Thomas Hocken

Who was Thomas Hocken?

Thomas Morland Hocken was a prominent New Zealand collector, bibliographer and researcher. He was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire on 14 January 1836, the son of a Wesleyan minister, and educated at Woodhouse Grove School and a school in Newcastle. He studied medicine at Durham University and Dublin University, and in 1859 became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons.

The following year, he decided to leave England's cold climes for the sake of his health, and became a ship's surgeon. In 1862, he arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand where he set up practice, also becoming the city's coroner, a post which he held for over 20 years. During much of this time he was also president of the Otago Branch of the New Zealand Medical Association, and lectured in surgery in the Otago Medical School. Hocken was married twice, to Julia Annia Daykne Simpson in 1867, and Elizabeth Mary Buckland in 1884.

Hocken's keen mind and instinct for collecting and preserving the past came to the fore when gold was discovered near Dunedin in 1861.