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Hensleigh Carthew Marryat Norris, known as Car, was born in Hunterville, Rangitikei, on 12 March 1893, the son of land agent John Hensleigh Norris and his wife, Ida Helen Carthew. He was educated at Hunterville School…

Hōne Taare Tīkao told the historian Herries Beattie that he was born on Banks Peninsula in or about 1850, just two years after the Crown purchase of Canterbury from Ngāi Tahu, and within months of the arrival of the…

Louis John Steele was born in England at Reigate, Surrey, on 30 January 1842, the son of Harriet Thompson and her husband, John Sisson Steele, a surgeon. His mother was said to have been a cousin of the French painter…

John (Hoani) Te Rangiāniwaniwa Rangihau, known to his hapū and iwi as Te Nika and in the wider Māori world as Te Rangihau, was born at Kūhā, south of Waikaremoana, on 5 September 1919, to Karu Rangihau, a labourer, and…

John (Jack) Atirau Asher was born at Tauranga on 8 August 1892, the 10th of 11 children of Katerina Te Atirau, a high-ranking woman of Te Arawa, of Ngāti Pukenga and Ngāti Pikiao descent, and David Asher, a Jewish…

Fanny Louise Smith, later known as Fanny Louise Irvine-Smith, was born at Napier on 10 September 1878. Her father, Thomas Smith, a master mariner, died after falling from the topmast of the Mohaka when Fanny was six…

Hārata Ria Te Uira Parata was born at Ōtaki on 22 January 1925, the daughter of Nātanahira Te Umutapu Wī Te Kākākura Parata, a farmer, and his wife, Ōriwa Tuini Horomona. Her paternal grandfather was Wiremu Te Kākākura…

Ottavio Barsanti was born in Pietrasanta, Tuscany, Italy, probably in 1825 or 1826, the son of Lorenzo Barsanti, a farmer, and his wife, Maria Silionni. His gravestone in Sydney records him as J. O. Barsanti but his…

Hōne Mohi Tāwhai was the son of Mohi Tāwhai and his wife, Rāwinia Hineikoaia (also known as Hārata). His father belonged to Te Māhurehure, a hapū of the Ngāpuhi confederation, and the family was also connected with Te…

The name of Hāmiora Tumutara Pio of Ngāti Awa and Ngāti Tūwharetoa appears in the written record largely through the efforts of John White and Elsdon Best. Hāmiora Tumutara wrote down ethnographical data for them, not…

Rina Matewai Ruru, better known as Lena, was born in Gisborne on 5 June 1902, the sixth of eleven children of Hēnare Keepa Ruru and his wife, Maata Rewanga Parāone. Her birth coincided with the death of her mother’s…

Ramai Hayward was a pioneering documentary and feature film-maker. She trained as a photographer in the mid-1930s and had established her own studio in Auckland when she starred in Rudall Hayward’s landmark film…

Bruce Biggs had a distinguished career as a scholar but he was also that rarer thing, an exceptional builder of academic institutions. In academic Māori studies he was the most influential figure of the twentieth…

William Turakiuta Cooper (sometimes known as Wiremu Te Apatū Cooper) was born at Muriwai, Poverty Bay, probably in 1885 or 1886, one of twin sons of Robert Cooper and Mere Morera (or Christie). Both parents were of…

Enid Marguerite Hamilton Kelly was born in Hamilton on 12 September 1903. Her father, Arnold Joseph Kelly, was a plasterer born to Irish Catholic immigrants. Enid's mother, Annie Maria Elliott, was of Northern Irish…

Patrick Smyth was born at Pungaere, Bay of Islands, on 21 October 1893, the ninth of eleven surviving children of Irish-born Patrick Francis Smyth, a farmer, and his wife, Katherine Mangu Wheoki. His mother was from…

Mary Margaret Hickey was born on 13 April 1882 in a thatched whare at Opunake, Taranaki, New Zealand, the first of 11 children of Hannah Stack and her husband, John Cornelius Hickey, a constable in the Armed…

James Hight was among the most formative influences on higher education in New Zealand during the first half of the twentieth century and, because of his deep imprint on students, well into the second half. He was born…

Sholto Kairākau Black was born in Ōpōtiki on 13 January 1902, the seventh child and youngest son of John Black, a farmer at nearby Ōtara, and his wife, Polly Matuakore (Pare Pīkake) Delamere, who was also known as Mary…

Richard Tahuora Hīmona was born at Te Ore Ore, near Masterton, on 7 September 1905. He was the son of Arapata Hīmona, a farmer, and his wife, Wirapeti Mīkaera of Hāmua, a hapū originally of Rangitāne descent, but…