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William Sullivan was born on 8 December 1891 in Inglewood, Taranaki, the sixth and youngest child of Samuel John Sullivan and his wife, Sarah Maria Acton. His parents, both of southern Irish farming stock, had emigrated…

Robert Heaton Rhodes was born on 27 February 1861 at Purau, a farming locality on the shore of Lyttelton Harbour, the eldest son of Sophia Circuit Latter and her husband, Robert Heaton Rhodes, a substantial landowner.…

George Leslie Adkin was a self-taught scholar with the skills and integrity of a professional. Most of his working life he farmed with little profit or pleasure. His real interest was in geology and archaeology, and in…

Walter Lawry Buller was born at the Wesleyan mission, Newark, at Pākanae, Hokianga, New Zealand, on 9 October 1838, the son of Jane Tonkin Martin and her husband, James Buller. He married Charlotte Mair at Whāngārei on…

Georgina Burne McKellar was born at Battersea, London, England, on 27 May 1832, the second daughter of Annette Clarke and her husband, Dugald McKellar, a doctor. When Georgina was about 10 years old the family moved to…

Henry and Thomas Newman were the sons of William Newman and his wife, Eliza Hopgood, who had both emigrated as children to Nelson, New Zealand, on the Bolton in 1842. William Newman was a labourer at Waimea South when…

Thomas Henry Potts, one of New Zealand's earliest conservationists, was born in London, England, on 23 November 1824, the son of Thomas Potts, a gun maker, and his wife, Mary Ann Freeman. He was baptised at Brandon,…

Charles Sew Hoy was known to Chinese as Choie Sew Hoy, Choie being his clan name. He signed himself Sew Hoy in English, and this became his English surname. He was born probably between 1836 and 1838. His father, Choie…

Gordon Herriot Cunningham was born at Heriot, West Otago, on 27 August 1892, one of seven children of Helen Donaldson Herriot and her husband, Joseph Watson Cunningham, manager of a sheep station at nearby Moa Flat. He…

Charles Edward Douglas was born on 1 July 1840 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the sixth and youngest child of Martha Brook and her husband, James Douglas, an accountant with the Commercial Bank of Scotland. Douglas…

James Fletcher arrived in New Zealand in 1908 with a bag of tools, a few pounds in his pocket and an unflagging optimism that would help make him one of New Zealand’s most influential industrialists. He was born in…

Heinrich Lang was born in Vienna, Austria, on 3 March 1919, one of two sons of Robert Lang, a hardware manufacturer, and his wife, Anna Schwitzer. His parents subsequently divorced and in 1935 his mother married Ernst…

Frank Langstone was born, probably on 10 December 1881, in Bulls, the fourth of five children. His father, Charles Walter Langston, had various occupations, including that of veterinary surgeon; his mother, Margaret…

James O’Brien belonged to the cluster of Australian labour activists who reached New Zealand in the first decade of the twentieth century, as the nation’s trade union movement was beginning to assert itself industrially…

Born in Maungatautari, Waikato, on 8 June 1905, Wiremu Te Ranga Poutapu, known as Piri (Bill), was of the Tainui people Ngāti Korokī. His father was Pouaka Winikerei, a carpenter, and his mother Rangitaau Paraki. The…

Hēni Te Kiri Karamū, also known as Hēni Pore (Jane Foley) and as Jane Russell, belonged to Ngāti Uenukukōpako and Ngāti Hinepare of Te Arawa. She was descended from Ngātoroirangi of Te Arawa canoe. She was born probably…

Edward Jerningham Wakefield, known as Jerningham, the only son of Edward Gibbon Wakefield and Eliza Anne Frances Pattle, was born in London, England, probably on 25 June 1820. His mother died 10 days after his birth,…

Jessie Marguerite McAllan was born in Dublin, Ireland, probably sometime between 1855 and 1857. She was the daughter of John McAllan, a merchant; her mother's identity is unknown. No information survives about Jessie's…

Charles and Neil Begg came from a well-known Dunedin family, their paternal grandparents having been among the early Scottish settlers of Otago. Their father, Charles Mackie Begg, was a physician and surgeon, who…

Samuel Butler was born probably on 4 December 1835 at Langar Rectory, Nottinghamshire, England, and was baptised on 17 December 1835. He was the second child of the Reverend Thomas Butler and his wife, Fanny Worsley. He…