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Thomas Wing was born on 19 June 1810 at Bradfield, Essex, England. He was the son of Matthew Wing, a mariner, and his wife, Elizabeth Cousins. Wing acquired his nautical knowledge during his youth when he lived at the…

Rachael Ngeungeu Te Irirangi Beamish was born at Waiariki, Mercer, Waikato, on 10 October 1893, the third of ten children of Richard Evanson Beamish, a settler and later master mariner, and his wife, Rangi Takotokino…

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…

Ernest John Bartlett Allen was born at South Hinksey, Berkshire, England, on 29 March 1884 to Ellen Bartlett and her husband, Spencer Henry Allen, a butcher. Allen must have shown considerable intellectual ability for…

Charles Wallace Boswell, who was to become New Zealand’s first diplomat in the Soviet Union, was born at Coromandel on 5 August 1886, the son of Laura Jane Avery and her husband, James Boswell, a goldminer. He was…

James Scott Maclaurin was born on 8 November 1864 at Unst, the northernmost of the Shetland islands, Scotland. He was one of eleven children of Robert Campbell Maclaurin, a minister of the Church of Scotland, and his…

William Arthur Sewell was born on 9 August 1903 in Goole, Yorkshire, England, the son of William John Sewell, a chemist, and his wife, Ada Mary Hill. Arthur's family were devout Methodists, and from the age of seven he…

Alfred Hamish Reed, the founder of one of New Zealand's first large publishing firms, was born on 30 December 1875 at Hayes, Middlesex, England, the second of four children of Elisabeth Wild and her husband, James…

Henry Keesing was born in Amsterdam, the United Provinces of the Netherlands (the Dutch Republic), on 31 December 1791, the second son of Tobias ben Hartog and Clara Jacobs de Jong. His Jewish name was Hartog ben Tobias…

Emilie Monson Wilton was born probably in 1829 or 1830, the daughter of Colonel Wilton, a retired British army officer. The place of her birth is unknown, as is her mother's name. In 1848 probably in London she married…

Kate Milligan Edger, the first woman in New Zealand to gain a university degree, was born on 6 January 1857 at Abingdon, Berkshire, England, the daughter of Louisa Harwood and her husband, the Reverend Samuel Edger, a…

John Kinder was born on 17 September 1819 at London, England, the oldest surviving child of Thomas Kinder, a wealthy merchant, and his second wife, Fanny Pickworth. John's interest in art began early when he took walks…

James Michael Liston (registered at birth as Michael James) was born in Dunedin on 9 June 1881, one of a family of five children of Mary Sullivan and her husband, James Liston, a hotel-keeper. His parents were both from…

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.…

Sailing apprenticeship Peter James Blake was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 1 October 1948, and raised in the suburb of Bayswater on the northern edge of the Waitematā Harbour. His father, Brian Blake, had…

Auckland artist Pauline Thompson produced a distinctive and challenging body of work over a career spanning five decades. Her paintings used allegorical imagery to explore her own family history, the lives of women and…

Fergus George Frederick Sheppard, known as ‘Ferg’ or ‘Shep’ to friends and colleagues, was the Government Architect who led the Modernist architectural transformation of the government’s building programme in New…

Thomas Edward Skinner was born in Mangaweka on 18 April 1909, the eldest son of Alice Chalk and her husband, Thomas Edward Skinner, a tinsmith and plumber. He had two elder sisters and two younger brothers. Skinner’s…

Whāea (mother) Betty Wark worked with ‘at risk’ Māori youth in Auckland for more than 30 years. The product of a difficult childhood, she struggled to provide a family environment to many young people whose lives had…

Viva Bedlington was born at Auckland on 12 March 1893, the daughter of Elizabeth Jane Meldrum and her husband, Percy Bedlington, a surveyor. Her paternal grandfather, William Bedlington, had surveyed much of the…