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Bernard Carl Ashwin played a key role in transforming the New Zealand government's approach to economic management in the 1930s and 1940s. He was born in Paeroa on 22 September 1896, the second of eight children of…

Alice Mary Peters was born in Dundee, Scotland, on 19 November 1887, the daughter of Mary Ann Reynolds and her husband, William Peters, a baker. Little is known of Alice's early life, but she trained as a tailoress in…

Ellen Margaret Scanlan, New Zealand's most widely read popular novelist of the 1930s and 1940s, was born in Picton on 15 January 1882, of Irish Catholic parentage. Her father, Michael Scanlan, came from County Kerry,…

The son of Fanny Leatry and her husband, Thomas Naish Blake, a brewer, Geoffrey Blake was born on 16 September 1882 at Bramley House, Alverstoke, Hampshire, England. He attended Winchester College before entering the…

Alphonsus John Carroll was born in Mataura, Southland, on 20 April 1895, the youngest of 10 sons of Margaret Kearney, a tailoress, and her husband, Robert Carroll, a mill worker. Both of his parents were born in County…

Algernon Charles Gifford was born on board the Zealandia on Good Friday, 18 April 1862, somewhere off the Cape of Good Hope. He was the son of Sarah Annie Evans and her husband, Algernon Gifford, an Anglican clergyman…

Alice Gwendoline Rhona Haszard was born at Thames on 21 January 1901, the daughter of Alice Elizabeth Vaughan Wily and her husband, Henry Douglas Morpeth Haszard, a surveyor with the Lands and Survey Department. Rhona,…

Leslie Bourneman Neale was born at Devonport, Auckland, on 26 June 1886, the sixth child of Isabella Selby and her husband, William Henry Neale, a bootmaker. After attending Ponsonby School, which he left at the age of…

Paul Desiré Nestor Verschaffelt was born in Napier on 21 May 1887, the son of Irish-born Mary Nestor and her husband, Desiré Verschaffelt, a gardener, who was born in Belgium. Paul was educated at the Marist brothers'…

Helen Clyde Inglis, the daughter of Jane Anne Eames and her husband, John Inglis, a merchant, was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 15 November 1867. She was educated at private schools and at Christchurch Girls'…

Gladys Elinor Watkins was born in Akaroa on 20 October 1884, the 11th child of English-born parents Elizabeth Ellen Pavitt and her husband, Stephen Watkins, a gardener. She was educated at Miss Freeman's ladies' school…

Victor Dmitrievich Zotov (Zotoff) was born in Vladivostok, Russia, on 16 September 1908. Little is known of his early life, but in 1924 he emigrated to New Zealand with his parents, Dmitry Nikitich Zotoff and his wife,…

Eric Stanley George Graham, known as Stan, was born at Kokatahi, Westland, on 12 November 1900, the son of John Graham, a farmer and proprietor of the Longford Hotel, and his wife, Mary Spring. Little is known of his…

Flora Park Cave Calman was born in Whanganui on 3 March 1883, the daughter of Mary Boyce and her husband, George Calman, a storekeeper. She received her education at Miss Stedman’s private school and Whanganui Girls’…

Henrietta Catherine Angus, known as Rita, was born in Hastings on 12 March 1908. She was the eldest of seven children of Ethel Violet Crabtree and her husband, William McKenzie Angus, who began his working life as a…

Arthur Gordon Butchers was born at Brunswick, Victoria, Australia, on 11 February 1885, the third son of Methodist minister Barnard Butchers and his wife, Susan Ann Cope. At the Church of England Grammar School, Geelong…

Ida Harriet Carey was born at Taonui, near Feilding, on 3 October 1891, the daughter of Elizabeth Keeble and her husband, Richard Octavius Egerton Carey, a farmer. Although she painted from a young age, her first formal…

Henry Joseph Keliher was born on 2 March 1896 in Waikerikeri valley, Central Otago, the son of Mary Carter and her husband, Michael Joseph Keliher, a goldminer and later a farmer. Henry was educated at the public school…

Jack Newman was the eldest son of Christina Thomson and her husband, Thomas (Tom) Newman, a mail contractor and a co-founder of Newman Brothers coaching firm. He was born on 3 July 1902 at the family farm, Naumai, at…

Harold Winston Rhodes was born on 21 July 1905 at Malvern, Melbourne, Australia, the son of Winifred Mary Short and her husband, Thomas Rhodes, a doctor. Winston attended Melbourne High School and then the University of…