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Frank Stapp was always known as ‘The Master’, not because he was grand or lordly, but because that was how he addressed almost everyone else. ‘The game’s on, Master,’ he would say, rubbing his hands enthusiastically as…

Hilda Alexandra Wiseman was born in Mooroopna, Victoria, Australia, on 7 April 1894, the eldest of seven children of Alexander Wiseman, a music teacher, and his wife, Harriot Amanda Coombes. Her parents were both from…

Lloyd Mandeno was born on 3 October 1888 at Rangiaowhia, near Te Awamutu, the son of farmer William Henry Mandeno and his wife, Mary Graham Snodgrass. After boarding at St John’s Collegiate School, Auckland, he enrolled…

Mona Tracy was one of three Canterbury writers whose children's books, written in the 1920s, have stood the test of time. Unlike her two contemporaries, Esther Glen and Edith Howes, however, she wrote historical novels…

Harold Temple White was born in Laceby, Lincolnshire, England, on 24 December 1881, the son of Emma Jane Wales and her husband, John Hobson White, a grocer. The family were ardent Methodists (John White was to become a…

Herbert William Williams was born at Waerenga-a-hika, near Gisborne, New Zealand, on 10 October 1860. The son of the third bishop of Waiapu, William Leonard Williams, and his wife, Sarah Wanklyn, he was also grandson of…

Miriam Bridelia Cummings was born at Thames on 15 June 1879, one of eight children of Irish-born Matthew Cummings, a carpenter, and his Scottish wife, Annie Cunningham. The couple solved the problem of their different…

Gilbert Thomas Pinfield (later known professionally as Gilbert Dechelette or Gil Dech) was born at Yardley, near Birmingham, England, on 3 February 1897 to Clara Ann Davies and her husband, William Pinfield, a…

Eliza Amy Campbell was born at Havelock North, Hawke’s Bay, on 10 October 1888, the fourth child of Hugh Campbell, a station manager, and his wife, Amy Allott. Amy died in 1890, and Hugh married her younger sister,…

Marjory Hinemoa Mills was born in Wellington on 11 November 1896, the fourth of five children of British parents Thomas Lewis Mills, a noted journalist, and his wife, Elizabeth Jane Huggins. Marjory went to primary…

George Turnbull Niccol was born in Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand, on 17 August 1858, the son of Sarah McLarty and her husband, the leading Auckland shipbuilder Henry Niccol. Educated in Devonport, George found that his…

Samuelene Purcell was born in Gundry Street, Newton, Auckland, on 25 July 1898, the daughter of Irish immigrant parents Michael Joseph Purcell and his wife, Jane Galbraith, who both worked in the tailoring trade.…

Ivan Tomasevic was born on 10 March 1897 in Kosarnido, Croatia, then part of Austria–Hungary. He was the son of Antun Tomasevic, a farm labourer, and his wife, Ane Trobok. His early life is obscure, but he qualified as…

Elsie Euphemia Andrews was born on a small farm at Huirangi, Taranaki, on 23 December 1888. She was the youngest of twelve children, two of whom died in childhood. Her parents, John Andrews and his wife, Emily Young,…

Edward (Ted) Buckland Firth and Guy Mortimer (Tony) Firth, the founders of Firth Industries, were born in Auckland on 27 September 1905 and 15 April 1907 respectively. They were the younger sons of Edward (Ned) Thompson…

Oscar Garden was born at Tongue, on the north coast of Scotland, on 21 August 1903, the second son and fourth child of Robert Garden, a merchant from Orkney, and his wife, Rebecca Jane Ward, a Salvationist and later…

Charles Quentin Fernie Pope, known as Quentin, was born in Whanganui on 21 October 1900, the youngest of seven children of Charles Quentin Fernie Pope, a master mariner, and his wife, Lillian Taudevin. Quentin was…

Gordon Onslow Hilbury Burt was born in Christchurch on 27 November 1893, the son of Alfred John Hilbury Burt, a wool sorter, and his wife, Annie Pannell. He was raised in Christchurch, and his formal education was…

Pansy Helen Auld Chapman was born at Blacks Point, Reefton, on 24 November 1892. Her parents, Hender Chapman, a miner, and his wife, Elizabeth Ann Richards, were both from Cornwall. At the age of 19 Helen Chapman…

Harold Delf Gillies was born at Dunedin, New Zealand, on 17 June 1882, the son of Robert Gillies, a surveyor, and his wife, Emily Street, a niece of Edward Lear, the nonsense writer and landscape painter. Robert Gillies…