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Waddell, Rutherford
Full NameRutherford Waddell
Date of Birth1849-1850Date of Death16 April 1932BiographyRutherford Waddell was believed to be born either in 1849 or 1850, as there is no exact date recorded, in the village of Glenarm in Antrim. His father was Reverend Hugh Waddell, and his mother was Margaret Reid but left Waddell motherless at an early age. Waddell was born at the time of the Irish Potato Famine, and it is likely that his mother was a victim of the cholera outbreak during that time. Waddell’s spinster aunt, Jean Reid, took care of Waddell in a farmhouse at Annaghbane near Donaghmore in County Down, and continued to care for him when his father married Anne Atkinson and had two more children.
Growing up, Waddell had a poor relationship with school, ‘constantly devising ways to dodge attendance.’ Waddell ‘escaped from the terrible thraldom’ of his Roman Catholic teacher who ‘…was a man of hot, hasty, ungovernable temper,’ by beginning work at the age of 14 as a ‘counter-jumper’ or shop assistant in a drapery in a linen manufacturing town of Banbridge, north of Annaghbane. He worked long hours, and stuck at it for four years.
Waddell’s father and maternal grandfather were Presbyterian ministers, and Waddell was brought up in ‘a godly home’. He confessed that he was not ‘profoundly religious’ for his first 18 years or so. Two events aided Waddell’s conversion. The first was a sermon from a strange preacher in a strange country church, and the other was the character and actions of his brother. Other causes helped aid his path to Christ and His ideals, leading him to leave behind business and take up the Ministry.
After graduating from The Presbyterian Theological College in Belfast, and being ordained at Newtownards in County Down, Waddell struggled to find employment. Waddell opted to accept an appointment on the other side of the world as a ‘missionary to Canterbury, New Zealand’ with the Canterbury Presbyterian Church Extension Association, for a modest annual salary of £200. Waddell went over with his wife, Kathleen Newmen of Listowel in County Kerry, who was 22 years old. During his short stay in Canterbury, Waddell took a service at the Papanui Presbyterian Church, and then spent a three-month spell at the St Paul’s Presbyterian Church, filling in for an ill John Elmslie. Waddell was establishing his character and work ethic. Waddell was offered a post in Dunedin in the province of Otago at the St. Andrews' Presbyterian Church. Two hundred and one members of St. Andrew’s congregation signed to call Waddell to become their minister, not a single dissenter.
It is also important to note that Waddell was a leader of the anti-alcohol cause and became a total abstainer in 1878. Waddell joined the New Zealand Alliance for the Reform of the Liquor Laws, formed in Dunedin in 1879 (the month before he was inducted at St. Andrew’s Church).
After Waddell was inducted at St. Andrews on the 18th April 1879. Waddell threw himself into charity work, on top of his required sermons, church meetings, pastoral visits, baptisms, marriage and funeral services. The economic boom of the 1860s, driven by the discovery of gold in Central Otago, resulted in a long depression that started in the 1870s to the 1890s. Waddell established a Ladies Association, with over 100 women in attendance. After discussion, the name was changed to the St. Andrew’s Church Friendly Aid Association (commonly referred to as the Friendly Aid Society), with Waddell as president. The Society aimed to help those facing hardship, by offering support in cash or kind, holding sewing groups, organising medical aid, providing clothing of job interviews – and even helping those obtain jobs!
When the topic of Bible-in-schools was questioned in January 1881, Waddell was firmly against the proposition. Out of the 38 Synod members, Waddell was one of four who spoke out against it. Waddell’s initial opposition to Bible-in-schools derived from the influence of his beliefs that the teaching of religion was the responsibility of the parent, then the Church and the Sunday school, but not the state. Over the next few years, Waddell was persuaded by those who voted for the movement, and in 1893, Waddell exclaimed that he was no longer a dissenter, but emphasis that he favoured the teaching of lessons from the Bible, rather than ‘the mere general reading of the Bible.’
Waddell was well respected and valued. Waddell developed a reputation as a writer and as Dunedin journalist and pamphleteer, James Grant, remarked that Waddell as ‘a most excellent pastor,’ and asserting ‘beyond doubt, he is the best preacher in the Presbyterian Church of Otago.’ Waddell also started taking literary classes for women in St. Andrews in 1883, Waddell was made the President of the Dunedin Young Men’s Societies’ Union in July 1881, he was on the committee established in 1881 that was responsible for the erection of the statue in memory of Robert Burns, was a chosen judge for many literary competitions, he started, edited and contributed heavily to the St. Andrew’s Church Monthly that began publication in March 1885, Waddell co-authored a guidebook for tourists, Maoriland: An Illustrated Handbook to New Zealand, as requested by the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, also wrote the introduction to the Handbook and penned the introduction to Lays of the Land of the Maori and Moa – a book of poetry.
