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1867–1956Engineer, socialist, insurance agent
Harry Albert Atkinson was born in Urenui, north-east of New Plymouth, New Zealand, on 15 October 1867, the fourth of six sons of Marion (Polly) Ronalds and her husband, Decimus Atkinson, a farmer. The Atkinsons were one of the leading Taranaki families: an uncle, Harry Albert Atkinson, after...
Story: Atkinson, Harry Albert
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1824–1914Letter-writer, community leader
According to family information Jane Maria Richmond (known as Maria) was born at St Pancras, London, England, on 15 September 1824, the third child and only surviving daughter of Christopher Richmond, barrister of the Middle Temple, and his wife, Maria Wilson. The early death of Christopher...
Story: Atkinson, Jane Maria
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1909–1990Horticultural scientist, scientific administrator
John Dunstan Atkinson was born in Wellington on 3 March 1909, the son of Mary Herrick Hursthouse and her husband, Samuel Arnold Atkinson, a solicitor. To his immediate family he was known as Dunstan, but because of his striking red hair when young he earned the nickname ‘Torchy’. Use of this...
Story: Atkinson, John Dunstan
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1866–1921Temperance campaigner, suffragist, feminist
Lily May Kirk was born at Auckland, New Zealand, on 29 March 1866, the daughter of Sarah Jane Mattocks and her husband, Thomas Kirk, a surveyor. In early 1874 her family moved to Wellington where Thomas Kirk, by this time a botanist, took up a position as lecturer in natural sciences at...
Story: Atkinson, Lily May
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1870–1946Signwriter, painter, politician
Harry Atmore was born in Nelson on 14 December 1870, the 11th child of Edward Atmore, a gardener, and his wife, Ellen Winearls. Harry was educated at the Bridge Street School and then apprenticed to a signwriter in Wellington. On his return to Nelson he set up as a signwriter, painter and...
Story: Atmore, Harry
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1835–1926Catholic nun, nurse, herbalist, teacher, social worker, writer
Marie Henriette Suzanne Aubert (known first as Suzanne Aubert and later in religion as Mary Joseph Aubert) was born at Saint-Symphorien-de-Lay, Loire, France, on 19 June 1835. She was the daughter of Henriette Catherine Clarice Périer and her husband, Louis Aubert, a bailiff.
Little is...
Story: Aubert, Mary Joseph
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1877–1967Pianist, music teacher, conductor, composer, critical gadfly
Louis Daly Austin was born on 20 February 1877 in Kensington, London, England, the son of Wilhelmina Jemima Robinson and her husband, Louis Frederic Austin, a successful journalist who had been a secretary and literary associate of Sir Henry Irving. The actor became godfather to Louis junior,...
Story: Austin, Louis Daly Irving
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1865–1957Anglican archbishop
Alfred Walter Averill was born on 7 October 1865 at Castle Church, Staffordshire, England, the son of a pharmacist, Henry Alcock Averill, and his wife, Sarah Ellen Wootton. He was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Burton-on-Trent, took an honours degree in theology at St John's...
Story: Averill, Alfred Walter
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1897–1981Soldier, doctor, medical administrator, community leader
Leslie Cecil Lloyd Averill was born in the vicarage of St Michael and All Angels, Christchurch, on 25 March 1897, the son of Alfred Walter Averill and his wife, Mary Weir. His father, the vicar, was later archbishop and primate of the Anglican church in New Zealand. Leslie began his education...
Story: Averill, Leslie Cecil Lloyd
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1922–1983Jazz musician, radio programme manager, songwriter
Kenneth Stopford Avery was born in Dunedin on 24 June 1922 to George Frederick Avery, a commercial traveller, and his wife, Dorothy Alice Stopford. He was educated at High Street School in Dunedin before the family moved to Christchurch. Avery enlisted in the army in 1940, serving in the Middle...
Story: Avery, Kenneth Stopford
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1887–1938Abortionist
Isabel Annie Michaelsen was born on 18 March 1887 in Waipawa, Hawke's Bay. Her early family life was marred by tragedy. Her father, Harald Michaelsen, a Danish clerk, committed suicide by poisoning himself three months before Annie was born. Three years later his Scottish wife, Kate Layton...
Story: Aves, Isabel Annie
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1910–1976Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Hine; interpreter, military leader, Māori welfare officer, local politician, convicted murderer
Arapeta Marukitepua Pitapitanuiārangi Awatere (whose name is also recorded as Te Arapeta Pitameirangi Marukitepua Awatere) was born on 25 April 1910 at Tūpāroa, on the East Coast, to Petuere Wī Hēkopa Awatere, a farmer of Te Whānau-a-Hinetāpora hapū of Ngāti Porou, and his wife, Hēni Hautao,...
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1912–1987Mountaineer and guide, gardener
Horace Henry Ayres (Ayers), better known as Harry Herbert Ayres, was born on 31 July 1912 in Christchurch, the son of Ellen Matthews and her husband, Henry Ayres, a gardener, carpenter and plasterer. Harry attended Waltham and Sydenham schools. The family was poor and his relationship with his...
Story: Ayres, Horace Henry
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1878–1950Methodist minister, socialist
Moses Ayrton (Airton) was born at Yeadon, Yorkshire, England, on 15 July 1878. He was the son of Moses Airton, a woollen waste dealer, and his wife, Martha Chappell. Moses junior became a grocer's assistant. A Wesleyan Methodist lay reader, at age 18 he offered himself for ordination. He...
Story: Ayrton, Moses
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1884–1948Lawyer, judge, public administrator
Hugh Fraser Ayson was born in Toiro, near Balclutha, Otago, on 16 November 1884, the son of Lake Falconer Ayson, a rabbit inspector, and his wife, Alice Dabinett. Educated at Masterton School, Wellington College and Victoria College, he was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme...
Story: Ayson, Hugh Fraser
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1855–1927Farm labourer, rabbit inspector, acclimatisation officer, fisheries inspector
Lake Falconer Ayson was the 13th of the 14 children of Peter Ayson, a carpenter, and his wife, Douglas Lamont (Lamond). They had emigrated from the Scottish Highlands to Otago, New Zealand, in 1853, and were amongst the earliest settlers in the lower Clutha valley. Lake was born at Warepa on 7...
Story: Ayson, Lake Falconer
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1846–1922Goldminer, rabbiter, rural labourer, diarist
Charles John Ayton was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, England, on 24 February 1846, the son of Ann Maria Gales and her husband, John Featherstone Ayton, a corn factor. Otago legends say that Charles had a good education, but that after inheriting the family business he sold it,...
Story: Ayton, Charles John
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1871–1956Headmistress
Esther Mary Baber was born at Christchurch, New Zealand, on 21 March 1871, the daughter of English parents Jane Wood and her husband, Thomas Primrose Baber, a corn merchant. Esther and a younger sister grew up in a modest and orderly home free from strain. Their father shared his knowledge of...
Story: Baber, Esther Mary
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1895–1983Gum-digger, wine-maker, farmer
In 1916, in a windowless tin shed on the desolate gumfields of New Zealand's far north, the young Josip Petrov Babich trod grapes with his feet, fermented wine and opened a wine-shop. From that humble beginning has grown Babich Wines, a leading example of the family-owned companies of Dalmatian...
Story: Babich, Josip Petrov
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1778?–Convict
Charlotte Badger, transported to New South Wales as a convict, was one of the first European women to visit New Zealand. Her sojourn was brief, but her passage to New Zealand on a ship taken by mutineers brought her a posthumous notoriety that is not substantiated by the surviving records....
Story: Badger, Charlotte