Advanced Biographies Search
Filter biographies using dates, occupations and places related to people's lives.
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1915–1995Librarian, writer
Dorothy Mary Neal was born in Christchurch on 22 December 1915, the daughter of Henry Joseph Neal, a tram conductor, and his wife, Florence Rhodes. She attended Avonside Girls’ High School and studied for a time at Canterbury College. In 1933 she became a library assistant at Canterbury Public...
Story: White, Dorothy Mary Neal
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1839–1936Gardener, writer
Emily Louisa Merielina Rogers was born probably on 1 May 1839 at Beyton, Suffolk, England, the daughter of Emily Eliza Blake and her husband, Michael Edward Rogers, an Anglican clergyman. Emily's first 24 or so years were spent in various manors and rectories owned by her clerical and gentry...
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1909–1995Show-jumper, racehorse trainer
A naturally talented horsewoman, Evelyn Freda White excelled first as a show-jumper and later as a racehorse trainer, but it was for her colourful personality that she was best known in the horse world. She was born on 10 November 1909 at Napier, the youngest of four children of Eva Muriel...
Story: White, Evelyn Freda
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1881–1972Music teacher, conductor, organist, composer
Harold Temple White was born in Laceby, Lincolnshire, England, on 24 December 1881, the son of Emma Jane Wales and her husband, John Hobson White, a grocer. The family were ardent Methodists (John White was to become a minister at Kimbolton) and Harold's religious upbringing strongly...
Story: White, Harold Temple
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1826–1891Scholar, writer, linguist, public servant
John White was born in the village of Cockfield in Durham, England, on 3 January 1826, one of a family of eight children born to Francis White, a blacksmith, and his wife, Jane Angus. The White family emigrated to New Zealand in 1834. They were probably encouraged by Francis's brother, William...
Story: White, John
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1906–1967Photographer, photojournalist, aviator, publisher, writer
Leo Lemuel White was born at Auckland on 4 July 1906 to May Rae and her husband, Albert Edward White, a carter. He was educated at Ellerslie and Remuera schools. After completing the sixth standard he joined the Post and Telegraph Department as a messenger.
Acquiring a Brownie box camera...
Story: White, Leo Lemuel
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1794–1875Missionary
William White was born on 11 February 1794, at Ingleton, County Durham, England, the elder son of Francis White and his wife, Hannah Walker. He became a carpenter by trade and a Wesleyan lay preacher. In 1822 he was ordained and sent to New Zealand to help the Reverend Samuel Leigh establish...
Story: White, William
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1899–1983Biochemist, microbiologist, scientific administrator
Hugh Robinson Whitehead was born in Hunslet, Leeds, England, on 11 November 1899, the son of Annie May Robinson and her husband, John Hanson Whitehead, an electrical engineer. He was educated in Leeds and graduated BSc (1921) and MSc (1922) from the University of Leeds. He then worked as a...
Story: Whitehead, Hugh Robinson
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1856–1929Motion picture exhibitor and producer
Alfred Henry Whitehouse was born on 15 September 1856 at Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, the son of Abel Whitehouse, a warehouseman, and his wife, Matilda Craddock. He is believed to have come to New Zealand with his parents about 1864. Very little is known of his early life. When he...
Story: Whitehouse, Alfred Henry
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1912–2002Actor, producer, broadcaster
Davina Whitehouse’s career in performance spanned 70 years, from theatre and film roles in Britain between the 1920s and the 1940s to radio, theatre, television and film roles in New Zealand from the 1950s to the 2000s. In New Zealand she was widely recognised as an energetic advocate for local...
Story: Whitehouse, Davina
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1806–1869Missionary
John Whiteley was born at Kneesall, Nottinghamshire, England, the son of James Whiteley, a grocer, and his wife, Elizabeth Rainor. He was born on 20 July 1806, which was also the day of his baptism. He went to primary school at Farnsfield and was apprenticed to a miller and baker before being...
Story: Whiteley, John
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1855–1875Tightrope dancer, gymnast, magician
Jane Whiteside was born on 5 February 1855 and baptised on 28 February in the Church of Ireland, Tullylish, County Down, Ireland. Her parents were Jane Totten and her husband, John Whiteside, a weaver of Clare, County Down. Her father enlisted in the 65th (2nd Yorkshire, North Riding) Regiment...
Story: Whiteside, Jane
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1891–1977Journalist, newspaper editor and proprietor
William Arthur Whitlock was born at Nelson on 2 July 1891, the son of William Charles Whitlock and his wife, Hobart-born Mary Saul Alexander. His father had come to New Zealand from England to take up farming, but instead became a pioneer newspaper proprietor. Around 1899 the family moved to...
Story: Whitlock, William Arthur
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1829–1903Soldier, military leader, runholder, politician
George Stoddart Whitmore was born on 30 May 1829 in Malta, the son of George St Vincent Whitmore and his wife, Isabella Maxwell Stoddart. His father was a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers stationed at Malta; his mother was the daughter of Sir John Stoddart, the chief justice of Malta. The...
Story: Whitmore, George Stoddart
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1836–1932Soldier, ammunition manufacturer
John Whitney was born on 27 June 1836 at Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, the son of James Whitney, a chemist, and his wife, Sophia Caroline Carline. After attending school at Shrewsbury, he obtained a commission in 1858 in the British Army, serving mainly in Ireland. On 18 April 1860 John...
Story: Whitney, John
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1914–1985Agricultural chemist, dairy researcher, community worker, peace activist
Walter George Whittlestone, known to friends and family as ‘Wattie’, was born at Abbotsford, near Dunedin, on 2 April 1914, the son of Annie Ethel Lowe and her husband, George Frederick Opawa Whittlestone, a miner. When he was four the family moved to Kaitangata, where George became a mine...
Story: Whittlestone, Walter George
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1908–1983Tūhoe; cook, blacksmith, midwife, exhumer
Wī Whitu was born on 4 December 1908 at Maungapōhatu, at the height of Rua Kēnana’s religious leadership there. His parents were Whitu Te Rangimakā (Makā) Tawa (or Kanuehi) of Hāmua, a Tūhoe hapū in Ruātoki, and his wife, Kirikino (also known as Koutu) Hikihiki of the Tamakaimoana hapū at...
Story: Whitu, Wī
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1877–1945Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and Ngāti Porou; doctor, historian, community leader
Tūtere Wī Repa was one of a group of Māori who, in the early twentieth century, set out to put their professional training at the disposal of their people. Less well known than men such as Apirana Ngata, Peter Buck and Māui Pōmare, he was to spend most of his life in comparative obscurity on...
Story: Wī Repa, Tūtere
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1892–1989Nurse, tutor, hospital matron, nursing administrator
Muriel Grace Widdowson was born in Christchurch on 14 June 1892, the third of four children of Emma Matilda Lawrence and her husband, Howell Young Widdowson, a solicitor. The family moved to Dunedin in 1905 when Howell became a magistrate. There Grace became a pupil at Braemar House. Lack of...
Story: Widdowson, Muriel Grace
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1922–2009Palaeontologist
Joan Wiffen was a self-taught palaeontologist who greatly advanced knowledge of fossil reptiles in New Zealand. Wiffen, who described herself as ‘a rank amateur, a Hawkes Bay housewife in fact, with no scientific training, just … a great deal of curiosity’, made some of New Zealand’s most...
Story: Wiffen, Joan