Born in England, he came to New Zealand with his wife, Charlotte Kemp, in 1819 and settled in Kerikeri where the CMS station was founded.

[1] After sailing aboard the Baring to Sydney, in Australia, Kemp and his wife transferred to the General Gates for the trip to the Bay of Islands, their final destination.

Arriving on 12 August 1819,[1] they initially lived at Hohi[2] before moving a few months later to a settlement in Kerikeri, where Charlotte Kemp was one of the first European women in the area.

[3] A blacksmith's shop had been built at the station and Kemp was kept busy making fittings for the buildings being erected and goods for trading.

Nearby was the main pā (fort) of Hongi Hika, a Māori rangatira (chief) of the Ngāpuhi iwi (tribe).

The Kemps were set to be transferred by the CMS, which was considering closing the station at Kerikeri on economic grounds, to the Bay of Plenty, to establish a mission at Tauranga.

[1][8] Despite the CMS beginning to reduce its financial support for the Kerikeri station,[9] the Kemps remained there throughout the Flagstaff War of 1845–46, some of the few Europeans in the area to do so.

He declined an invitation from the local committee of the CMS to move to Tūranga, on the East Cape, the following year for similar reasons.

[10] He retired in 1850, and continued to live in Mission House which, as it was CMS property, he exchanged for land he had purchased elsewhere in Kerikeri.