Advanced Biographies Search
Filter biographies using dates, occupations and places related to people's lives.
-
1862–1950Storekeeper, sawmiller, business reformer
Henry Valder was born on 14 August 1862 at Southampton, Hampshire, England, the son of Mary Collingridge and her husband, George Valder, a corn merchant. Henry was educated at a church school in Winchester. His father's remarriage after the death of his mother in 1871 prompted Henry to...
Story: Valder, Henry
-
1886–1968Teacher, educationalist
Winifred Annie Valentine was born on 5 May 1886 at Hawksbury (Waikouaiti), Otago, the youngest child in the large family of Mary Maxwell and her husband, Archibald Valentine, a road inspector. After attending school at Waikouaiti and Port Chalmers, she was a student at Dunedin Training College...
Story: Valentine, Winifred Annie
-
1865–1945Doctor, public health administrator
Thomas Harcourt Ambrose Valintine was born at Westhampnett, Sussex, England, on 1 August 1865, the son of Thomas Buckner Henry Valintine and his wife, Bertha Bean. Formerly a captain in a Sussex regiment, Valintine's father was agent to the sixth duke of Richmond. Following his secondary school...
-
1911–1996Aviator, aerial photographer and surveyor
Piet van Asch’s lifelong passion for photography and flying made him one of New Zealand’s foremost aviation pioneers, though in person he was modest about his achievements. He was born Henry Piet Drury van Asch on 4 May 1911 at Waitotara, and brought up on his parents’ Craggy Range sheepfarm...
Story: van Asch, Henry Piet Drury
-
1893/1894?–1946Homemaker, storekeeper
Van Chu-Lin was born, probably in 1893 or 1894, in Zengcheng county in south China, in a small village a short distance north-east of Canton (Guangzhou). The only daughter of an oil vendor, Van Poy Wah, and his wife, Ah Day, Chu-Lin was well known for her beauty. Her parents promised her to...
Story: Van Chu-Lin
-
1915–1996Pianist, wartime entertainment director, conductor, composer, performing arts administrator
Terence Vaughan was born in Whangarei on 26 May 1915, the second child of Dorothy Helen Gillespie and her husband, Sydney Maurice Vaughan, a merchant. After the family’s move to a Canterbury farm and later to Christchurch, Terry was educated at Hororata School, New Brighton School, and as a...
Story: Vaughan, Terence
-
1902–1989Netball player, teacher, sports administrator
Energetic and sharp-witted, Cath Vautier was a child who learned quickly and well. As the eldest in a family of 12, she grew up leading by example. This was to be the pattern of her life. A teacher for over 40 years, a player, coach and organiser of netball for over 50 years, and an active...
-
1870–1961Railway worker, trade unionist, politician
William Andrew Veitch was born on 25 May 1870 at Port of Monteith, Perthshire, Scotland, the son of Stephen Veitch, a schoolmaster, and his wife, Janet Davidson. After attending his father’s school, he worked for the post and telegraph office until 1887, when he emigrated to New Zealand. He...
Story: Veitch, William Andrew
-
1837–1913Artist, art teacher
Petrus van der Velden was born at Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on 5 May 1837, the fifth child of a working-class Catholic family. His parents were Joannes van der Velden, a warehouse manager, and his wife, Jacoba van Essel. Petrus began drawing lessons at about the age of 13 at the...
Story: Velden, Petrus van der
-
1855–1929Seaman, fisherman, farmer
Mariano Vela was born probably on 15 February 1855 at Macarsca, Dalmatia. He was the son of Matthaea Miličić and her husband, Andreas Vela, a farmer. Mariano left his home village and became a sailor, voyaging around the world. As a crew member on the Rakaia he arrived in Wellington, New...
Story: Vella, Mariano
-
1884–1962Ngāti Pikiao; horseman, soldier, farmer, community leader
Henry Te Reiwhati (Harry Ray) Vercoe was born at Maketū, Bay of Plenty, probably on 21 July 1884, the third child of Ngāhuia Te Ahoaho and her husband, Henry Vercoe, a surveyor. Vercoe's mother had tribal connections to Ngāti Pikiao and Ngāti Tuarā of Te Arawa. His early childhood was spent...
Story: Vercoe, Henry Te Reiwhati
-
1887–1959Public servant
Paul Desiré Nestor Verschaffelt was born in Napier on 21 May 1887, the son of Irish-born Mary Nestor and her husband, Desiré Verschaffelt, a gardener, who was born in Belgium. Paul was educated at the Marist brothers' St Mary's Boys' School, Napier, where he was judged to be 'of good moral...
-
1809–1872Priest, missionary, bishop
Philippe Viard was born in Lyons, France, on 11 October 1809, the eighth child of Claude Viard, a metal founder, and his wife, Pierrette Charlotte Rolland. He probably took Joseph as a religious name at confirmation. In New Zealand he was often known as Philip Joseph Viard.
Philippe...
Story: Viard, Philippe Joseph
-
1823–1861Printer, publisher, publican
William Edward Vincent, one of the founding printer-proprietors of the Wellington Independent, was born in Hull, Yorkshire, England, probably on 17 September 1823, and was baptised on 20 July 1829. He was the fourth child and second son of Anna Muddle Canney and Thomas Vincent, a former...
Story: Vincent, William Edward
-
1837?–1917Singer, entertainer
Ann Day was baptised on 7 May 1837 in London, England. She was the daughter of Francis John Day, a merchant, and his wife, Margaret Tilley.
On 4 July 1855, while she was a student at Melbourne Mechanics' Institute, Ann Day married her singing teacher, Giovanni Whittle Vitelli, who...
Story: Vitelli, Annie
-
1888?–1954Musician, tomato grower
Born on 16 April 1876 in Grumento Nova, Potenza province, Basilicata, Italy, Giuseppe (Joseph) Vitetta was the eldest son of Antonio Vitetta and his wife, Maria Rosa Giliberti. He had, at least, two young brothers, Vincenzo (Vincent), born on 28 December 1881 and Giovanni Battista (John Baptist...
Story: Vitetta, John Baptist
-
1835–1899Journalist, politician, premier, writer
Julius Vogel was born in London, England, probably on 24 February 1835, the son of Albert Leopold Vogel and his wife, Phoebe Isaac. His mother was the oldest daughter of a Jewish merchant family headed by Alexander Isaac, and his father was from a Dutch Ashkenazi Jewish family. Vogel had an...
Story: Vogel, Julius
-
1898–1973Bacon curer, businessman, art collector
Ernest George Frederick Vogtherr was born in Sunderland, England, on 18 February 1898, the eldest of four children of Sophia Vogt and her husband, Carl Wilhelm Frederick Vogtherr, a master pork butcher. Ernest was sent to live with his uncle and grandmother in Kendal, where he attended the...
-
1819–1865Missionary
Carl Sylvius Völkner was born in Kassel, Hesse, Germany, probably in 1819; his parents' names are unknown. Trained at the missionary college at Hamburg, Völkner was one of several missionaries sent to New Zealand by the North German Missionary Society. He arrived in New Zealand in August 1849...
Story: Völkner, Carl Sylvius
-
1885–1975Engineer, oil refinery owner
Heinrich Franz Vosseler, generally known as Henry or Harry, was born on 18 October 1885 in Wellington, the son of German parents George Vosseler, a baker, and his second wife, Anna Marie Therese Wulff, a schoolteacher. George Vosseler's first wife had been the governess-companion of the German...
Story: Vosseler, Heinrich Franz