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Frances Jane Ross was born on 26 April 1869 at Rosebury farm, Otepopo, North Otago, New Zealand, one of six children of Dorathea Mee and her husband, Angus Ross. Her father came from Ross-shire, Scotland, and her mother…

Elsie Smith was born in Kingstone Lisle, Berkshire, England, on 8 September 1881, the daughter of Charles Collins Smith, a farmer, and his wife, Mary Ann Danse. She was educated at Hemdean House School, Caversham. In…

Freda Beatrice Stark was born on 27 March 1910 in Kaeo, Northland, the daughter of James William Stark, a storekeeper, and his wife, Isabella Matilda Bramley. Soon after, her parents moved to Auckland, where Freda…

Herman van Staveren was born Manus van Staveren in Bolsward, Friesland, the Netherlands, on 26 January 1849, the son of Isak Barends van Staveren, a rabbi, and his second wife, Seentje Simons Adelaar. He was educated in…

Ward George Wohlmann was born on 4 August 1872 in a cottage at the Invercargill police station. His parents were Rebecca McDonald and her husband, George Alfred Wohlman, a police constable and later a farmer. Little is…

William Gray Young was the son of Matthew Gray Young and his wife, Agnes Anderson Barclay, and was born in Oamaru on 21 June 1885. His father had arrived in New Zealand from Scotland as a watchmaker, and developed…

Blanche Edith Baughan was born on 16 January 1870 at Putney, Surrey, England. She was the youngest of six children of Ruth Catterns and her husband, John Baughan, a scrivener. Her father died when she was 10 years old.…

Amelia Bagley was born on 2 October 1870 at Dunedin, New Zealand, to Amelia Prictor and her husband, Benjamin Bagley, a chemist. Both Amelia and her sister, Mary, chose nursing as a career and neither married. Both…

Jessie Bicknell, who helped establish postgraduate and specialist training for nurses, was born in Oamaru, New Zealand, on 27 March 1871. She was one of eleven children of Elizabeth Armstrong and her husband, Frederick…

Norris Stephen Falla was born at Westport on 3 May 1883, the son of Stephen Falla, a storeman, and his wife, Emily Martha Blaxall. Educated in his home town, he joined the local office of the Union Steam Ship Company of…

John Ernest Holloway was born in Christchurch on 12 February 1881, the son of John Holloway, a bank manager, and his wife, Anna Thorpe. As a child he was influenced by his father, who was a keen churchman, amateur…

Alice Woodward was born on 3 February 1871 near Auckland. She was the eldest of four children of Laura Young, a schoolteacher, and her husband, William Woodward, a farmer who was also for a time a schoolteacher. After…

James Peter Speid Jamieson was the youngest son and eighth child of Robert Jamieson and his wife, Barbara Laurenson Laing. He was born at the family croft at Cruisdale, near Sandness, Shetland, Scotland, on 9 February…

Harry Borrer Kirk was born at Coventry, Warwickshire, England, on 9 March 1859, one of nine children of Sarah Jane Mattocks and her husband, Thomas Kirk, a timber merchant's clerk who was to become well known in New…

Malcolm Charles (Mac) McGregor, who was to achieve fame as a First World War air ace and later helped to establish civil aviation in New Zealand, was born on 4 March 1896 at Mangamako, near Hunterville. He was the…

Montague Ongley was born in Oamaru on 10 December 1888, the 10th in the large family of Frederick Ongley, a gardener, and his wife, Mary Ann Mullin. His father was born in England and his mother in Ireland. Several…

Theodore Rigg was born at Settle, Yorkshire, England, on 6 April 1888, the son of Hannah Wilson and her husband, John Rigg, a merchant and a staunch Quaker. Two years later he went to New Zealand with his parents, who…

Grace Nixon was born in Whāngārei on 6 July 1883, the daughter of Zillah Johnson and her husband, Adam Nixon, a fireman who later became a marine engineer. When Grace and her younger brother were infants, the Nixon…

Sydney Gordon Ross was born in Thames on 6 February 1909, the son of blacksmith Charles Godfrey Ross and his wife, Maretta Elizabeth Feiney. He attended Waiokaraka School, Thames, from 1915 to 1918, then moved with his…

Gareeb Stephen Shalfoon was born on 13 August 1904 at Ōpōtiki, the son of Raria (Mary) Hopa and her husband, George Shalfoon, a storekeeper. His mother was descended from the six major hapū of Te Whakatōhea, in…