Waddell’s wife, Kathleen Waddell, suffered from a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis. This caused Kathleen much pain and agony, and she believed that the New Zealand climate was exacerbating the problem. Kathleen decided to take her, and her daughter Muriel, to Ireland indefinitely to try and ease the discomfort. Waddell proceeded to ask for 12 months leave, explaining that he would not need all this time off. This leave was to be a working holiday by publishing articles to the Evening Star as he steamed from Auckland to San Francisco via Samoa and Honolulu. Ten months later Waddell returned to New Zealand in March 1887 and was later reunited with Kathleen and Muriel. Kathleen was in constant pain, stayed at home, and was ‘invisible’ to the parish. She retuned to Europe, this time French spa town of Aix-les-Bains ‘to take a course of baths.’ With her absence, there was much discussion over who would have Waddell over for Sunday dinner.
Waddell was bold about voicing his opinions regarding the female factory and shop workers, labelled as “the Sin of Cheapness” . His initial concerns were in regard to working conditions in the ‘old country,’ but his interests soon turned to conditions in ‘this new country.’ During the early 1880s, the minimum working age for girls and boys in factories was 12. Waddell was objecting to this law and pushed for it to be changed to 16 years of age. Waddell believed that instead of factory work, young women should be spending their time taking part in household work in preparation for mother and wifehood. “Sweating” was a term used to describe the sub-contracting in the rage trade in places such as London and Glasgow, in which contractors earned profits from the margin between the amount the received for a contract and the amount they paid the workers: the margin was said to be ‘sweated’ from the workers. Essentially, low payments, long hours and substandard conditions. Waddell exclaimed at the Otago-Southland Synod annual meeting at First Church in Dunedin that ‘the sweating wages were caused by excessive competition and that competition was created by the enormous rage to get cheap things.’ An example of this ‘sweating’ was found in a letter to the Editor of the Otago Daily Times in 1888, written by ‘Citizen.’ ‘Citizen’ tells use that a woman will get paid eightpence for a dozen of shirts, but they sell for eightpence a shirt. ‘Citizen’ extends his argument by explaining that the woman could make 4p-8p a day, which is all the money her husband and children have to live on, asking the question ‘is this work, or slavery?’
At a well-attended meeting on 14 February 1889 it was decided that a committee to be formed to support better working conditions and better pay for those living on ‘sweating’ wages. The main objective was to arrange a tariff minimum to be paid to the clothing workers to secure an equitable wage for the time being. Waddell named four businesses that were in opposition to this plan of an appropriate wage. On the 11th July 1889 The Tailoresses Union of New Zealand was officially formed, and although Waddell was offered the position of president, he felt ill equipped and afraid a mistake had been made. In March 1890, Waddell helped the formation of the New Zealand Draper’s Assistant Union, and in 1892 supported the Dunedin Shorthand Writer’s Association.
Waddell was particularly proactive in changing the working conditions of low-wage earners. Waddell’s movement of the Tailoresses Union Of New Zealand prompted the New Zealand government to appoint the royal commission, and Waddell heavily enforced that the case of shop girls, who were made to stand for at least 12-14 hours a day were included into the inquiry. The Government agreed. Waddell was appointed to the nine-member Sweating Commission, interrogating the working situation for young children, as well as men and women who were taken advantage of – working long hours, in overcrowded factories, with little to no facilities for lunch and bathroom breaks, and poor ventilation. Waddell’s deliberate attempts to improve working conditions for ordinary people elevated his reputation.
Waddell was an avid support for the Women’s Suffrage movement, stating ‘Personally, from all that I have read and seen, I think it most likely that the adoption of the principle – equality of sex in politics – will greatly help purify politics, and will require high moral character as the first condition of State service.’ From 1894, Waddell also supported a change in law to end disclination on the country’s divorce laws. The current laws placed wives in a terribly hard situation to divorce their husbands, but was relatively easier for the husband to divorce his wife. Waddell wanted to incorporate that desertion and drunkenness into the legislation.
After recognising that there was a lack of educational training, social interaction, or ability to leave the confines of their minute homes in winter, for children under the age of seven, Waddell and his wife Kathleen took it upon themselves to create kindergartens. In September of 1888, a group of approximately 50 people, majority of them were women, met at St. Andrew’s church, and established a committee to consider the possibility and practicality of establishing a kindergarten in Dunedin. A further public meeting was held in 1889, the meeting resolved with the conclusion that a kindergarten association should be formed in Dunedin. There were critics, such as Donald Stuart of Knox Church, who believed that there was calamity in sending children to school too soon. After raising funds to provide payment for the teachers, Waddell managed to convince Wilhemina Wieneke and one of her assistants, Miss Creswell, to leave her position in Christchurch and join the Walker Street Kindergarten. The kindergarten opened in the St. Andrew’s Church Mission Hall on 10 June 1889. The Walker Street Kindergarten was a success, and further kindergartens opened across New Zealand, operating till 1906.
