincolnshire and London, 1778-1813 2 The Church Missionary Society 3 First trip to New Zealand, 1813-14 4 The mission, 1814-18 5 Triumph in England, 1819-21 6 "Almost completely turned from a Christian to a Heathen", 1821-25 7 Chile and Australia, 1825-32 8 External links

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 Thoresby, 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-acre (61,000 m²) 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.

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.

New Zealand had been discovered by Dutch sailor Abel Tasman more than 150 years earlier, and thoroughly explored by Captain James Cook forty years previously. However, extensive 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.

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 Rangatira, 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".

The mission, 1814-18

King, Hall and Kendall returned to live at Rangihoua in the Bay of Islands under the patronage of the Ngapuhi in December 1814. Kendall kept a journal and copies of his letters have survived, giving a good insight into a critical period of New Zealand history.

Kendall had been appointed the mission's leader by Marsden, but unfortunately isolation showed him to be somewhat highly strung. He soon fell out with Hall and King, who favoured a more secular and practical approach and regarded Kendall as something of an intellectual zealot. They accused him of drinking, ignoring his duties, acting as a trading agent between Māori and sailors and occasionally violent behaviour.

Kendall did make efforts, however, to learn Te Reo, the Māori language. In 1815 he wrote A korao no New Zealand; or, the New Zealander's first book; being an attempt to compose some lessons for the instruction of the natives, a pidgin Māori guide which was published in Australia. Kendall opened a school (with a roll of 33) in 1816. It was closed as a failure by 1818. He prepared more extensive notes and a proposed spelling of the language which he sent to the Church Missionary Society. This effort was criticised, however, by Cambridge orientalist and Church Missionary Society leader Professor Samuel Lee. The Reverend John Butler was appointed as superintendent of the mission in 1819, but this did not resolve problems. Kendall refused an order to stop trading muskets to Hongi Hika; "The natives regard fish hooks equivalent to copper, axes and hoes to silver and muskets and powder to our gold. Nor can we dictate to them which of these they must receive in payment for their property and services. They dictate to us." (Letter to Rev. Samuel Marsden 27/9/1821) .

Triumph in England, 1819-21

To defend his work Kendall made an unauthorised return to London in 1820, travelling with Hongi Hika 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.

"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 Hika 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 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 Valparaiso, Chile. This job did not last, and his family settled in New South Wales, where he obtained a grant of 1,280 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:

• 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, became a famous Australian poet.

A biography is The Legacy of Guilt: a life of Thomas Kendall by Judith Binney.

External links

• Dictionary of New Zealand biography
• Encyclopedia of New Zealand

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