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Filter biographies using dates, occupations and places related to people's lives.
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1812/1813?–1863Interpreter, labourer, bricklayer, farmer, Pakeha-Maori
David MacNish, whose surname was sometimes spelled McNish, was born probably in 1812 or 1813 in the parish of Trelawny, Cornwall, Jamaica. He was the son of David McNish, an estate overseer from Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, and Rebecca (Becky) Molloy, a slave of mixed British and African...
Story: MacNish, David
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1895–1974Journalist, writer
Margaret Louisa Kendall was born on 19 June 1895 in Headingley, Leeds, England, to Alfred Sunderland Kendall, a linen draper, and his wife, Fannie Gibson. She was educated at a Quaker school and the University of St Andrews, Scotland. While volunteer nursing at the beginning of the First World...
Story: Macpherson, Margaret Louisa
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1860–1931Goldminer, businessman, bailiff, sportsman
William Francis MacWilliams, born McWilliams and better known as Daldy MacWilliams, was born at Papakura, south of Auckland, New Zealand, on 23 July 1860. He was one of eight children of Martha Letitia Tullkin and her husband, John McWilliams, a police constable. The McWilliams family were...
Story: MacWilliams, William Francis
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1850–1923Architect
Joseph Clarkson Maddison was born in Greenwich, Kent, England, on 26 February 1850, the son of John Maddison, a beer retailer, and his wife, Matilda Clarkson. In 1867 Maddison became a pupil of the architect George Morris and a student at a branch of the National Art Training School in South...
Story: Maddison, Joseph Clarkson
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1873–1961Community worker, local politician, feminist
Emily Herbert was born in Burnley, Lancashire, England, on 1 April 1873, the daughter of Amanda Mary Ramsbottom and her husband, George Herbert, a tailor. Little is known of her early life, but she married Charles Evans Maguire, a doctor, in Blackpool on 28 March 1899. Charles had worked in the...
Story: Maguire, Emily
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1799–1878Nun, teacher, social worker
Ellen Maher, called in religion Mary Cecilia Maher, was the founder of the congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, Auckland. She was born probably on 13 September 1799 at Freshford, County Kilkenny, Ireland, the daughter of Adelaide Maher and her husband, John, a wealthy farmer. Ellen Maher was...
Story: Maher, Mary Cecilia
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1923–1986Judge, Erebus air crash commissioner
An experienced lawyer and judge, Justice Peter Mahon is best known for his report on the 1979 Erebus air crash, which killed 257 people. Mahon concluded that Air New Zealand’s inadequate safety processes led directly to the crash. He accused the airline of covering up its mistakes with ‘an...
Story: Mahon, Peter Thomas
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1824/1825?–1895Architect
Edward Mahony was born at Ballincollig, County Cork, Ireland, probably in 1824 or 1825; his parents' names are unknown. As a young man he was apprenticed to his uncle, John Mahony, an architect and builder in Cork, a city which had attracted a number of prominent Gothic Revivalist architects....
Story: Mahoney, Edward
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1837–1842?–1904Ngati Kahungunu leader, runholder, assessor, newspaper proprietor
According to his monument at Pāpāwai, Hāmuera Tamahau Mahupuku was born on 25 September 1840. Other sources state that he was born in 1837, or in 1842. He was known to Europeans as Sam, and to Māori and in official records as Hāmuera or Tamahau. He may have been born at Rangataua, near Longbush...
Story: Mahupuku, Hāmuera Tamahau
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1890–1952Ngāti Kahungunu woman of mana
Through her friendship with Katherine Mansfield, Maata (Martha) Mahupuku's name has become known in New Zealand literary circles, but little so far has been recorded of her life. She was born in Greytown, Wairarapa, on 10 April 1890, the daughter of Emily Sexton and her husband, Richard (Tiki)...
