This article is part of an ongoing project to amplify other voices present in British Online Archives’ collections, particularly in archives relating to British colonial rule. Please note: some of these sources contain racist or offensive terms.
This article draws upon one of BOA’s fascinating collections of archival documents: New Zealand & Polynesian Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1838–1958. This collection contains papers from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG), an Anglican missionary organisation established in 1701. The SPG aimed to disseminate Christianity, specifically Anglicanism, around the globe. It therefore dispatched missionaries to Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania. Indeed, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw a rapid increase in the number of missionary organisations—this period witnessed the establishment of the SPG, as well as other British missionary groups, such as the London Missionary Society, the Universities' Mission to Central Africa, and the Church Missionary Society. They were joined by missionaries from other European countries and the United States. Significantly, by exploring the SPG’s records we can reconstruct the activities and experiences of SPG missionaries and the communities that they interacted with around the world.
Take Bishop John Coleridge Patteson, for example. Born in England in 1827, Patteson travelled from his home in Devon to Auckland in 1855 to assist Bishop George Augustus Selwyn in the SPG’s Melanesian mission.[1] This meant that Patteson taught in schools and made annual trips to Melanesia to recruit students.[2] In 1861 Patteson was consecrated the first Anglican bishop of the diocese of Melanesia.[3] He was a rather unique missionary, in part due to his passion for languages: he is said to have learnt 23 local dialects.[4] He also campaigned against slavery and blackbirding, a practice that involved Europeans kidnapping indigenous people to work as labourers for poor pay and in inhumane conditions.[5] In 1867 Patteson set up his mission station on Norfolk Island. This building also served as a school and a chapel.[6] His aim was to recruit young boys from the islands of Melanesia, take them to Norfolk Island for schooling, and return them to their local communities. Patteson hoped that they would then pass on Christian teachings and establish their own churches.[7]
British Online Archives, New Zealand & Polynesian Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1838–1958, “Pacific progress, 1849–1949”, image 9.
On 20 September 1871, Patteson was murdered on the island of Nukapu.[8] The attack was unexpected, despite Patteson and his team having previously faced animosity—Fisher Young and Edwin Nobbs “were fatally wounded by poisoned arrows” at Santa Cruz in 1864.[9] This attack did not deter Patteson, however. Rather, it made him all the more determined to persevere with his mission. This is evident in the extract above. It states that the deaths of Young and Nobbs “were a great grief to Patteson, but also a spur to increased effort for the conversion of these islands”.[10] Patteson, however, was unaware that Nukapu had recently been visited by blackbirders who had abducted five young men.[11] Naturally, this angered local people, particularly a man called Teadule who was the uncle of one of those abducted.[12] In the extract below, taken from a pamphlet written about the SPG’s Melanesian mission, it is stated that “the uncle of one of these…had secretly made up his mind to kill the first white man who landed on the island”.[13] And so, when Patteson landed on the island, Teadule clubbed him to death.[14]
British Online Archives, New Zealand & Polynesian Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1838–1958, “Press cuttings, etc., concerning Patteson's death”, image 54.
The rest of Patteson’s crew were on board the Southern Cross. They wondered why he had been gone so long and decided to approach the shore. Whilst doing so, they saw a canoe being pushed into the water by a group of locals. The crew pulled the canoe towards their boat and there they found Patteson’s body. Patteson’s head showed the wounds from having been clubbed—they were bad enough for his crew to conclude that “his death must have been instantaneous”.[15] It is thought that the chief’s wife, Niuvai, and her close friend, Bekuma, saw the incident and acted quickly to treat Patteson’s body in a respectful manner.[16] The extracts below describe how women had prepared his body for burial. Before being wrapped in a mat, his body was stripped of clothing and washed. A palm branch was laid on top of him, tied in five knots.
British Online Archives, New Zealand & Polynesian Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1838–1958, “Accounts of Patteson's death, 1871”, image 11.
British Online Archives, New Zealand & Polynesian Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1838–1958, “Press cuttings, etc., concerning Patteson's death”, image 54.
The significance of the five knots in the palm branch has been mused upon ever since. Immediately after the attack it was concluded that the five knots signified the five men that were abducted from the island by blackbirders, leading to the conclusion that the murder of Patteson had been an act of revenge.[17] The extract below concludes that “this is an almost certain indication that his death was the vengeance for five of the natives”.[18] This, however, is just one of numerous interpretations. Put simply, it is not known whether it was a premeditated murder agreed upon by the whole community, or if the community was split, hence the respectful treatment of Patteson’s body.[19] Some have argued that Teadule was solely responsible for the murder, because he craved revenge on behalf of his family, but that the rest of the community were either not aware of, or did not support, his plans.[20] It has also been hypothesised that the murder was simply a case of mistaken identity: that the indigenous community had thought Patteson to be a blackbirder.[21] Thus, once they realised their mistake, they treated his body with respect.[22]
British Online Archives, New Zealand & Polynesian Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1838–1958, “Correspondence on Patteson's death, 1871–1907”, image 66.