Waddell not only advocated for pre-school education, but was very eager to establish a technical college in Dunedin. Waddell based his beliefs on social reasons, exclaiming that it is ‘an admirable means of keeping these lads out of mischief.’ It occurred to the recently established Technical Classes Association, that youths had been withdrawn from education early ‘in order to earn a livelihood or two qualify themselves for trades…’ The object of the Technical Classes would be that it would enable youth who were working during the day to continue education, and perhaps have the opportunity to access higher education, such as the University of Otago. The Technical Classes Association, and the Dunedin Technical School were the predecessors of King Edward Technical College and the Otago Polytechnic.
Waddell became editor of the Church magazine Christian Outlook in 1893, which later changed to Outlook in 1901. On occasion, Waddell would write letters to himself under the pseudonym ‘Ror’ (a childhood nickname Waddell obtained in Ireland). Waddell tried furiously to increase circulation, by offering prizes for those who gained the highest number new subscribers, having competitions such as puzzles and knot tying to entice reader participation.
Waddell was at the forefront of the Prohibition movement, with the aim to have a ‘dry’ New Zealand, he was elected as Dunedin vice-president of the New Zealand Alliance for the Suppression of the Liquor Trade in March 1888. Waddell wished that there would be no compensation for those who wished to renew their liquor license but could not. Using his pseudonym ‘Ror’ Waddell wrote in the Christian Outlook to gain support for the cause. In the late 1880s, Waddell become invested in another social battle, and that was with gambling. Waddell believed that greed was ‘the root of all evil,’ and that gambling was ‘a perversion’ of the legitimate need ‘to escape the monotony of work’ and be excited occasionally. In June 1895, Waddell devoted an entire issue of the Christian Outlook to gambling. Waddell then later called for the Presbyterian Church to no longer engage in forms of fundraising that involved gambling, such as lotteries and raffles. A significant change occurred between 31 March 1895 and 31 March 190. Out of the 46 licenses granted to religious denominations to hold lotteries in 1895, 10 were for the Presbyterian church. At the end of the financial year in 1901, out of the 55 licenses granted to religious denominations to hold lotteries, zero were for the Presbyterian church. In August 1898 the Anti-Gambling League was created with the task of holding meetings and sharing literature on the damages caused by gambling, and endeavouring that the movement make it to Parliament ‘to make proper laws.’
Waddell was known for his enjoyment of angling and shooting. His friend’s and colleagues recalled many of occasions where Waddell got into strife – whether that be dropping his gun into the Taieri River, nearly drowning in a flooded Opihi River, or another incident of a similar nature in the Waipahi River. Waddell shared a passion and interest in the natural environment of New Zealand. He was incredibly fond of the picturesque rivers and mystic beauty of mother nature. Waddell supported the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the first branch formed in Dunedin in 1882, he did not believe that his personal past times of hunting and fishing interfered with the morals and ethics of this society.
Waddell also joined the Otago Acclimatisation Society, which formed in 1864, with the aim to introduce birds and fish into New Zealand. Waddell believed that the society was more interested in introducing fish into the waterways than birds into the sky. After multiple attempts from Waddell to allow the entry of gamebirds, it fell on deaf ears. During the same time period, £170 had been spent on 105 birds, whilst £10,400 had been spent on the propagation of fish. In terms of conservation, Waddell was a strong advocate to keep native flora and fauna as prosperous as possible. Waddell seemed disturbed with the destruction of the native ferns in the town belt, and the eradication of sand dunes of the Dunedin beaches St Kilda, Middle or Moana Rua and St Clair.
Working strenuous hours, and putting is hand in many pots, Waddell became exhausted. It was said that he was getting only four hours sleep a night, on top of his hectic schedule of literary lectures, campaigning for a variety of social, political, industrial, educational and penal reforms, as well as editing a magazine. Waddell was gifted a generous £281 from 11 friends of the St. Andrew congregation, so he could take a prolonged holiday – on full salary. Although not wanting to go, Waddell took this opportunity to take himself, Kathleen and Muriel to Canada, Britain, Ireland and the United States of America. Waddell returned in March 1902, but Muriel and Kathleen remained in Europe till January 1903 to allow Muriel time to study singing and pianoforte – both of which Muriel expressed talent in. Waddell’s hearing was creating serious issues, and he was often seen whisking out a ‘speaking trumpet’ when in conversation.
