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Filter biographies using dates, occupations and places related to people's lives.
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1819–1901Feminist, suffragist, writer
Mary Muller was one of the earliest advocates for women’s rights in New Zealand. Drawing on her own experiences of a disrupted childhood, a failed marriage and the loss of property, she developed a critique of society based on the exclusion of women from property rights, education and the...
Story: Muller, Mary Anne
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1905–1991Postal worker, broadcaster, philatelist, historian
Herbert David Mullon was born on 1 February 1905 at Marton, the son of Oscar Albert Mullon, a cordial manufacturer, and his wife, Ann Rakaia Haberfield. In 1906 his parents moved to Opunake, where his father bought a cordial-making business. Herb, as he was known, attended schools at Opunake...
Story: Mullon, Herbert David
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1901–1967Weaver
Years before the establishment of major hand-loom weaving guilds in New Zealand, two sisters, Sybil Mary and Josephine Mulvany, were operating a successful weaving business in Auckland. They helped revitalise the craft of fine fabric weaving in New Zealand.
Sybil and Josephine were the...
Story: Mulvany, Josephine
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1826/1827?–1881Photographer
Daniel Louis Mundy was born, probably in 1826 or 1827, in Wiltshire, England, the son of James Mundy, a confectioner, and his wife, Sarah. Nothing is known of his early life, except that he married Louisa Rust at Hackney, London, on 19 July in 1856. Mundy may have come to New Zealand via the...
Story: Mundy, Daniel Louis
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1901–1974Lawyer, university lecturer, broadcaster, newspaper editor, diplomat, politician
Leslie Knox Munro was born in Auckland on 26 February 1901, the son of Colin Robert Munro, a schoolteacher, and his wife, Maria Caroline Knox. He was educated at Remuera School and at Auckland Grammar School. At 19 he began law studies at Auckland University College. He initially worked for...
Story: Munro, Leslie Knox
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1877–1960Teacher, farmer, politician
Alfred James Murdoch was born at Onehunga on 18 April 1877, one of at least five children of Mary Ann Nealis and her husband, John Murdoch, a clerk. The family lived at Ōpua, Bay of Islands, from 1886 and eight years later settled in the coalmining town of Hikurangi, where his father was both...
Story: Murdoch, Alfred James
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1929–2008Inventor, pharmacist, entrepreneur, manufacturer
Colin Murdoch invented many devices that revolutionised the safety, convenience and cost-effectiveness of medical treatment for both humans and animals between the 1950s and 1980s. Murdoch regarded observation and imagination as the keys to innovation, and his inquisitive mind developed more...
Story: Murdoch, Colin Albert
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1825–1911Banker, company director
David Limond Murdoch was born in Ayr, Scotland, on 2 November 1825, the son of Agnes Todd and her husband, Alexander Murdoch, a lawyer. On 3 January 1848 at Glasgow David Murdoch married Eliza Murdoch. The couple travelled to Australia where David worked with the Bank of New South Wales. In...
Story: Murdoch, David Limond
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1806/1807?–1852Clerk, police magistrate, sub-sheriff
Michael Murphy is said to have been born in Ireland probably in 1806 or 1807. Neither his parents' identities nor his birthplace are known. After travelling to Australia, he became a clerk in the Sydney Ordnance Office, then, between 1838 and 1840, clerk to the Parramatta Bench of magistrates...
Story: Murphy, Michael
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1862–1939Boxer, tailor
Thomas William Murphy, generally known as 'Torpedo Billy', was born at James Street, Arch Hill, Auckland, New Zealand, on 26 March 1862. He was the son of James Murphy, a gardener, and his wife, Johanna Cronin, who were Irish immigrants and devout Catholics.
Billy Murphy left school at...
Story: Murphy, Thomas William
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1859–1947Civil engineer, surveyor
George Thomas Murray, the son of Agnes Currie and her husband, George Murray, a farmer, was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, on 4 November 1859. The family farmed at Green Island Bush. Murray attended Oamaru Grammar School and was dux in 1876. In 1877 he became a cadet with the Dunedin...
Story: Murray, George Thomas
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1896–1990Labourer, policeman, unionist
William Robert Murray was born at Kirkby Stephen, Westmorland, England, on 25 April 1896, the son of Elizabeth Carne and her husband, John Murray, a postman. The youngest of six children, Bill attended the local board school and completed a year of private secondary tuition. In 1912 he began...
Story: Murray, William Robert
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?–1826Ngāti Whātua leader, war leader
Murupaenga, leader of Ngāti Rongo, a hapū of Ngāti Whātua, was born, according to one calculation, about 1770. His parents were Ahiwera and Tūaea. In the period of his most important activity his home was near Makarau, on the eastern shores of the Kaipara Harbour. He first came to prominence...
Story: Murupaenga
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1895–1974Motor transport operator
John Oliver Musgrave was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, on 10 April 1895, the youngest of eight children of Charlotte Sophia Pells and her husband, John Keenan Musgrave, a worsted cloth manufacturer. Jack, as he was known, arrived in Opotiki, Bay of Plenty, in 1912, to work for his...
Story: Musgrave, John Oliver
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1867–1926Businessman, politician, philanthropist
The beginning of the extensive business interests of the Myers family today go back to the late 1850s when two German Jewish brothers, Louis and Bernard Ehrenfried, left their farm near Hamburg for the Victorian goldfields. By 1862 they and their sister Catherine had moved to Otago, New Zealand...
Story: Myers, Arthur Mielziner
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1873–1950Lawyer, judge
Michael Myers was born at Motueka on 7 September 1873, the 13th child of Jewish parents Judah Myers, a merchant, and his wife, Eve Solomon. When he was six years old his family moved to Wellington; here he attended Thorndon School (1879–85) and Wellington College (1886–91). Myers excelled at...
Story: Myers, Michael
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1866–1947Teacher, educational reformer
Phoebe Myers was born in Nelson, New Zealand, on 13 June 1866 into a large Jewish family; she was the 6th of 12 surviving children. Her parents were Eve Solomon and her husband, Judah Myers, a successful merchant. Phoebe received her early schooling in Motueka. In 1879 the family moved to...
Story: Myers, Phoebe
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1833/1834?–1894Ngāti Maru historian, politician
By his own account Hoani Nahe was born at the time the mission house at Parāwai (near Thames) was being built. This was probably in 1833 or 1834. His birthplace may have been at Te Poho, near the Kirikiri Stream. His father was Pātara Te Rangiteapake of Ngāti Maru, also known as Pātara Paki,...
Story: Nahe, Hoani
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1859–1904Artist, art teacher
James McLauchlan Nairn arrived in New Zealand in 1890. Intending only a visit, he stayed for the rest of his short life and became this country's most renowned impressionist painter.
He was born at Campsie Junction in the parish of Kirkintilloch, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on 18 November...
Story: Nairn, James McLauchlan
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1871–1952Storekeeper, estate and insurance agent, politician
James Alfred Nash was born in Foxton on 27 July 1871, the seventh of eleven children of Ann Ellen Webster and her husband, Norman Nash, a ropemaker. Norman died in 1880, and three years later Ellen Nash moved to Palmerston North with the family. At the age of 13 Jimmy, as he was known, went to...
Story: Nash, James Alfred