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Hāriata Whakatau Pītini-Morēra was the most important leader of Ngāti Kurī, a founding hapū of Ngāi Tahu in the South Island. She was born at Little River, Banks Peninsula, probably in 1871 or 1872, the daughter of…

Mildred Amelia Woodbine Johnson (also known as Mīria Tāpapa) was born on 24 December 1877 in Poverty Bay at Ahipākura, east of Gisborne. Her mother, Mere Hape, was of Rongowhakaata and Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki descent, from…

Algernon Instone Rainbow was born on 13 January 1885 in Hastings, Hawke’s Bay, the second of three children of William Rainbow, headmaster of Heretaunga school, and his wife, Julia Baly. On 16 February 1889 his father…

Emma Hilda Keane was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 18 May 1873, the eldest of six children of Elizabeth Hancock and her husband, Henry Keane, a hotel-keeper. The family moved to Christchurch, probably in the late…

Hubert James Ryburn was born in Gisborne on 19 April 1897, the son of Robert Middleton Ryburn and his wife, Anna Jane Steadman. His great-grandparents, who came to New Zealand in 1826, were James Hamlin, a Church…

According to his own account William Walter Smith was born on 14 September 1852 at Hawick, Roxburghshire, Scotland. He was the son of Ellen Robson and her husband, Thomas Smith, a gamekeeper. From the age of 13 Smith…

Keith Lindsay Stewart was born at Timaru on 30 December 1896, the son of David Stewart, a bank manager, and his wife, Charlotte Maud Fuller. He attended Napier Boys’ High School from 1905 to 1911 and Wanganui Collegiate…

David Tannock was born at Tarbolton, Ayrshire, Scotland, on 23 September 1873, the son of William Tannock, a ploughman, and his wife, Jane McCall. Tannock was educated at the public school at Mauchline and at Glasgow…

Kaihau Te Rangikakapi Maikara Āporo was born, according to family information, in 1863, probably in the lower Wairarapa Valley. She was the eldest child of Maikara Paranihia and her husband, Hōhepa Āporo, who was the…

Arthur Gordon Tovey, the eldest of three sons, was born in Wellington on 23 January 1901 to Arthur Oliver Tovey, a telegraphist, and his wife, Catherine Jane Youmans. His early years were spent in Wellington and Napier…

Ernest George Frederick Vogtherr was born in Sunderland, England, on 18 February 1898, the eldest of four children of Sophia Vogt and her husband, Carl Wilhelm Frederick Vogtherr, a master pork butcher. Ernest was sent…

Walter George Whittlestone, known to friends and family as ‘Wattie’, was born at Abbotsford, near Dunedin, on 2 April 1914, the son of Annie Ethel Lowe and her husband, George Frederick Opawa Whittlestone, a miner. When…

Born in London, England, on 18 January 1857, Henry Francis Wigram was the son of a barrister, William Knox Wigram, and his wife, Mary Ann Pomeroy, daughter of the fifth Viscount Harberton. After attending Harrow School…

Anne Adams was born at Greenvale, near Wickliffe, Victoria, Australia, on 11 June 1848. She was the daughter of Jane Anderson, a Scot, and her husband, Robert Adams, an Irishman. Her father was a successful pastoralist…

One of the great international aviators of the 1930s, Jean Gardner Batten was born on 15 September 1909 in Rotorua, the only daughter of a dentist, Frederick Harold Batten, and his wife, Ellen (Nellie) Blackmore. She…

Joseph William Allan Heenan, one of New Zealand's most able and imaginative public servants, was born on 17 January 1888 at Greymouth, the son of a bootmaker, William Joseph Heenan, and his wife, Mary Poynton, a…

Korokī Te Rata Mahuta Tāwhiao Pōtatau Te Wherowhero was the elder of two sons of Te Rata, the fourth Māori King, of Ngāti Mahuta. His mother was Te Uranga of Ngāti Korokī and he was named for the eponymous ancestor of…

Elsie Locke was a writer, environmentalist, historian, peace activist, one-time communist, and a battler for women’s rights. She is best known as a writer for children, though her writing encompassed adult non-fiction,…

Hōne Heke Rankin, also known as John Rankin, was born at Gisborne on 13 January 1896 to Matire Ngāpua of Ngāpuhi, and her husband, John Claudian (Claudius) Rankin, a Kaikohe storekeeper. Matire was the daughter of…

George Edwin Alderton was born on 25 August 1854 at New Malden, Surrey, England, the son of Sarah Crockwell and her husband, Charles William Alderton, a secretary to a loan company. His family emigrated to New Zealand…