Waddell promoted the notion of St. Andrew’s to become the first Presbyterian New Zealand parish to employ a deaconess for home mission work. For this role, Christabel Duncan of Victoria, Australia, was appointed. Duncan resumed this position for over 20 years, only fracturing her service when her parents become ill, and Duncan needed to return to Victoria, to offer assistance and support. After the success of his home mission, Waddell wanted St. Andrew’s to be the first Presbyterian parish in New Zealand to support its own overseas mission. Maggie Anderson was the first missionary adopted for his regime. Anderson was on of the first two graduates from the Presbyterian Women’s Training Institution in 1905, learned Cantonese with Reverend Alexander Don, and then volunteered for the mission in China. Waddell wanted the St. Andrew’s church to support the mission financially themselves, and 113 church members contributed the full amount for three years’ service in China. When Anderson retired, Eddy Kirk took her place, and then a further two missionaries were funded, Annie James and Annie Hancock. Soon after St. Andrew’s self-funded the three missionaries, seven congregations each began funding one missionary. By the early 1930s, individual Presbyterian congregations supported about 30 overseas missions.
The Great War put pressure on the St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church as a total of 172 servicemen and five nursing sisters, most directly connected with the main St. Andrew’s Church, and others indirectly related through their families – served during the war. 27 of the men were killed. Waddell’s predominant response to the War was that it was caused by people forsaking the God he believed in and would be ceased by prayer. He told 150 people that there was never more a necessary time for the Christian Church to make its voice heard, and its influence felt. Waddell was anxious about the political development of the Russian Revolution, that had taken place during the War in Europe. Waddell believed that this was a time when the church would be tested, exclaiming that one war has ended, but an even more ominous war is on the horizon.
On a personal note, the Waddell household had experienced some drastic changes. Muriel married Gerald Anderson, a sub-editor of the Hawke’s Bay Herald in July 1915. Muriel and Gerald had one daughter, Joan Rutherford Anderson (her middle name taken from her maternal grandfather) and was born in 1917. Gerald served as a solider and war correspondent, and in 1917/18, the three travelled New Zealand as Gerald delivered illustrated lectures on ‘New Zealanders at war on seven fronts.’ After the War, Gerald worked as a journalist in Australia and Singapore, before settling in Armadale in Western Australia, where they owned an orchard. Joan worked on the orchard, and then as a bookbinder. Kathleen, Waddell’s wife, deteriorated physically and mentally, and after a further stay in the Seventh Day Adventist Sanatorium in July 1916, returned to Dunedin to be admitted to the Seacliff Mental Hospital in March 1917. Kathleen suffered from senile dementia on top of her chronic rheumatoid arthritis. Later in December, Waddell discovered that his sister, Mary had passed.
Waddell resigned from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church at the end of June 1919, one month before marking is 40th anniversary; he as in his late 60s. Waddell purchased a retirement house on the Otago Peninsula in November 1917 and named his new property ‘Dreamthorp’; eight months after Kathleen was admitted into Seacliff Mental Hospital. Kathleen passed on the 7th September 1920. Three years after Kathleen died, Waddell married Christabel Duncan; Duncan was 47 and Weddell was 72. They took regular breaks from Dreamthorp and travelled to Australia, England, Scotland and Ireland.
In late March 1932, Waddell was admitted into Stafford Hospital for a minor operation. Complications set in, and he too passed from uraemia on Saturday 16 April 1932, aged 81. The St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church was filled with mourners the following Tuesday, and despite his wishes of cremation, he was buried. He left everything to his family and church and made clear that he did not want an ornamental stone and lime in his honour. A Waddell Chapel in a room at the Deaconesses College, with two stained glass windows was established, and the name continued at Salmond Hall, which opened in the grounds of Knox College in 1971. The Christabel and Rutherford Waddell Chapel was dedicated in their memory two years later. Other proposals of tributes included renaming Carroll Street back to Walker Street, or perhaps Waddell Street, but did not eventuate. The Dunedin Free Kindergarten Association toyed with the idea of a Waddell Kindergarten, but had a lack of support.
References
Dougherty, Ian. Pulpit Radical: The Story of New Zealand Social Campaigner Rutherford Waddell. Dunedin: Saddle Hill Press, 2018.
