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Marie Henriette Suzanne Aubert (known first as Suzanne Aubert and later in religion as Mary Joseph Aubert) was born at Saint-Symphorien-de-Lay, Loire, France, on 19 June 1835. She was the daughter of Henriette Catherine…

From childhood, Augusta Wallace’s life was entwined with the law. She was the daughter, wife and mother of lawyers, had her own law practice, and became New Zealand’s first female district court judge in 1975. Despite…

George Hamish Ormond Wilson was born in Bulls on 18 November 1907, the eldest son of George Hamish Wilson, a farmer, and his wife, Ada Mary Ormond. His grandfathers, J. G. Wilson and J. D. Ormond, had taken up land in…

Walter Edward Gudgeon was born in London, England, on 4 September 1841, the first child of Thomas Wayth Gudgeon, an upholsterer, and his first wife, Mary Johnston. The family emigrated to New Zealand in 1850 and settled…

Hēnare Kaihau was born probably between 1854 and 1860 at Waiuku, on the southern Manukau Harbour. He was the son of Ngāti Te Ata chief Aihepene (Ahipene) Kaihau, who also had tribal affiliations with Ngāti Urupikia,…

Arthur Edward McDonogh (or MacDonogh) was born probably in 1809 or 1810 in Ireland; his parents' names are unknown. As a young man McDonogh served as an officer in the 5th Fusiliers. By the middle of 1840 he had…

Ruth Miriam Guscott was born in Whanganui on 1 January 1920, the second child of Aida Doris Mildred Clayton and her husband, Alfred James Guscott, a stock buyer. Although they lived in town, Ruth and her elder brother…

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…

Henry Brett was born at St Mary Magdalen, near Hastings in Sussex, England, on 25 February 1843, the son of Henry Brett, a tailor, and his wife, Mary Ann Elizabeth Hallows. Henry was initiated into publishing in his…

Hugh McLean Campbell was born at Te Aute, near Pukehou, Hawke's Bay, on 21 March 1875, the fourth child and only son of Hugh Campbell and his wife, Margaret Gardiner, who died three years later. Hugh senior had managed…

Richard Treacy Henry, the fourth of seven children of John Stephenson Henry, a civil engineer, and his wife, Sarah Anna Treacy, was born at Glanbane House, near Athy, County Kildare, Ireland, on 4 June 1845. The family…

Eva Esther Day was born on 19 September 1898 at Pārāwai, near Thames, the daughter of Katherine Helen Gifford and her husband, Victor Grace Day, a solicitor. Shortly after her birth the family moved to Hokitika. They…

Margaret Moxon was born on 18 August 1808 in the parish of Sculcoates, Hull, Yorkshire, England, the daughter of Margaret Heaton and her husband, John Moxon, a businessman and banker. She was well educated, and became…

Garnet Hercules Mackley, who was to become an outstanding general manager of the New Zealand Railways, and later achieved prominence in private business and politics, was born in Port Chalmers on 9 December 1883 to…

Algernon Instone Rainbow was born on 13 January 1885 in Hastings, Hawke’s Bay, the second of three children of William Rainbow, headmaster of Heretaunga school, and his wife, Julia Baly. On 16 February 1889 his father…

George Edward Read was born in Mendlesham, Suffolk, England, probably in 1814 or 1815. His parents' names are unknown, as are details of his early life before he came to the Pacific in the mid 1830s aboard a whaling…

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…

Annie Jane Allen was born probably on 22 November 1835 and baptised at Leamington Priors, Warwickshire, England, on 25 December 1835. She was the daughter of Elizabeth Dodd and Edward Allen, a businessman and farmer.…

William Webster was born in 1815 at Portland, Maine, in the United States, and arrived in New Zealand in March 1835. It has been suggested that he absconded from a whaling ship but he may have arrived by way of Sydney,…

Ian Prior was an influential doctor, activist and art patron. His ground-breaking health surveys in Pākehā and Māori communities in Aotearoa New Zealand and in Cook Islands and Tokelau earned him recognition as the…