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1898–1994Housekeeper, trade unionist, hotel maid, communist, bookseller, political activist
Constance Alice Rawcliffe, known as Connie, was born on 27 July 1898 at Haydock, Lancashire, England, the daughter of Catherine Williamson and her husband, John Rawcliffe, a police constable. Measles as a baby left Connie permanently deaf in her right ear, but her family and teachers ensured...
Story: Birchfield, Constance Alice
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1870–1954Headmaster, school inspector, educational administrator, Māori linguist
William Watson Bird was born on 8 February 1870 at Crookham Common, Crondall, Hampshire, England, the sixth child of Harriet Hale and her husband, Alfred Bird, a carpenter. The family emigrated to Dunedin, New Zealand, when William was four. He was educated at Caversham School, then Otago Boys...
Story: Bird, William Watson
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1874–1924Electrical engineer
Lawrence Birks was born at Adelaide, Australia, on 19 May 1874, the son of Walter Richard Birks, a draper, and his wife, Jemima Scott Crooks. Lawrence attended Prince Alfred College and the University of Adelaide. Graduating with a BSc in 1895, he was awarded an engineering scholarship...
Story: Birks, Lawrence
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1880–1952Whaler, goldminer, character
Carl Axel Björk was born in Hedvig Eleonora parish, Stockholm, Sweden, on 5 August 1880. His mother was a 29-year-old unmarried seamstress, Johanna Sofia Björk. The identity of his father was not recorded. When Carl was four years old his mother died and he spent the next 2½ years in an...
Story: Björk, Carl Axel
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1896–1963Mayoress, community worker
Helen McKenzie Murray was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on 16 August 1896. She was the daughter of Helen McKenzie and her husband, Alexander Innes Murray, a shipmaster with the Shaw Savill and Albion Company. Before Helen was a year old, the family came to New Zealand to join Alexander, whose...
Story: Black, Helen McKenzie
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1835–1914Chemist, mineralogist, lecturer, university professor
James Gow Black (baptised James Black) was born in Tomgarrow, Little Dunkeld, Perthshire, Scotland, on 10 May 1835, the son of David Black and his wife, Margaret Gow. As 'the son of a poor Highland crofter' (his father was a quarrier and farmer), Black supported himself by manual labour, and...
Story: Black, James Gow
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1902–1963Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and Te Whakatōhea; teacher, principal, community services co-ordinator, community leader
Sholto Kairākau Black was born in Ōpōtiki on 13 January 1902, the seventh child and youngest son of John Black, a farmer at nearby Ōtara, and his wife, Polly Matuakore (Pare Pīkake) Delamere, who was also known as Mary. He grew up in a family of 12 children, two of whom were adopted, and...
Story: Black, Sholto Kairākau
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1876/1877?–1942Wood carver, journal editor and publisher, journalist
William Pierpont Black's career illustrates some of the more unusual aspects of the New Zealand labour movement in the early twentieth century. William Peter Negrescu was born in Bucharest, Romania, probably in 1876 or 1877, the son of John Negrescu, a labourer, and his wife, Fana. A wood...
Story: Black, William Pierpont
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1889–1956Librarian
Annie Maude Blackett was born on 30 July 1889 at Newcastle upon Tyne, England, the daughter of Annie Pile and her husband, Thomas Robert Blackett, a fitter. Her education, at public and private schools in Newcastle, included three years at a boarding school. She later lived in South Africa, far...
Story: Blackett, Annie Maude
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1819/1820?–1907Storekeeper, politician
Henry Blackett was born in Durham, England, probably in 1819 or 1820, the son of Margaret Bell and her husband, Cuthbert Blackett, a worsted and carpet manufacturer. He was educated at the local grammar school and later opened a woollen drapery firm. Blackett married Isabella Benton in...
Story: Blackett, Henry
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1818–1893Engineer
John Blackett was born on 8 October 1818 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, the son of John Blackett and his wife, Sarah Codlin. From 1834 to 1840 Blackett was apprenticed as a draughtsman to R. & W. Hawthorn of Newcastle upon Tyne, and worked for this firm from 1840 to 1841. From 1841 to...
Story: Blackett, John
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1864–1955Governess, teacher, church administrator
Jeannetta Margaret Walker was born in London, England, on 19 June 1864 to Anne Jane Randall and her husband, Alexander Walker, a printer. Her father, a Scot, held his country's system of education in high regard and when Jeannetta was six he sent her to the esteemed Mary Erskine School. She...
Story: Blackie, Jeannetta Margaret
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1864–1952Writer, botanist
Ellen Wright Blackwell was born at Northampton, Northamptonshire, England, on 7 October 1864, the daughter of Annie Maria Bumpus and her husband, John Blackwell, a master hosier. Ellen was one of a large family and was brought up as a Baptist. Over the years she developed a deep amateur...
Story: Blackwell, Ellen Wright
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1903–1983Schoolteacher, university professor, classicist, writer
Edward Musgrave Blaiklock was born on 6 July 1903 in Birmingham, England, the son of Florence Tromans and her husband, Edward Blaiklock, a foreman in the electrical department of a local steam engineering firm. The family emigrated to New Zealand in 1909, arriving in Auckland in August. In...
Story: Blaiklock, Edward Musgrave
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1843–1914Printer, publisher, bookseller, businessman, educational administrator, mayor
John Rutherfurd Blair (baptised John) was born on 8 February 1843 at Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland, the son of Jane Rankin and her husband, Robert Blair, a miner. John entered the office of a large Glasgow paper merchant before emigrating in 1860 to Melbourne, Australia. Here he worked for...
Story: Blair, John Rutherfurd
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1841–1891Engineer, surveyor
William Newsham Blair was born at Kilmeny, Islay, an island in the Scottish inner Hebrides, probably on 10 August 1841. He was the son of Mary Newsham and her husband, David Blair, a substantial farmer and miller. After a good parish school education Blair was articled to a civil engineer and...
Story: Blair, William Newsham
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1882–1968Naval officer
The son of Fanny Leatry and her husband, Thomas Naish Blake, a brewer, Geoffrey Blake was born on 16 September 1882 at Bramley House, Alverstoke, Hampshire, England. He attended Winchester College before entering the Royal Navy at the age of 14. He attained the rank of lieutenant in October...
Story: Blake, Geoffrey
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1921–1990Journalist, broadcaster
Joan Isabel Faulkner, born in Cambridge on 30 January 1921, was the second of three daughters of Edward Ernest Faulkner, a storekeeper, and his wife, Rhoda Vera White, a milliner. After schooling in Waikato and Auckland, Joan became a cadet journalist at the Dominion, Wellington, in 1938....
Story: Blake, Joan Isabel Faulkner
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1853–1940Taranaki; surveyor, interpreter, land agent, historian, racehorse owner and trainer
John Thomas Blake was born at Ōrākei, Auckland, on 4 April 1853. He was the youngest son of William Farley Blake, an Irish-born land and mining surveyor who had migrated to New Zealand in 1841. His mother was Maata Takahi Tourāwiri of the Tītahi and Ngā Māhanga subtribes of the Taranaki people...
Story: Blake, John Thomas
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1948–2001Yachtsman, environmentalistSailing apprenticeship
Peter James Blake was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 1 October 1948, and raised in the suburb of Bayswater on the northern edge of the Waitematā Harbour. His father, Brian Blake, had emigrated from England in 1920 and worked as an artist and art director for an...
Story: Blake, Peter James