Waddell, Rutherford. Memoir and Addresses. Ed. J.Collie. Dunedin: Coulls Somerville Wilkie Limited Printers, 1932
Date of Birth1849-1850Date of Death16 April 1932BiographyRutherford Waddell was believed to be born either in 1849 or 1850, as there is no exact date recorded, in the village of Glenarm in Antrim. His father was Reverend Hugh Waddell, and his mother was Margaret Reid but left Waddell motherless at an early age. Waddell was born at the time of the Irish Potato Famine, and it is likely that his mother was a victim of the cholera outbreak during that time. Waddell’s spinster aunt, Jean Reid, took care of Waddell in a farmhouse at Annaghbane near Donaghmore in County Down, and continued to care for him when his father married Anne Atkinson and had two more children.Growing up, Waddell had a poor relationship with school, ‘constantly devising ways to dodge attendance.’ Waddell ‘escaped from the terrible thraldom’ of his Roman Catholic teacher who ‘…was a man of hot, hasty, ungovernable temper,’ by beginning work at the age of 14 as a ‘counter-jumper’ or shop assistant in a drapery in a linen manufacturing town of Banbridge, north of Annaghbane. He worked long hours, and stuck at it for four years.
Waddell’s father and maternal grandfather were Presbyterian ministers, and Waddell was brought up in ‘a godly home’. He confessed that he was not ‘profoundly religious’ for his first 18 years or so. Two events aided Waddell’s conversion. The first was a sermon from a strange preacher in a strange country church, and the other was the character and actions of his brother. Other causes helped aid his path to Christ and His ideals, leading him to leave behind business and take up the Ministry.
After graduating from The Presbyterian Theological College in Belfast, and being ordained at Newtownards in County Down, Waddell struggled to find employment. Waddell opted to accept an appointment on the other side of the world as a ‘missionary to Canterbury, New Zealand’ with the Canterbury Presbyterian Church Extension Association, for a modest annual salary of £200. Waddell went over with his wife, Kathleen Newmen of Listowel in County Kerry, who was 22 years old. During his short stay in Canterbury, Waddell took a service at the Papanui Presbyterian Church, and then spent a three-month spell at the St Paul’s Presbyterian Church, filling in for an ill John Elmslie. Waddell was establishing his character and work ethic. Waddell was offered a post in Dunedin in the province of Otago at the St. Andrews' Presbyterian Church. Two hundred and one members of St. Andrew’s congregation signed to call Waddell to become their minister, not a single dissenter.
It is also important to note that Waddell was a leader of the anti-alcohol cause and became a total abstainer in 1878. Waddell joined the New Zealand Alliance for the Reform of the Liquor Laws, formed in Dunedin in 1879 (the month before he was inducted at St. Andrew’s Church).
After Waddell was inducted at St. Andrews on the 18th April 1879. Waddell threw himself into charity work, on top of his required sermons, church meetings, pastoral visits, baptisms, marriage and funeral services. The economic boom of the 1860s, driven by the discovery of gold in Central Otago, resulted in a long depression that started in the 1870s to the 1890s. Waddell established a Ladies Association, with over 100 women in attendance. After discussion, the name was changed to the St. Andrew’s Church Friendly Aid Association (commonly referred to as the Friendly Aid Society), with Waddell as president. The Society aimed to help those facing hardship, by offering support in cash or kind, holding sewing groups, organising medical aid, providing clothing of job interviews – and even helping those obtain jobs!
When the topic of Bible-in-schools was questioned in January 1881, Waddell was firmly against the proposition. Out of the 38 Synod members, Waddell was one of four who spoke out against it. Waddell’s initial opposition to Bible-in-schools derived from the influence of his beliefs that the teaching of religion was the responsibility of the parent, then the Church and the Sunday school, but not the state. Over the next few years, Waddell was persuaded by those who voted for the movement, and in 1893, Waddell exclaimed that he was no longer a dissenter, but emphasis that he favoured the teaching of lessons from the Bible, rather than ‘the mere general reading of the Bible.’
Waddell was well respected and valued. Waddell developed a reputation as a writer and as Dunedin journalist and pamphleteer, James Grant, remarked that Waddell as ‘a most excellent pastor,’ and asserting ‘beyond doubt, he is the best preacher in the Presbyterian Church of Otago.’ Waddell also started taking literary classes for women in St. Andrews in 1883, Waddell was made the President of the Dunedin Young Men’s Societies’ Union in July 1881, he was on the committee established in 1881 that was responsible for the erection of the statue in memory of Robert Burns, was a chosen judge for many literary competitions, he started, edited and contributed heavily to the St. Andrew’s Church Monthly that began publication in March 1885, Waddell co-authored a guidebook for tourists, Maoriland: An Illustrated Handbook to New Zealand, as requested by the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, also wrote the introduction to the Handbook and penned the introduction to Lays of the Land of the Maori and Moa – a book of poetry.
