Matthew Campbell

It was at this juncture that Matthew Campbell, who was to become the leader of the promoters of elementary education in the Nelson province, came upon the scene. He arrived in Nelson as a cabin passenger on the Thomas Harrison on 29th October 1842. He could thus have been present at the opening of the day school at the Ebenezer Chapel. It is quite wrong, however, to suggest, as do the Cummings and J. D. S. McKenzie that Campbell was associated with the United Christians from their beginnings. Campbell almost certainly came originally from Appleby in Westmoreland. J. W. Saxton records in his diary that Campbell had worked almost all his life in a foundry. In Nelson Campbell established a shop and in 1845 became associated with A. G. Jenkins in the running of a flour mill. Jenkins, a substantial purchaser of land, took part, like Campbell, in the work of school management. Campbell gained the reputation of being extraordinarily industrious and at this period he seems to have devoted all his time that was not taken up with his business to the development of Nelson's elementary schools. He was no highly educated patrician who patronised schools. His style suggests rather the background of an artisan or member of the lower middle class. He told Saxton that he had never attended school in England. On going on board the Thomas Harrison, however, "he saw numbers of children and considered they would be neglected on board at the end of the voyage. He thought how delightful it would be if he could rear them up under his own care, free from the divisions of the religious world". In religion Campbell was not a follower of any particular sect and was described by Fox as being an Independent or Congregationist. In an obituary in the Colonist it is said of him that "so closely did he ally himself with each denomination of Christians that he appeared to belong to all". Congregationalism's insistence on the absolute independence of each local church and its espousal of voluntaryism in education seem nevertheless to have been principles as dear to Campbell as they were to Jonas Woodward, the Congregationalist champion of voluntaryism in education in Wellington. Campbell was no smooth-tongued advocate. He had "much of the conventicle twang of voice" and "his utterance was so slow and hesitating as to be difficult to understand." There was no doubt, however, about his sincerity and the clarity of his ideas.