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Frederick Edward Maning was born in Dublin, Ireland, probably on 5 July in 1811 or 1812, the eldest son of moderately wealthy, Protestant, Anglo-Irish parents. His father, Frederick, married his mother, Mary Barrett, in…

Tiramōrehu was born at Kaiapoi pā, probably early in the nineteenth century, into a high-ranking family of the prominent hapū Ngāi Tūāhuriri of Ngāi Tahu. His father was Kāraki. Tiramōrehu was a descendant of Tūāhuriri…

Airini Ngā Roimata Grennell was born on 11 February 1910 at Waitangi in the Chatham Islands, the eldest of five children. Her father, William Henry Grennell, was a farmer and fisherman at Matarakau on the northern side…

Edith Lucy Morfett was born at Kamo, Whangarei, on 26 May 1888, the fourth daughter of Mary Puttenham, a seamstress from Kent, and her husband, George Morfett, a farm manager. The Morfetts had emigrated to New Zealand…

Thomas Buddle was born at Durham, England, probably on 24 December 1812, the son of Matthew Buddle, a cordwainer, from a prominent Anglican family, and his wife, Mary Anderson. At the age of 17 Thomas joined the…

Barnet Burns claimed to have been born in Liverpool, England; the year of his birth was probably about 1806 or 1807. At the age of 13 or 14 he went to sea as a cabin-boy. He spent some time in Jamaica in the service of…

Mere Haana Hall was born at Tauranga, probably in 1880 or 1881, the eldest of 11 children of Rangimakehu Ainsley and John James Henry Hall, clerk of the Resident Magistrate’s Court at Ōhinemutu. Mere’s father, who was…

Kaikōura Whakatau was the leader of Ngāi Tahu in the Kaikōura district throughout the first 25 years of European whaling, and pastoral settlement commencing in the 1840s. The date and place of his birth are not known.…

Agnes Carmont was born at Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, probably on 2 September 1829, the daughter of Elizabeth Caven and her husband, John Carmont. She was raised largely in the household of her uncle,…

Mona Tracy was one of three Canterbury writers whose children's books, written in the 1920s, have stood the test of time. Unlike her two contemporaries, Esther Glen and Edith Howes, however, she wrote historical novels…

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…

Sir Hugh Kawharu, a Ngāti Whātua rangatira, a distinguished anthropologist, and an eloquent statesman, was held in high regard by Māori and non-Māori alike. He was a prominent leader of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei in central…

James Carroll was born at Wairoa, northern Hawke's Bay, probably on 20 August 1857, one of eight children of Joseph Carroll and his Ngāti Kahungunu wife, Tapuke, a woman of mana. His father, a Sydney-born Irishman, had…

Mina Louise McKenzie was a key player in New Zealand’s museums sector from the 1970s to the 1990s. As curator, and later director, of Manawatū Museum, she pioneered a model of museum practice which placed primacy on…

Adrian Cornelius Langerwerf was born in Waspik, Noord Brabant, in the Netherlands, on 15 September 1876, the son of Cornelius Langerwerf, a farmer, and his wife, Lucia Smeur. Feeling a call to be a missionary priest, he…

Christian Gottlieb Ferdinand Hochstetter is said to have been born on 30 April 1829 in Esslingen, kingdom of Württemberg, the son of Christian Ferdinand Hochstetter, a professor and parson, who had published works on…

Maata Horomona was New Zealand’s first movie star, as the leading lady in films by French filmmaker Gaston Méliès. Méliès claimed to have discovered her, but by 1912, when she appeared in three of his films, Maata was…

James Henry Pope was born at St Helier, Jersey, probably on 11 September 1837, the son of Jane Dacombe and her husband, James Pope, a confectioner. He was educated privately before he emigrated to Melbourne, Australia,…

Mereana Tōpia, better known as Maria, and her daughter Hēni Hoana or Jane Tōpia, were outstanding leaders in their local communities. Among their many activities they fostered the practice of traditional Māori arts and…

Abner Clough, also known as Amura, was born and baptised on 13 September 1840 at Akaroa, New Zealand. His father, James Robinson Clough, also known as Jimmy Robinson, had arrived at Akaroa several years before. He acted…