Waddell’s wife, Kathleen Waddell, suffered from a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis. This caused Kathleen much pain and agony, and she believed that the New Zealand climate was exacerbating the problem. Kathleen decided to take her, and her daughter Muriel, to Ireland indefinitely to try and ease the discomfort. Waddell proceeded to ask for 12 months leave, explaining that he would not need all this time off. This leave was to be a working holiday by publishing articles to the Evening Star as he steamed from Auckland to San Francisco via Samoa and Honolulu. Ten months later Waddell returned to New Zealand in March 1887 and was later reunited with Kathleen and Muriel. Kathleen was in constant pain, stayed at home, and was ‘invisible’ to the parish. She retuned to Europe, this time French spa town of Aix-les-Bains ‘to take a course of baths.’ With her absence, there was much discussion over who would have Waddell over for Sunday dinner.
Waddell was bold about voicing his opinions regarding the female factory and shop workers, labelled as “the Sin of Cheapness” . His initial concerns were in regard to working conditions in the ‘old country,’ but his interests soon turned to conditions in ‘this new country.’ During the early 1880s, the minimum working age for girls and boys in factories was 12. Waddell was objecting to this law and pushed for it to be changed to 16 years of age. Waddell believed that instead of factory work, young women should be spending their time taking part in household work in preparation for mother and wifehood. “Sweating” was a term used to describe the sub-contracting in the rage trade in places such as London and Glasgow, in which contractors earned profits from the margin between the amount the received for a contract and the amount they paid the workers: the margin was said to be ‘sweated’ from the workers. Essentially, low payments, long hours and substandard conditions. Waddell exclaimed at the Otago-Southland Synod annual meeting at First Church in Dunedin that ‘the sweating wages were caused by excessive competition and that competition was created by the enormous rage to get cheap things.’ An example of this ‘sweating’ was found in a letter to the Editor of the Otago Daily Times in 1888, written by ‘Citizen.’ ‘Citizen’ tells use that a woman will get paid eightpence for a dozen of shirts, but they sell for eightpence a shirt. ‘Citizen’ extends his argument by explaining that the woman could make 4p-8p a day, which is all the money her husband and children have to live on, asking the question ‘is this work, or slavery?’
At a well-attended meeting on 14 February 1889 it was decided that a committee to be formed to support better working conditions and better pay for those living on ‘sweating’ wages. The main objective was to arrange a tariff minimum to be paid to the clothing workers to secure an equitable wage for the time being. Waddell named four businesses that were in opposition to this plan of an appropriate wage. On the 11th July 1889 The Tailoresses Union of New Zealand was officially formed, and although Waddell was offered the position of president, he felt ill equipped and afraid a mistake had been made. In March 1890, Waddell helped the formation of the New Zealand Draper’s Assistant Union, and in 1892 supported the Dunedin Shorthand Writer’s Association.
Waddell was particularly proactive in changing the working conditions of low-wage earners. Waddell’s movement of the Tailoresses Union Of New Zealand prompted the New Zealand government to appoint the royal commission, and Waddell heavily enforced that the case of shop girls, who were made to stand for at least 12-14 hours a day were included into the inquiry. The Government agreed. Waddell was appointed to the nine-member Sweating Commission, interrogating the working situation for young children, as well as men and women who were taken advantage of – working long hours, in overcrowded factories, with little to no facilities for lunch and bathroom breaks, and poor ventilation. Waddell’s deliberate attempts to improve working conditions for ordinary people elevated his reputation.
Waddell was an avid support for the Women’s Suffrage movement, stating ‘Personally, from all that I have read and seen, I think it most likely that the adoption of the principle – equality of sex in politics – will greatly help purify politics, and will require high moral character as the first condition of State service.’ From 1894, Waddell also supported a change in law to end disclination on the country’s divorce laws. The current laws placed wives in a terribly hard situation to divorce their husbands, but was relatively easier for the husband to divorce his wife. Waddell wanted to incorporate that desertion and drunkenness into the legislation.
After recognising that there was a lack of educational training, social interaction, or ability to leave the confines of their minute homes in winter, for children under the age of seven, Waddell and his wife Kathleen took it upon themselves to create kindergartens. In September of 1888, a group of approximately 50 people, majority of them were women, met at St. Andrew’s church, and established a committee to consider the possibility and practicality of establishing a kindergarten in Dunedin. A further public meeting was held in 1889, the meeting resolved with the conclusion that a kindergarten association should be formed in Dunedin. There were critics, such as Donald Stuart of Knox Church, who believed that there was calamity in sending children to school too soon. After raising funds to provide payment for the teachers, Waddell managed to convince Wilhemina Wieneke and one of her assistants, Miss Creswell, to leave her position in Christchurch and join the Walker Street Kindergarten. The kindergarten opened in the St. Andrew’s Church Mission Hall on 10 June 1889. The Walker Street Kindergarten was a success, and further kindergartens opened across New Zealand, operating till 1906.
