Thomas Henry Kendall appears never to have used his first name — his three volumes of verse were all published under the name of “Henry Kendall”. [1]
Henry Kendall was an Australian poet. He was born in a settler’s hut in Yatte Yattah near the town of Milton, on the south coast of New South Wales on 18 April 1839 and was the twin son of Basil Kendall and his wife Melinda.
Thomas Henry Kendall was best known for his poetry, which celebrated the beauty of the Australian landscape and its flora and fauna. He was one of the first Australian poets to gain international recognition and was widely regarded as one of the country’s leading literary figures in the late 19th century.
Kendall received little education and went to sea on a whaling ship with one of his uncles when he was 15, being away for about two years. On his return he supported his mother, brother and sisters on a shop assistant’s wage and began to focus on writing, having some of his work published in a magazine.
From 1859 Kendall regularly contributed to newspapers and periodicals in Sydney and Melbourne and in 1862 published Poems and Songs, which was praised for ‘his distinctly Australian poetry’ and he was compared favourably with Wordsworth. Soon he was earning a better wage at the Colonial Secretary’s Office and in March 1868 he married 18-year-old Charlotte Rutter, his childhood sweetheart and cousin. The couple had two children, but both died in infancy.
Throughout his life, Kendall struggled with depression and alcoholism and suffered from a variety of physical ailments, including asthma and tuberculosis. Despite these challenges, he continued to write poetry and publish his work. In 1880, he was awarded the first Australian Poet’s Prize for his collection Leaves from Australian Forests.
Henry Kendall died on 1 August 1882, at the age of 43, from tuberculosis. He is remembered as one of Australia’s most important poets, and his work continues to be read and studied today.