![Thomas Hocken](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Thomas_Hocken.jpg)
Thomas Morland Hocken (14 January 1836 – 17 May 1910) was a
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
collector, bibliographer and researcher.
Early life
He was born in
Rutland
Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire.
Its greatest len ...
shire on 14 January 1836, the son of
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 ...
minister Joshua Hocken, and educated at
Woodhouse Grove School
Woodhouse Grove School ('The Grove') is an independent, co-educational, day and boarding public school and Sixth Form. it is located to the north of Apperley Bridge, West Yorkshire, England (Apperley Bridge is located in the City of Bradfor ...
and a school in
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
. He studied medicine at
Durham University
, mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1)
, established = (university status)
, type = Public
, academic_staff = 1,830 (2020)
, administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19)
, chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen
, vice_chan ...
and
Dublin University
The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...
, and in 1859 became a
member of the Royal College of Surgeons
Membership of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (MRCS) is a postgraduate diploma for surgeons in the UK and Ireland. Obtaining this qualification allows a doctor to become a member of one of the four surgical colleges ...
.
Career
The following year, he decided to leave England's cold climes for the sake of his health, and became a
ship's surgeon
A naval surgeon, or less commonly ship's doctor, is the person responsible for the health of the ship's company aboard a warship. The term appears often in reference to Royal Navy's medical personnel during the Age of Sail.
Ancient uses
Specialis ...
. In 1862, he arrived in
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
, New Zealand where he set up practice, also becoming the city's
coroner
A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...
, a post which he held for over 20 years. During much of this time he was also president of the
Otago
Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...
branch of the
New Zealand Medical Association
The New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) is an association representing some doctors and medical students in New Zealand. It was officially founded after a meeting in April 1886 at Dunedin Hospital. From 1896 to 1967, the NZMA was considered as ...
, and lectured in surgery in the
Otago Medical School
The Dunedin School of Medicine is the name of the School of Medicine that is based on the Dunedin campus of the University of Otago.
All University of Otago medical students who gain entry after the competitive Health Sciences First Year prog ...
. Hocken was married twice, to Julia Annia Daykne Simpson in 1867, and
Bessie Buckland in July 1883 at
Invercargill
Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...
's
St John's Church.
Hocken's keen mind and instinct for collecting and preserving the past came to the fore when
gold was discovered near Dunedin in 1861. His house, "Atahapara", was located on
Moray Place, close to
First Church, and here he built up a huge collection of manuscripts and artefacts relating to
Otago's history. Fearing the changes that the
goldrush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Ze ...
, with its rapid influx of population, would bring to the southern
South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
, he began to collect books, records, and ephemera from the early years of European settlement. His interests soon spread to
New Zealand history
The history of New Zealand ( Aotearoa) dates back to between 1320 and 1350 CE, when the main settlement period started, after it was discovered and settled by Polynesians, who developed a distinct Māori culture. Like other Pacific cultures, M ...
in general. He became an expert in this field, presenting papers, writing essays, and assisting with the preparation of exhibits on such diverse topics as Pacific island costumes, early colonial settlement, and
extinct New Zealand birds. He was a member of such organisations as the
Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
The Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) is an organisation that was founded in 1888 as the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science to promote science.
It was modelled on the British As ...
, the
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
, the
Royal Historical Society
The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history.
Origins
The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...
, and the
Linnean Society
The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...
.
In 1898 Hocken became a commissioner of the Otago Settlement Jubilee Exhibition, marking 50 years of the province's settlement. In 1903 he travelled to Japan, Greece, Egypt, and Great Britain to conduct his own archaeological and historical research. Whilst in Britain, he collated many documents relating to the
New Zealand Company
The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principl ...
and New Zealand Mission, and managed to secure a large number of them and bring them back to New Zealand. He returned to New Zealand in 1906, and started work on his ''Bibliography of the Literature Relating to New Zealand''. This work, published in 1909, is still regarded as the seminal work on this subject.
Hocken offered his historical collection of books, pamphlets, newspapers, maps, paintings,
and manuscripts to the citizens of Dunedin, and this was duly inaugurated as the
Hocken Library
Hocken Collections (, formerly the Hocken Library) is a research library, historical archive, and art gallery based in Dunedin, New Zealand. Its library collection, which is of national significance, is administered by the University of Otago.
T ...
in 1910.
This was originally housed in a wing of the
Otago Museum
Tūhura Otago Museum is located in the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand. It is adjacent to the University of Otago campus in Dunedin North, 1,500 metres northeast of the city centre. It is one of the city's leading attractions and has one of t ...
and has been administered by the
University of Otago
, image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg
, image_size =
, caption = University clock tower
, motto = la, Sapere aude
, mottoeng = Dare to be wise
, established = 1869; 152 years ago
, type = Public research collegiate u ...
to the present. Hocken also presented the Otago Museum with a massive collection of
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 ...
cultural artefacts, which form the basis of its extensive Pacific
ethnology
Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural anthropology, cultural, social anthropolo ...
collection. Hocken was, however, too ill to attend the opening of the Hocken Library and died less than two months later. At the time of his death, on 17 May 1910, he was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago.
References
External links
University of Otago – Hocken Collections– official site.
Bio1966 ''
New Zealand Encyclopaedia''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hocken, Thomas
1836 births
1910 deaths
New Zealand surgeons
19th-century New Zealand historians
People from Dunedin in health professions
People from Stamford, Lincolnshire
People educated at Woodhouse Grove School
University of Otago faculty
Burials at Dunedin Northern Cemetery
Settlers of Otago
New Zealand art collectors
Vice-Chancellors of the University of Otago
People associated with Otago Museum
Buckland family
Alumni of Durham University College of Medicine
Writers from Dunedin