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George French Angas was born on 25 April 1822 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, the fourth child and eldest son of George Fife Angas and his wife, Rosetta French. George Fife Angas had taken over his father's thriving…

Rongowhakaata Pere Halbert was born at Waerenga-a-hika, near Gisborne, on 2 February 1894, the only surviving son of Hetekia Te Kani Pere (or Halbert), a farmer, and his wife, Riripeti Rangikohera Ranginui. He was of Te…

Stephenson Percy Smith was born at Beccles, Suffolk, England, on 11 June 1840, the eldest son of Hannah Hursthouse and her husband, John Stephenson Smith, a timber and corn merchant and later a civil servant. When Percy…

Alison Edith Hilda Craig was born on 22 January 1903 at Waitekauri on the Coromandel Peninsula, the eldest of six children of George Craig, a physician and surgeon, and his wife, Hilda Johnstone Gudgeon. Alison was the…

Augustus Hamilton was born at Poole, in Dorsetshire, England, on 1 March 1853, the son of a doctor, Augustus Priestley Hamilton, and his wife, Mary Eleanor Tebbott. He was educated at Dorset county school and Epsom…

Arthur Saunders Thomson is said to have been born on 29 December 1816, and was baptised on 2 January 1817 at Arbroath, Angus, Scotland. He was the son of Margaret Saunders and her husband, James Thomson. Arthur Thomson…

John Peter Bollons was born at Bethnal Green, London, England, on 10 November 1862, the son of Thomas Bollons, a cab master, and his wife, Helen Elisha. His mother was Jewish but Bollons was brought up as an Anglican.…

Gottfried Lindauer, also known by the Czech name Bohumír, was born on 5 January 1839, at Pilsen (Plzeň), Bohemia. He was the son of Hynek-Ignác (or Ignatz) Lindauer, a gardener, and his wife, Maria Schmid. At the age of…

Andreas Reischek was born on 15 September 1845 at Linz, Austria, the son of Barbara Danzer and her husband, Andreas Reischek, a collector of shipping fees. His mother died soon after he was born and Andreas was raised…

Ranginui Walker was a highly influential writer, public commentator, community leader and activist who played a significant role in the cultural and political renaissance of Māori in the 1970s and 1980s. He contributed…

Alexander Shand was born on 15 November 1840, at Petone, New Zealand, to Archibald Watson Shand and his wife, Elizabeth Alexandrina Greig Kilpatrick, who were among the first group of New Zealand Company immigrants.…

Matiu (Matt) Te Hau was born at Ōmarumutu, near Ōpōtiki, on 11 July 1912, the son of William Turakiuta Cooper of Ngāti Kahungunu, a licensed interpreter, and Kōparepare Matiu, of Ngāti Ruatakenga hapū of Te Whakatōhea.…

Te Iki-o-te-rangi Pouwhare, regarded as a paramount chief in later life, was an authority on Tūhoe history and traditions, and widely respected as a wise and kindly leader. He was born at Te Houhi in the Rangitāiki…

Henry James Fletcher was born at Denton, near Rochester, Kent, England, on 28 February 1868, the son of William Fletcher, a journeyman carpenter, and his wife, Jane Sally Fawcett. Henry was the fourth son of a family of…

Te Rangiotū, who took in baptism the name of Hoani Meihana (John Mason), was a descendant of the ancestors Te Rangi-te-pāia and Rangitāne through his father, Pohoi Te Rangiotū. Rīria Rangipōtango was his mother. He was…

Hirawanu Tapu (known also as Maitarawai and Taputehara Maitara) was born about 1824 at Te Awapātiki on the east coast of Chatham Island. He was a member of the Ōwenga Moriori tribe. His mother's name was either Rūnanga…

Charles Moihi Te Arawaka Bennett was born at Rotorua on 27 July 1913, one of 19 children of Frederick Augustus Bennett of Ngāti Whakaue of Te Arawa, and his second wife, Arihia Ngārangioue (Rangioue) Hēmana (or Pōkiha…

Tūtere Wī Repa was one of a group of Māori who, in the early twentieth century, set out to put their professional training at the disposal of their people. Less well known than men such as Apirana Ngata, Peter Buck and…

Edward Oliver Haddon, later known as Ōriwa Tahupōtiki Haddon, was born at Waitōtara, South Taranaki, on 7 November 1898, the eldest son of a Māori Methodist minister, Robert Tahupōtiki Haddon of Ngāti Ruanui, and his…

Robert Agrippa Moengaroa Waitiri (later Whaitiri), commonly known as Bob, was born in Bluff, Southland, on 9 May 1916. Through his parents, Robert Agrippa Waitiri, an oysterman, and his wife, Mariam (Miriam) Effie Te…