In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Rev. Samuel Leigh’s visit to New Zealand the John Kinder Theological Library displayed a selection of some of the oldest and most significant historical items held in our collection of Methodist archives. The exhibition ended Friday 31st of May 2019.
John Hobbs (b. Kent, England, 1800) was a Lay Preacher in the Wesleyan Methodist Church who emigrated from England to Van Damien’s Land (Tasmania) to undertake missionary work amongst the convicts.
Samuel Marsden had attempted to recruit him for the Church Missionary Society in New Zealand. The Methodist missionary Nathaniel Turner, Chairman of the New South Wales District, was able to persuade him to join the Wesleyan Mission and was first stationed at the Wesleyan mission station at Kaeo in the Whangaroa Harbor in 1823, taking over from Samuel Leigh who had fallen ill. Then in 1828 he purchased land on the Hokianga Harbor where the Māngungu mission station was established.
John Hobbs brought with him the skills of the trade he learnt from his father who was a coachbuilder and a preacher under John Wesley. He was also a talented linguist, able to communicate in nine languages, his knowledge of Te Reo being well respected. He helped with a Māori translation of the Lord’s Prayer and composed several hymns in Māori.
The John Kinder Theological Library holds the journals of John Hobbs during his time as a missionary, from his arrival in 1823 until 1856. They give details of his life including his early work at Wesleydale mission station at Kaeo, an account of his work in the Friendly Isles, and his return to New Zealand.
One of the more unusual items held in our archives is an ear horn (or trumpet) that belonged to John Hobbs when he was retired and living in Auckland. In his book ‘Brother John: The Life of the Rev. John Hobbs’, the author T. G. M. Spooner, writes:
“As the years passed his deafness became worse, and he had recourse to the only hearing aid then available. “The old gentleman with the horn” became a familiar figure on Auckland streets, and especially at the Pitt Street Church where the Rev. T. G. Hammond says he used to be seated in the pulpit beside the preacher. Hammond also says that Bishop Stuart of Waiapu always paid him a visit when he could, and said that “there appeared to him a halo of glory encircling the old man’s head.””
John Hobbs’s ear horn and other similar items relating to the Methodist Church in Aotearoa are also available to be viewed at Pūmotomoto in our album of ‘Methodist Memorabilia’.
