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Ettie Annie Rout was born in Launceston, Tasmania, on 24 February 1877, the daughter of Catherine Frances McKay and her husband, William John Rout, an ironmonger. She had a twin sister and a sister two years younger.…

John Nicol Crombie was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 11 August 1827, the son of John Crombie, a weaver who later became a grocer and merchant, and his wife, Margaret McKellar. Emigrating to Melbourne, Australia, at the…

Esther Marion Pretoria James was remarkable for the diversity of her achievements, and in the 1930s became a national celebrity during a sponsored walk of the length of New Zealand. She was born at Pahīatua on 5…

Isabella Malcolm was born in Hoxton, London, England, on 22 June 1850, one of five children of Scots parents Jemima Crawford Souter and her husband, Andrew Wilson Malcolm, a brewer's clerk. The family moved to Dublin…

Shirefie Lettoof was born in the village of Bsharri, on the western flank of the Lebanon Mountains, probably in 1864 or 1865. She was a member of the Fakhry tribe whose roots are thought to lie in fourteenth century…

Alice Hannah Holford was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand, on 12 November 1867, the daughter of Annie Brooking and her husband, John Henry Holford, a mariner and later harbourmaster. From an early age her ambition was…

Joan Stevens was born on 10 December 1908 at Southwick, Sussex, England, to William John Stevens, a bookseller’s manager, and his wife, Florence Mary Herbert, daughter of a West Hartlepool journalist. When Joan was five…

One of the great international aviators of the 1930s, Jean Gardner Batten was born on 15 September 1909 in Rotorua, the only daughter of a dentist, Frederick Harold Batten, and his wife, Ellen (Nellie) Blackmore. She…

Peter Graham was born at Three Mile Beach, Okarito, south Westland, New Zealand, on 27 April 1878; his brother Alexander (Alec) Carter Graham was born there on 5 September 1881. They were the fifth and sixth children of…

Frances Mary Hodgkins was born at Dunedin, New Zealand, on 28 April 1869, the third child and second daughter of William Mathew Hodgkins and his Australian wife, Rachel Owen Parker. At that time Dunedin, where Frances…

Annie Elizabeth Abbott was born at Knightstown, Christchurch, New Zealand, on 12 April 1877, the eldest of four children of Maud Laura Mason and her husband, Thomas George Abbott, a nurseryman. She was educated locally…

Thelma Rene Kent was born in Christchurch on 21 October 1899, the younger of two children of Catherine Maude Hales and her husband, John Robert Kent, a bootmaker. She was educated at Addington School and the…

Edith Howitt Searle was born on 8 September 1863 at Beechworth, Victoria, Australia, the fourth child and third daughter of Mary Ann Beeby and her husband, George Smales Searle, a newspaper editor. The family came to…

Ada Gertrude Paterson was born at Caversham, Dunedin, New Zealand, on 6 June 1880. She was the daughter of Margaret Smith Ayton and her husband, James Paterson, for many years librarian at the Dunedin Athenaeum and…

Joan Elizabeth Spencer Smith was born at London, England, on 27 June 1891, the daughter of Charlotte Owen Gaze and her husband, Charles Spencer Smith, clerk and receiver of the United Westminster Schools and Grey-Coat…

Sarah Elizabeth Jackson was born at Erdington, near Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, on 6 August 1858. She was the second of seven children born to Fanny Brittain Chapman and her husband, James Jackson, an earthenware…

Hedwick Wilhelmina McDonald's greatest achievement as a racehorse trainer does not appear in record books; nor does her real name. She trained the winner of the 1938 Melbourne Cup, but because women were not permitted…

Hākaraia Pāhewa was born probably in 1869 or 1870 at Tokomaru Bay, the son of Matiaha Pāhewa and his wife, Hera Marokau, who were both of Te Whānau-a-Rua, a hapū of Ngāti Porou. His father served from 1863 to 1906 as…

Margaret Escott is best remembered as the author of the novel Show down. Born Cicely Margaret Escott on 9 July 1908 at Eltham, London, England, and usually known as Peg, she was the daughter of Emily Allen and her…

Edith Mary Mellish was born at Pailles in the district of Moka, Mauritius, on 10 March 1861. She was the daughter of Edward Mellish, an English banker and businessman, and his wife, Ellen Borrowes, an Irishwoman who…