When Dr. Thomas Brutton Kenderdine sailed from England in 1855, his new life was to be that of a farmer. After arriving in Auckland Kenderdine made his way north to Whangārei, bought farm land and built a house. His firm intention was to never practice medicine again.
But fate had other plans. When a horrific local accident occurred, Kenderdine couldn’t just stand by. He stepped in, saved a life, and exposed his secret. The isolated community, desperate for medical care, pled for him to return to service.
Giving up on his farming dream, he moved on to Ōtāhuhu, but the outbreak of the Waikato Wars eventually forced him into central Auckland for safety.
It was in the heart of the city that Dr Kenderdine truly found his calling, not in a private for-profit clinic, but in serving the “suffering poor.”
For decades, he was in charge of the Auckland Dispensary, a free clinic on Princes and High Streets. Rain or shine, he gave free medical advice and worked late into the night compounding medicine and making unpaid house calls to struggling families. He was so respected that he became the first-ever President of the Auckland Medical Association.
Kenderdine’s humanitarianism was boundless. His home and clinic on Eden Street (what is known today as Parliament Street in central Auckland) frequently doubled as a meeting space for local humanitarian efforts and dispensary logistics. He also co-founded the Papatoetoe Orphanage and the Anglican Children’s Trust, and was so deeply loved across the inter-faith community that Rev. Thomas Spurgeon asked him (a devout Anglican) to lay the foundation stone for the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle on Queen Street in 1884.
Dr Kenderdine’s residence on Eden Street (now Parliament Street), Auckland Central, looking west from the grounds of the Supreme Court. Subsequently a boarding house, it was destroyed by fire on 12 March 1900.
Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 4-RIC090
In 1859, a few years after arriving in New Zealand, Thomas married Eliza Jane Preece, daughter of pioneer Anglican CMS missionary, James Preece. They had 11 children—nine sons and two daughters.
Dr. Kenderdine died 1 December 1894, and Eliza in 13 December 1910. They rest at Purewa, Block C Row 02 Plots 15 and 16.
Thomas Brutton KENDERDINE
Died 1894
Block C Row 02 Plot 15
