Advanced Biographies Search
Filter biographies using dates, occupations and places related to people's lives.
-
1836–1906Engineer, gold-dredger
Charles McQueen was born on 17 April 1836, in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland, the son of Peter McQueen, a fender-maker, and his wife, Elizabeth Scott. Little is known of McQueen's early life, other than that he served an apprenticeship with a boiler-making firm before emigrating to Victoria...
Story: McQueen, Charles
-
1898–1976Teacher, university lecturer, vocational research officer, commissioner of apprenticeship
Henry Charles McQueen was born in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, on 6 July 1898, the son of Agnes Hadrill, from Denmark, and her husband, Alexander McQueen, a New Zealand-born engineer. When he was about one year old the family migrated to Dunedin, where his father became a partner in an engineering...
Story: McQueen, Henry Charles
-
1860–1945Presbyterian deaconess, orphanage matron, social worker
Mary McQueen was born in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, on 13 July 1860, the daughter of John McQueen, a farmer, and his wife, Catherine McIntosh. Little is known about her early life. She trained at the Presbyterian Deaconess Training Institute in Melbourne in 1900 and 1901 and was made a...
Story: McQueen, Mary
-
1847/1848?–1923Grocer, goldminer, brick and pipe manufacturer
Peter McSkimming was born, probably in 1847 or 1848, in Auchenheath, Lanarkshire, Scotland; he was the son of Mary McNish and her husband, Peter McSkimming, a brick- and tile-maker and pipe manufacturer. His early life was spent in various towns in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire. He started work at...
Story: McSkimming, Peter
-
1866–1944Lawyer
Robert McVeagh, the son of Margaret Read and her husband, Robert McVeagh, and the eldest of a large family, was born at Maungakawa, near Cambridge, on 20 or 22 September 1866. Both parents were Irish Catholics. Robert senior, a tinsmith by trade, had served with the armed constabulary and...
Story: McVeagh, Robert
-
1862–1954Community worker, local politician
Ann McLachlan was born on 4 November 1862 near Kilmartin, Argyllshire, Scotland, the daughter of Lilly McNair and her husband, Alexander McLachlan, a labourer. After attending a state school in Kilmartin, Annie trained as a nurse in Glasgow. There on 8 February 1888 she married Gordon McDonald...
Story: McVicar, Annie
-
1889–1980Engineer, skier, tramper, ranger, writer
William (Bill) Perrett Mead is best known for his role in the development of the Tongariro National Park and Whanganui River recreational areas. He was born at Scarrotts station, near Dargaville, on 7 December 1889. His father, Arthur David Mead, a farmer, was drowned in the Wairoa River in...
Story: Mead, William Perrett
-
1825?–1907Shopkeeper, businesswoman
Matilda Fisher was baptised at Rochester, Kent, England, on 12 June 1825. She was the daughter of James Fisher, a fishmonger, and his wife, Sarah. On 3 May 1846 she married bargeman John James Sancto; they had six children, two of whom died in infancy. In the summer of 1852 John Sancto was...
Story: Meech, Matilda
-
1878–1963Rangitāne and Ngāti Kahungunu; farmer, Mormon leader
Stuart (Te Tūati) Meha was born at Wanstead, Hawke’s Bay, probably on 29 December 1878. His father, Arapata Meha, a prominent member of Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Ruatōtara of Rangitāne, was a successful sheepfarmer and landowner from Te Tapairu, near Waipāwa. His mother, Mere Te Hau, was of...
Story: Meha, Stuart
-
1844/1845?–1937Farmer, litigant
John James Meikle was born in Linlithgow, Scotland, probably in 1844 or 1845, the son of John Meikle, a general labourer, and his wife, Jannet Jamieson. Nothing is known of Meikle's early life. In October 1869 he and other members of his family emigrated to Otago, New Zealand, on the Christian...
Story: Meikle, John James
-
1865–1964Lawyer, farmer, military leader, magistrate, local politician
William Meldrum was born into a comfortably off farming family at Whangarei, New Zealand, on 28 July 1865, the son of Margaret Barr and her husband, Alexander Lewis Meldrum. William was educated at Kamo School, in Scotland, at Auckland College and Grammar School and at Auckland University...
Story: Meldrum, William
-
1861–1922Anglican deaconess and nun
Edith Mary Mellish was born at Pailles in the district of Moka, Mauritius, on 10 March 1861. She was the daughter of Edward Mellish, an English banker and businessman, and his wife, Ellen Borrowes, an Irishwoman who died when Edith was a baby. Edith's youth was divided between Mauritius,...
Story: Mellish, Edith Mary
-
1898–1976Lawyer, unionist, coroner, community leader
Jacob (Jack) Meltzer was born at Newcastle upon Tyne, England, on 21 October 1898, to Jewish parents Naphtali Meltzer, a travelling draper, and his wife, Deborah Peisachson. He was one of seven boys and two girls, and was educated at the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle before his family...
Story: Meltzer, Jacob
-
1822/1823?–1888Photographer, businessman
According to the age given on his death certificate William Meluish was born probably in 1822 or 1823. An advertisement in the Nelson Examiner in February 1859, soon after he arrived in New Zealand, announced that he had a photographic studio in Bridge Steet, Nelson, and was 'late of Crystal...
Story: Meluish, William
-
1882–1946Lawyer, local politician, feminist, women's activist
Eliza Ellen (known as Ellen) Melville was born on 13 May 1882 at Tokatoka, Northern Wairoa, New Zealand, the third of seven children of Alexander Melville, a boatbuilder and farmer, and his wife, Eliza Annand Fogerty, formerly a schoolteacher and governess. Until she was seven, Ellen was taught...
Story: Melville, Eliza Ellen
-
1821–1888Runholder, politician, provincial superintendent
James Alexander Robertson Menzies was born on 21 February 1821 at Mount Alexander (Dunalister), Perthshire, Scotland, son of a local doctor, William Menzies, and his wife, Elizabeth Robertson. Menzies followed his father's profession and, after obtaining a diploma at the Royal College of...
-
1886–1944Mechanic, aviator, commercial aviation entrepreneur
James Cuthbert Mercer was born in Caversham, Dunedin, on 16 September 1886, the son of Robert Mercer, a gardener, and his wife, Sarah Jane Speed. Educated in Dunedin, Bert (as he was known) undertook an apprenticeship at Vickery's bicycle shop in Invercargill. Later, as cars became popular, he...
Story: Mercer, James Cuthbert
-
1821?–1885Bootmaker, teacher, musician, farmer
Charles Murton, the elder son of James Murton, a labourer, and his wife, Susan Denny, was born in Haughley, Suffolk, England, and baptised there on 4 November 1821. His father's family had lived in the district for many generations. Little is known of Charles's early life. He was apprenticed...
Story: Merton, Charles
-
1939–2011Threatened bird expert, wildlife officer, conservationist
Don Merton’s pioneering conservation efforts brought three threatened New Zealand bird species back from the brink of extinction and inspired similar conservation programmes around the world. From the early 1960s ‘the man who saved the black robin’ revolutionised the intensive management of...
Story: Merton, Donald Vincent
-
1908–1965Journalist, cookery writer, crime novelist
Elizabeth Messenger was born Betty Margery Esson on 25 July 1908 at Thames, the second of three children of Amy Isobel Dodd and her husband, Melvin Brown Esson, a senior telegraphist with the Post and Telegraph Department. The family moved around New Zealand as Melvin Esson was promoted,...
Story: Messenger, Elizabeth