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Known as Wero Tāroi, Wero Mahikore, Karu, and Wero, this master carver of Ngāti Tarāwhai of Te Arawa was one of the greatest Māori carvers whose work is now known. Few facts about Wero Taroi's life have been recorded,…

Apprenticed as a printer to his father's firm at about the age of 14, for more than 70 years Bertie Ernest Hawkes Whitcombe was associated with Whitcombe and Tombs Limited, which for most of that time dominated…

Leo Lemuel White was born at Auckland on 4 July 1906 to May Rae and her husband, Albert Edward White, a carter. He was educated at Ellerslie and Remuera schools. After completing the sixth standard he joined the Post…

Muriel Grace Widdowson was born in Christchurch on 14 June 1892, the third of four children of Emma Matilda Lawrence and her husband, Howell Young Widdowson, a solicitor. The family moved to Dunedin in 1905 when Howell…

Rodolph Lysaght Wigley was born on 21 October 1881 at Opuha Gorge station, South Canterbury, New Zealand. He was the second of four children born to Thomas Henry Wigley, a sheepfarmer and MLC, and his second wife, Annie…

Helen Wilson achieved recognition as a leading figure in the Women's Division of the New Zealand Farmers' Union and, in later years, as a writer. She was born Helen Mary Ostler at Oamaru, New Zealand, on 4 May 1869, the…

Muriel Emma Bell was born on 4 January 1898 at Murchison, the daughter of Thomas Bell, a farmer, and his wife, Eliza Sheat. She began her education at Murchison School, where she was a reluctant pupil. Her childhood was…

Arthur Rex Dugard Fairburn was born at his parents' house beside the Auckland Domain on 2 February 1904. His mother, Teresa Harland, was a gifted musician; his father, Arthur Fairburn, became a music critic, but…

Mereana Tōpia, better known as Maria, and her daughter Hēni Hoana or Jane Tōpia, were outstanding leaders in their local communities. Among their many activities they fostered the practice of traditional Māori arts and…

George Hamish Ormond Wilson was born in Bulls on 18 November 1907, the eldest son of George Hamish Wilson, a farmer, and his wife, Ada Mary Ormond. His grandfathers, J. G. Wilson and J. D. Ormond, had taken up land in…

Charles Edward Adams was born at Lawrence, Otago, New Zealand, on 1 October 1870, the son of Charles William Adams and his wife, Eleanor (Ellen) Sarah Gillon. His father had arrived in New Zealand from Tasmania in 1862…

Ernest Alfred Adams was born in Wellington, Somerset, England, on 23 November 1892, the son of a master baker, Herbert John Adams, and his wife, Eliza Ann Bell. He was educated at Devon County School and Taunton School…

Mary Patricia Anderson was born on 17 March 1887 at Moonlight, an isolated goldmining settlement near Atarau in Westland's Grey River valley. One of at least eight children of Irish-born Catherine Flaherty and her…

Edmund Anscombe was born on 8 February 1874 in Lindfield, Sussex, England, the son of Eliza Mason and her husband, Edmund Anscombe, a carpenter. The family emigrated to New Zealand when Edmund was seven months old. They…

Esther Mary Baber was born at Christchurch, New Zealand, on 21 March 1871, the daughter of English parents Jane Wood and her husband, Thomas Primrose Baber, a corn merchant. Esther and a younger sister grew up in a…

Eleanor Southey Baker was born at French Farm, Akaroa, New Zealand, on 13 September 1879. She was the eldest of four daughters of Thomas Southey Baker, a stock owner, and his wife, Josephine Harriet Anne Dicken. Her…

Isabel Noeline Baker was born at Opawa, Christchurch, on 25 December 1878, the second and only surviving child of John Holland Baker, chief surveyor of Canterbury, and his wife, Isabel Strachey. Noeline, as she was…

Herbert Leslie Bockett was born on 29 June 1905 in Ōpōtiki to Charles Frederick Bockett and his wife, Lilian Mary Bridger, who farmed in the area. Bert and his twin brother, Arthur, were educated at Dilworth Ulster…

James Henry Bradney was born at West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England, on 2 April 1853, the son of Emily Morris and her husband, Joseph Bradney, an ironmonger. The family emigrated to Auckland, New Zealand, in 1859,…

John Balmain Brooke was born in Auckland on 28 July 1907, the eldest of three children of Ernest Brooke, a commercial traveller, and Amy Isobel Balmain, a schoolteacher. He attended Belmont School and Auckland Grammar…