John Hobbs (22 February 1800 – 24 June 1883) was a New Zealand missionary, artisan and interpreter. Along with James Stack, he co-founded the

Māngungu Mission Māngungu Mission was the second mission station established in New Zealand by the Wesleyan Missionary Society. Located near Horeke, in the Hokianga harbour, it was founded in 1828 by the missionaries John Hobbs and James Stack after the first WMS ...

Personal life

John Hobbs was born in

Thanet Thanet may refer to: *Isle of Thanet, a former island, now a peninsula, at the most easterly point of Kent, England *Thanet District, a local government district containing the island *Thanet College, former name of East Kent College *Thanet Canal, ...

, Kent, England, on 22 February 1800. He was the son of Richard Hobbs, a coachbuilder and

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

preacher. In 1827 he married Jane Broggreff of Kent, and had five daughters and two sons. One of his sons was MP Richard Hobbs. He died in 1883 in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and was buried in Grafton Cemetery.

Missionary work

In 1816, John Hobbs joined the

Church. He became a

lay preacher Lay preacher is a preacher or a religious proclaimer who is not a formally ordained cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presidi ...

, like his father, three years later. At the end of 1822, Hobbs emigrated to

Van Dieman's land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...

in Tasmania, Australia to do missionary work among the convicts. Shortly after his arrival in 1823, however, he was persuaded to offer his services to the New Zealand Mission instead. He arrived in

Paihia Paihia is the main tourist town in the Bay of Islands in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is 60 kilometres north of Whangārei, located close to the historic towns of Russell and Kerikeri. Missionary Henry William ...

, New Zealand, on 3 August 1823, and proceeded to begin his mission at Wesleydale, the Wesleyan mission at Kaeo. Hobbs' ability to communicate with the

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

people in their tongue made him popular amongst the Māori population and became "unofficial counsellor to several influential chiefs". Even with Hobbs' help, the Ngati Pou chief of Whangaroa, Te Ara (George), found it difficult to protect the mission in Wesleydale. After Te Ara's death in 1827, the missionaries in the area were forced to flee to the Bay of Islands after hostile natives attacked the station. Hobbs returned to Sydney, Australia, and was ordained. Wesleyan authorities in Sydney were unwilling to abandon their missionary efforts in New Zealand, and established a new mission in the Hokianga district where thriving European businesses already existed. They placed Hobbs in charge of establishing the new station, and he arrived with an advance party in Hokianga on 31 October 1827. He helped establish

, near Horeke. He spent five years in

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

, from 1833 to 1838, then returned to Mangungu. In 1848, Hobbs assisted his son-in-law in establishing a new mission station at

Pipiriki Pipiriki is a settlement in New Zealand, on the east bank of the Whanganui River, due west of the town of Raetihi and upriver from Whanganui; it was originally on the opposite bank. It is the home of Ngāti Kura, a hapū of the Ngāti Ruanui iwi ...

in the

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

district. On the way, the ship Hobbs was travelling on was wrecked in a storm, and from the experience, Hobbs became deafened which later made him incapable of active duty. He spent the years 1855–1856 resting at the Three Kings institution, and then retired from the mission.

Legacy

John Hobbs was greatly admired for his versatility in mechanical matters. He was called upon to tend to the sick, and his relationship with the Maori population was relatively successful due to his ability to speak their language fluently. He assisted in translating the

Book of Job The Book of Job (; hbo, אִיּוֹב, ʾIyyōḇ), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), and is the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Scholars ar ...

into Māori and was one of the three members on the committee that revised Robert Maunsell's translation of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

into Māori.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobbs, John 1800 births 1883 deaths Interpreters New Zealand artists People from Thanet (district) English emigrants to New Zealand 19th-century translators Methodist missionaries in New Zealand English Methodist missionaries 19th-century Methodists Missionary linguists