Search

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,…

The author of a dozen novels and many scores of short stories that were widely read in New Zealand during the first four decades of the twentieth century, Edith Joan Lyttleton was born on 18 December 1873 at Clyne Vale…

James Ronald Hugh Morrieson died at 50, a sad and disappointed man. His remark, ‘I hope I’m not another one of these poor buggers who get discovered when they’re dead’ became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Morrieson was…

John Ormsby (Hone Omipi), of Ngāti Te Waha and Ngāti Pourāhui hapū of Ngāti Maniapoto, was born, according to family information, at Te Kōpua, near Pirongia Mountain, on 6 November 1854. He was the fourth child of the…

Pinepine Te Rika was born probably in 1857 or 1858 at Rāhitiroa, an old settlement of Ngāti Kuri just east of Te Waiiti, in the Bay of Plenty. Her father was Te Rika Te Wheura (sometimes known as Te Mīkaera Te Rika or…

Pōmare, originally named Whētoi, the son of Puhi of Ngāti Manu, was born in the latter part of the eighteenth century. He was connected by descent to Ngāpuhi hapū Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Rāhiri and Ngāti Hine, and to the…

Pōmare II, known as Whiria as a young man, was born in the latter part of the eighteenth century. He lived in the southern Bay of Islands, in the territory of Ngāti Manu, of Ngāpuhi. His connection to this hapū was…

Thomas Philip Shand was born at Ngāpara, North Otago, on 16 April 1911, the son of Gilbert Esme Tressillian Shand and his wife, Constance Kippenberger. His parents, who were both from prominent Canterbury families, ran…

Te Paea (Sophia) Tīaho, of Ngāti Mahuta, was born probably in the early 1820s in Waikato. Her father was Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, the first Māori King. Her mother was probably his senior wife, Whakaawi, but may have been…

Sydney Lough Thompson was born on 24 January 1877 at Oxford, Canterbury, New Zealand. He was one of six sons and three surviving daughters of Charles Abel Thompson, a shoemaker, and his wife, Sophia Matilda Lough. His…

Mona Anderson, author of A river rules my life (1963) and nine other books, was one of New Zealand’s most popular and successful non-fiction authors of the 1960s and 1970s. Her books gave readers a window into life on a…

Frederick Baker was born at Whauwhaukauri, Hokianga, on 19 June 1908, the son of John Francis (Frank) Baker and his wife, Jane Robinson. His father was a bushman but subsequently became a dairy farmer. Baker was of…

Harold Beauchamp was born at Ararat, Victoria, Australia, on 15 November 1858, the son of Arthur Beauchamp, an auctioneer, and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Stanley. At the age of two Harold sailed to New Zealand with his…

Arthur Herbert Carman was born in Pāpārangi, Johnsonville, Wellington, on 2 August 1902, the eldest of five sons of Gertrude Matilda Burd and her husband, Walter John Carman. His father, a former compositor with the New…

Dorothy Ida Davies was born at River Bank, Whanganui, on 24 October 1899, the child of English-born parents David Davies, an engineer, and his wife, Martha Naomi Oakden. Dorothy was the seventh of eight children and the…

Manga, later called Rewi Maniapoto, was born in Waikato early in the nineteenth century. According to his memorial at Kihikihi, he was born in 1807, although at his death in 1894 he was said to be in his 70s. He was the…

Edith Ngaio Marsh was born on 23 April 1895 in Merivale, Christchurch, to Rose Elizabeth Seager and her husband, Henry Edmund Marsh, a clerk in the Bank of New Zealand in Christchurch. His daughter said of him, 'I can…

Campbell Percy McMeekan was born on 29 July 1908 at Otaki, the only son of four children of Alexander Nelson McMeekan, a baker and shopkeeper, and his wife, Ellen (Helen) Kime. His paternal family were Irish, and on his…

Pita Te Tūruki Tāmati Moko was born at Rotorua on 9 May 1885, the son of Tāmati Moko and his wife, Rawinia Te Whau Wharetutu. He was principally of Ngāti Whakaue of Te Arawa, although he was also connected to Ngāti…

Matutaera Nihoniho, in his narrative of the fighting on the East Coast, states that he was born on 30 October 1850 at Whareponga, near Waipiro Bay. He belonged to Te Aowera and Te Aitanga-a-Mate of Ngāti Porou. His…