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Cecil Walter Wood was born at Christchurch on 6 June 1878, the sixth of nine children of Robert Haswell Wood, a merchant, and his wife, Margaret Amelia Tribe. His mother died when he was seven and his father later…

Charlotte Badger, transported to New South Wales as a convict, was one of the first European women to visit New Zealand. Her sojourn was brief, but her passage to New Zealand on a ship taken by mutineers brought her a…

Bernard Charles Beale was born in London, England, probably on 10 September 1830, the son of Thomas Beale, a surgeon, and his wife, Sophia Lewis. Following his father's profession, he trained at London Hospital between…

Piipi Raumati Tiopira, also called Phoebe, was born at Waihou, Hokianga, probably sometime between 1857 and 1862, the youngest of five children of Te Roroa leader Tiopira Kīnaki (also known as Tiopira Te Rurunga,…

Frederick Archibald de la Mare (universally called 'Froggy') was born on 6 August 1877 at Christchurch, New Zealand. His parents were William Henry de la Mare, a grocer, who had emigrated in 1864 from Guernsey in the…

Lindsay Merritt Inglis was born at Mosgiel, Otago, on 16 May 1894, the son of James Hunter Inglis, a bank agent, and his wife, Annie Kirkland. He was educated at Waitaki Boys’ High School (1907–13), where he was head…

Harold Hirst Innes was born on 26 March 1909 at Hamilton, the son of Gertrude Hirst and her husband, Francis Thomas Innes, a brewer, whose family had owned Waikato Brewery and founded C. L. Innes and Company, another…

John Lundon was a not atypical 'public man' in mid nineteenth century New Zealand, a society where political forms and commercial relationships could be worked to personal advantage by those with a sharp eye for the…

John Hector Luxford was born at Palmerston North on 28 May 1890 to William Lewis Luxford, a prosperous timber merchant, and his wife, Isabella Eleanor Carolina Gonzales. He attended schools in Palmerston North and…

Flora MacKenzie (or McKenzie) was born in Māngere, Auckland, on 15 August 1902, the daughter of Hugh Ross MacKenzie, a farmer, and his wife, Lillie Theresa Ellett. Flora, her brother and sister were brought up on the…

Samuel McDonald Martin was born probably in Kilmuir, Trotternish, Isle of Skye, Scotland, some time between 1805 and 1810. He was the son of Mary Nicholson and her husband, John Martin, a doctor. Samuel Martin graduated…

Alexander Hare McLintock was born in Gore on 14 April 1903, the son of Robert Alexander Hare McLintock, a Glasgow-born engineer, and his wife, Christina Jane Cameron McDonald. Throughout his life he remained proud of…

William Robert Murray was born at Kirkby Stephen, Westmorland, England, on 25 April 1896, the son of Elizabeth Carne and her husband, John Murray, a postman. The youngest of six children, Bill attended the local board…

John Coleridge Patteson is said to have been born at Bloomsbury, London, England, on 1 April 1827, the eldest son of John Patteson, barrister, and his second wife, Frances Duke Coleridge, a niece of the poet Samuel…

Ralph O’Reilly Piddington was born on 19 February 1906 in Sydney, Australia, the son of Albert Bathurst Piddington, a barrister and later judge, and his wife, Marion Louisa O’Reilly, a eugenist writer and lecturer. He…

Emily Jean Burgess was born to Fanny Eleanor Hollard and her husband, Alfred Henry Burgess, a farmer, on 3 September 1900 at Stratford. Her parents later grew fruit and flowers at Kaiti, Gisborne, and Jean attended…

Eruini (Edwin) Heina Taipari was born probably in 1889 or 1890 at Thames. He was the younger son of Hauāuru Tīkapa Taipari, later baptised as Wīrope Hōtereni (Willoughby Shortland) Taipari, the chief of Ngāti Maru, who…

George William Edward Ernest von Zedlitz, first professor of modern languages at Victoria College, Wellington, New Zealand, was born near Neukirch, Germany, on 10 March 1871, the only child of an Englishwoman, Mary…

Archibald Charles Barrington was born in Wellington on 8 May 1906 to Christina Jane Blackwell and her English-born husband, John Benjamin Barrington. He grew up in Marton, Rangitikei, where his father worked as a stoker…

Alice Mary Stanton was born in Auckland on 7 August 1914, the second of five children of Marjorie Aileen McMaster and her husband, Joseph Stanton, a solicitor and ultimately a Supreme Court judge. Educated at Hilltop…