Story: Mahupuku, Maata
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1854/1855?–1912Ngāti Mahuta; Māori King, politician
Mahuta Tāwhiao of Ngāti Mahuta was born at Whatiwhatihoe, Waikato, probably in 1854 or 1855. He was the eldest son of Tāwhiao, the second Māori King, and his senior wife, Hera. She was the daughter of Tāmati Ngāpora (Manuhiri) of Ngāti Mahuta, Tāwhiao's adviser, and his wife, Hera. Mahuta's...
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1892/1893?–1947Ngāti Mahuta leader
Tonga Mahuta was born probably in 1897 at his father's home at Hukanui, near Waahi pā, Huntly. He was the fourth surviving son of Mahuta Tawhiao Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, the third Māori King. His mother was Te Marae, a daughter of the chief Amukete (Amuketi) Te Kerei, who had been killed during...
Story: Mahuta, Tonga
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1893?–1938Ngāti Mahuta; King movement leader and negotiator
Tūmate Mahuta was born, probably in July 1893, at Waahi pā, near Huntly. He was the third surviving son of Mahuta, the third Māori King, and his wife, Te Marae. His elder brothers were Te Rata, the fourth King, and Taipu, who died in 1924; his younger brothers were Tonga and Te Rauangaanga....
Story: Mahuta, Tūmate
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1936–2012Children’s and young adult writer
Margaret Mahy is New Zealand’s most celebrated writer for children and young adults. In a 55-year career she published more than 120 titles: novels, picture books, short stories, poems and educational texts, as well as writing for film and television. Translated into more than 15 languages, her...
Story: Mahy, Margaret May
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1895–1967Ngāpuhi woman of mana, journalist, newspaper publisher and editor, political candidate, community leader
Rehutai Maihi was the elder of two daughters of Te Paea Nehua and her husband, Nētana (Nathan) Maihi, a bushman descended from Ngāpuhi leader Patuone. She was born on 16 September 1895 at Whakapara, near Whāngārei. Her father died when she was young, and after her mother's second marriage, to...
Story: Maihi, Rehutai
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fl. 1891–1917Ngāti Kahungunu and Rangitāne; newspaper editor and publisher
Pūrakau Maika was the son of Maika Pūrakau, a pro-King movement chief of Hurunuiorangi pā at the junction of the Tauheru and Ruamāhanga rivers. His father was of Ngāti Hikarāhui hapū, which combined lines of descent from Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Aitanga-a-Whata, Rangitāne and Ngāi Tahu of southern...
Story: Maika, Pūrākau
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1888–1963Ngāpuhi; interpreter, farmer, community leader
Hāmiora Wiremu Maioha, of Ngāi Tawake hapū of Ngāpuhi resident in the Bay of Islands, was often known as Hāmi, as Tahi to his intimates, and as Sam Maioha junior to his Pākehā business associates. He was the son of Wiremu Tarapīpipi Maioha and Kariti Toi of Ngāpuhi. His paternal grandmother was...
Story: Maioha, Hāmiora Wiremu
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1843–1923Surveyor, interpreter, soldier, public servant
Gilbert Mair is said to have been born at Whāngārei, New Zealand, on 10 January 1843, the eighth of twelve children of Elizabeth Gilbert Puckey and her husband, Gilbert Mair, a merchant trader. Gilbert Mair senior was born at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1799, the son of a shipowner....
Story: Mair, Gilbert
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1876–1959Architect
John Thomas Mair was born at Invercargill on 12 October 1876, the son of Catherine Hamilton and her husband, Hugh Mair, a carpenter, later a building contractor and mayor of Invercargill. John was educated at public schools in Invercargill and received his early architectural training with...
Story: Mair, John Thomas
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1871–1961Anglican clergyman, theologian
Henry Dewsbury Alves Major was born in Plymouth, Devonshire, England, on 28 July 1871, the son of Mary Ursula Alves and her husband, Henry Daniel Major, a clerk in the Admiralty. The family emigrated to George Vesey Stewart's settlement at Katikati, New Zealand, in 1878. Henry, or Hal as he was...
Story: Major, Henry Dewsbury Alves