Waddell not only advocated for pre-school education, but was very eager to establish a technical college in Dunedin. Waddell based his beliefs on social reasons, exclaiming that it is ‘an admirable means of keeping these lads out of mischief.’ It occurred to the recently established Technical Classes Association, that youths had been withdrawn from education early ‘in order to earn a livelihood or two qualify themselves for trades…’ The object of the Technical Classes would be that it would enable youth who were working during the day to continue education, and perhaps have the opportunity to access higher education, such as the University of Otago. The Technical Classes Association, and the Dunedin Technical School were the predecessors of King Edward Technical College and the Otago Polytechnic.
Waddell became editor of the Church magazine Christian Outlook in 1893, which later changed to Outlook in 1901. On occasion, Waddell would write letters to himself under the pseudonym ‘Ror’ (a childhood nickname Waddell obtained in Ireland). Waddell tried furiously to increase circulation, by offering prizes for those who gained the highest number new subscribers, having competitions such as puzzles and knot tying to entice reader participation.
Waddell was at the forefront of the Prohibition movement, with the aim to have a ‘dry’ New Zealand, he was elected as Dunedin vice-president of the New Zealand Alliance for the Suppression of the Liquor Trade in March 1888. Waddell wished that there would be no compensation for those who wished to renew their liquor license but could not. Using his pseudonym ‘Ror’ Waddell wrote in the Christian Outlook to gain support for the cause. In the late 1880s, Waddell become invested in another social battle, and that was with gambling. Waddell believed that greed was ‘the root of all evil,’ and that gambling was ‘a perversion’ of the legitimate need ‘to escape the monotony of work’ and be excited occasionally. In June 1895, Waddell devoted an entire issue of the Christian Outlook to gambling. Waddell then later called for the Presbyterian Church to no longer engage in forms of fundraising that involved gambling, such as lotteries and raffles. A significant change occurred between 31 March 1895 and 31 March 190. Out of the 46 licenses granted to religious denominations to hold lotteries in 1895, 10 were for the Presbyterian church. At the end of the financial year in 1901, out of the 55 licenses granted to religious denominations to hold lotteries, zero were for the Presbyterian church. In August 1898 the Anti-Gambling League was created with the task of holding meetings and sharing literature on the damages caused by gambling, and endeavouring that the movement make it to Parliament ‘to make proper laws.’
Waddell was known for his enjoyment of angling and shooting. His friend’s and colleagues recalled many of occasions where Waddell got into strife – whether that be dropping his gun into the Taieri River, nearly drowning in a flooded Opihi River, or another incident of a similar nature in the Waipahi River. Waddell shared a passion and interest in the natural environment of New Zealand. He was incredibly fond of the picturesque rivers and mystic beauty of mother nature. Waddell supported the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the first branch formed in Dunedin in 1882, he did not believe that his personal past times of hunting and fishing interfered with the morals and ethics of this society.
Waddell also joined the Otago Acclimatisation Society, which formed in 1864, with the aim to introduce birds and fish into New Zealand. Waddell believed that the society was more interested in introducing fish into the waterways than birds into the sky. After multiple attempts from Waddell to allow the entry of gamebirds, it fell on deaf ears. During the same time period, £170 had been spent on 105 birds, whilst £10,400 had been spent on the propagation of fish. In terms of conservation, Waddell was a strong advocate to keep native flora and fauna as prosperous as possible. Waddell seemed disturbed with the destruction of the native ferns in the town belt, and the eradication of sand dunes of the Dunedin beaches St Kilda, Middle or Moana Rua and St Clair.
Working strenuous hours, and putting is hand in many pots, Waddell became exhausted. It was said that he was getting only four hours sleep a night, on top of his hectic schedule of literary lectures, campaigning for a variety of social, political, industrial, educational and penal reforms, as well as editing a magazine. Waddell was gifted a generous £281 from 11 friends of the St. Andrew congregation, so he could take a prolonged holiday – on full salary. Although not wanting to go, Waddell took this opportunity to take himself, Kathleen and Muriel to Canada, Britain, Ireland and the United States of America. Waddell returned in March 1902, but Muriel and Kathleen remained in Europe till January 1903 to allow Muriel time to study singing and pianoforte – both of which Muriel expressed talent in. Waddell’s hearing was creating serious issues, and he was often seen whisking out a ‘speaking trumpet’ when in conversation.
