A LETTER written by a famous British missionary and thought to be one of the earliest sent from New Zealand still in existence, fetched £5520 pounds when it was sold at auction in London.

The three-page dispatch from blacksmith-turned-missionary James Kemp was carried from the southern hemisphere in a whaling ship before being posted in the British capital to lawyer John Mitchell in Norfolk, eastern England.

Kemp’s letter was dated February 26, 1820, and was bought by an anonymous private bidder, including buyer’s premium, at auction house Spink.

It was written shortly after Kemp and his wife Charlotte arrived to start his ministry at Keddee Keddee - now Kerikeri - in the Bay of Islands on New Zealand’s North Island.

Posted: 10|4|06 at 8:30 am. Filed under: UK News.