Other interpretations of Patteson’s murder make no reference to it being an act of revenge against blackbirders. Crucially, Patteson had visited the island numerous times. It is therefore unlikely that the local community did not recognise him.[23] Instead, it has been contended that the island’s inhabitants harboured animosity towards Patteson because of the missionary work that he pursued. Patteson visited Nukapu at least four times before his fateful visit in 1871. On each occasion he made “unrelenting appeals for young men to attend the Central School”, in return for gifts.[24] On the face of it, the aims of missionaries and blackbirders were remarkably similar: to take away young men. Both practices posed a threat to the island community’s survival and would no doubt have angered many locals, especially given Patteson’s persistent “nagging” for young men to go with him.[25] It has therefore been asserted that Patteson was killed because he, as a Christian missionary, was simply not welcome on the island. It is thought that Patteson’s murder was “an unequivocal signal to recruiters for evangelical and manual labour alike” to stop visiting Nukapu.[26]
Patteson’s crew were also attacked during the incident. Two of them, the Reverend Joseph Atkin and Stephen Taroaniara, received arrow wounds. Both died a week later from tetanus. Atkin and Taroaniara were indigenous people who had been recruited and trained at St. John’s College, founded by Bishop George Selwyn in Auckland. [27] Both men are often regarded as martyrs. Indeed, the Melanesian mission named their headquarters after Taroaniara.[28] It is evident, then, that indigenous people who worked for Christian missionary organisations were not immune to resistance from local communities. It is unclear whether those who did the shooting realised that they were firing upon indigenous people. Yet the fact that Atkin and Taroaniara were missionaries was evidently reason enough, in the eyes of their attackers, to justify murder.
If you enjoyed reading this article and are interested in learning more about resistance to Christian missionaries, take a look at another of our articles: From the Archive: Resistance to Christian Missionaries.
[1] David Hilliard, “Patteson, John Coleridge,” Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, available at https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1p10/patteson-john-coleridge.
[2] Ibid.
[3] “The Life and Times of Bishop John Coleridge Patteson,” Exeter Cathedral, 4 August 2021, available at https://www.exeter-cathedral.org.uk/news-events/latest-news/the-life-and-times-of-bishop-john-coleridge-patteson/.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Thorgeir Kolshus and Even Hovdhaugen, “Reassessing the death of Bishop John Coleridge Patteson,” The Journal of Pacific History 45, no. 3 (2010): 331–355.
[8] Ibid.
[9] British Online Archives, New Zealand & Polynesian Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1838–1958, “Pacific progress, 1849–1949”, available at https://microform.digital/boa/documents/2133/pacific-progress-1849-1949, image 9; “The Life and Times of Bishop John Coleridge Patteson”.
[10] British Online Archives, New Zealand & Polynesian Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1838–1958, “Pacific progress, 1849–1949”, available at https://microform.digital/boa/documents/2133/pacific-progress-1849-1949, image 9.
[11] “The Life and Times of Bishop John Coleridge Patteson”.
[12] Kolshus and Hovdhaugen, “Reassessing the death of Bishop John Coleridge Patteson”.
[13] British Online Archives, New Zealand & Polynesian Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1838–1958, “Press cuttings, etc., concerning Patteson's death”, available at https://microform.digital/boa/documents/2130/press-cuttings-etc-concerning-pattesons-death, image 54.
[14] Hilliard, “Patteson, John Coleridge”.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Kolshus and Hovdhaugen, “Reassessing the death of Bishop John Coleridge Patteson”.
[17] Kolshus and Hovdhaugen, “Reassessing the death of Bishop John Coleridge Patteson”.
[18] British Online Archives, New Zealand & Polynesian Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1838–1958, “Correspondence on Patteson's death, 1871–1907”, available at https://microform.digital/boa/documents/2129/correspondence-on-pattesons-death-1871-1907, image 66.
[19] Kolshus and Hovdhaugen, “Reassessing the death of Bishop John Coleridge Patteson”.
[20] Ibid.
[21] “The Life and Times of Bishop John Coleridge Patteson”.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Kolshus and Hovdhaugen, “Reassessing the death of Bishop John Coleridge Patteson”.
[24] Ibid., 352.
[25] Ibid., 353.
[26] Ibid.
[27] “Taroaniara, Stephen (c. 1845–1871)”, Solomon Islands Historical Encyclopaedia 1893–1978, available at https://www.solomonencyclopaedia.net/biogs/E000712b.htm; “Atkin, Joseph (Rev), 1844–1871”, National Library of New Zealand, available at https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22367359.
[28] “Taroaniara, Stephen (c. 1845–1871)”.