Waddell promoted the notion of St. Andrew’s to become the first Presbyterian New Zealand parish to employ a deaconess for home mission work. For this role, Christabel Duncan of Victoria, Australia, was appointed. Duncan resumed this position for over 20 years, only fracturing her service when her parents become ill, and Duncan needed to return to Victoria, to offer assistance and support. After the success of his home mission, Waddell wanted St. Andrew’s to be the first Presbyterian parish in New Zealand to support its own overseas mission. Maggie Anderson was the first missionary adopted for his regime. Anderson was on of the first two graduates from the Presbyterian Women’s Training Institution in 1905, learned Cantonese with Reverend Alexander Don, and then volunteered for the mission in China. Waddell wanted the St. Andrew’s church to support the mission financially themselves, and 113 church members contributed the full amount for three years’ service in China. When Anderson retired, Eddy Kirk took her place, and then a further two missionaries were funded, Annie James and Annie Hancock. Soon after St. Andrew’s self-funded the three missionaries, seven congregations each began funding one missionary. By the early 1930s, individual Presbyterian congregations supported about 30 overseas missions.
The Great War put pressure on the St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church as a total of 172 servicemen and five nursing sisters, most directly connected with the main St. Andrew’s Church, and others indirectly related through their families – served during the war. 27 of the men were killed. Waddell’s predominant response to the War was that it was caused by people forsaking the God he believed in and would be ceased by prayer. He told 150 people that there was never more a necessary time for the Christian Church to make its voice heard, and its influence felt. Waddell was anxious about the political development of the Russian Revolution, that had taken place during the War in Europe. Waddell believed that this was a time when the church would be tested, exclaiming that one war has ended, but an even more ominous war is on the horizon.
On a personal note, the Waddell household had experienced some drastic changes. Muriel married Gerald Anderson, a sub-editor of the Hawke’s Bay Herald in July 1915. Muriel and Gerald had one daughter, Joan Rutherford Anderson (her middle name taken from her maternal grandfather) and was born in 1917. Gerald served as a solider and war correspondent, and in 1917/18, the three travelled New Zealand as Gerald delivered illustrated lectures on ‘New Zealanders at war on seven fronts.’ After the War, Gerald worked as a journalist in Australia and Singapore, before settling in Armadale in Western Australia, where they owned an orchard. Joan worked on the orchard, and then as a bookbinder. Kathleen, Waddell’s wife, deteriorated physically and mentally, and after a further stay in the Seventh Day Adventist Sanatorium in July 1916, returned to Dunedin to be admitted to the Seacliff Mental Hospital in March 1917. Kathleen suffered from senile dementia on top of her chronic rheumatoid arthritis. Later in December, Waddell discovered that his sister, Mary had passed.
Waddell resigned from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church at the end of June 1919, one month before marking is 40th anniversary; he as in his late 60s. Waddell purchased a retirement house on the Otago Peninsula in November 1917 and named his new property ‘Dreamthorp’; eight months after Kathleen was admitted into Seacliff Mental Hospital. Kathleen passed on the 7th September 1920. Three years after Kathleen died, Waddell married Christabel Duncan; Duncan was 47 and Weddell was 72. They took regular breaks from Dreamthorp and travelled to Australia, England, Scotland and Ireland.
In late March 1932, Waddell was admitted into Stafford Hospital for a minor operation. Complications set in, and he too passed from uraemia on Saturday 16 April 1932, aged 81. The St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church was filled with mourners the following Tuesday, and despite his wishes of cremation, he was buried. He left everything to his family and church and made clear that he did not want an ornamental stone and lime in his honour. A Waddell Chapel in a room at the Deaconesses College, with two stained glass windows was established, and the name continued at Salmond Hall, which opened in the grounds of Knox College in 1971. The Christabel and Rutherford Waddell Chapel was dedicated in their memory two years later. Other proposals of tributes included renaming Carroll Street back to Walker Street, or perhaps Waddell Street, but did not eventuate. The Dunedin Free Kindergarten Association toyed with the idea of a Waddell Kindergarten, but had a lack of support.
References
Dougherty, Ian. Pulpit Radical: The Story of New Zealand Social Campaigner Rutherford Waddell. Dunedin: Saddle Hill Press, 2018.
Waddell, Rutherford. Memoir and Addresses. Ed. J.Collie. Dunedin: Coulls Somerville Wilkie Limited Printers, 1932
Images
Story
Duplicates: P-S6-35; P-S24-31; P-A62.1-1; P-S15-25; P-S15-26; P-A133.2-3
Relates to
Recollect CollectionPeople
Waddell, Rutherford. Presbyterian Research Centre, accessed 23/04/2026, https://pcanzarchives.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/112519
