Thomas Maxwell Henderson (1810 – 27 June 1886) was a New Zealand politician. He was one of the earliest settlers in Auckland. He was a significant entrepreneur, and the Auckland suburb of Henderson bears his name. Early life Henderson was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1810. He was a blacksmith by trade and served his time as an engineer and machine maker. He met the Macfarlane siblings in Perth, Scotland; John, Henry and Catherine (1811–1867). He married Catherine in 1834. A family conference consisting all the above plus Ann Taylor (née Macfarlane) and her husband decided that they would answer to the advertisements for tradesmen and women to emigrate to New Zealand. They left Gravesend near London on 13 August 1840 on the barque London, arriving in Port Nicholson (Wellington) on 12 December. George Henderson, their 15 months old son, had died on the voyage. The Henderson and Macfarlane families went north, heading for Auckland at a time when not a single house had been erected yet. Professional career Henderson and his brother-in-law John Macfarlane entered into a professional partnership in 1842, beginning by selling general merchandise and goods for ships. The Henderson & Macfarlane business later grew to include kauri timber milling and shipping, under the name Pacific Island Traders (later known as the Circular Saw Line). In 1844, Henderson & Macfarlane purchased 18,000 acres of West Auckland from Ngāti Whātua in return for goods and a schooner, the Lucy Dunn, however the government voided the land sale shortly after, when it was decreed that all purchases of Māori land needed to be done through the central government. In response, Henderson & Macfarlane sought permission from Governor George Grey in 1847 to mill kauri in the vicinity of the Te Wai-o-Pareira / Henderson Creek, Henderson Valley and Waitākere Ranges. Henderson built a sawmill near the conjunction of the Opanuku Stream and Oratia Stream in 1848, around which developed a community, the Henderson's Mill Settlement, which became the modern-day suburb of Henderson. When the land became available to purchase from the government in 1853, Henderson & Macfarlane were one of the largest purchasers. He built the Commercial Hotel on the corner of High Street and Shortland Street in the Auckland CBD at a cost of £2000, and it was at the time considered the most pretentious building in Auckland. In 1858, the hotel was destroyed in a fire, and replaced