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Frederick Augustus Bennett was born on 15 November 1871 at Ōhinemutu, Lake Rotorua. His mother, Raiha Ratete (Eliza Rogers), a high-born woman of Ngāti Whakaue section of Te Arawa, gave to her son the culture and…

John Bryce was born in Glasgow, Scotland, probably on 14 September 1833, the son of Grace McAdam and her husband, John Bryce, a cabinet-maker. John junior, his father, an older brother and a younger sister arrived in…

Richard Burgess, also known as Richard Hill, was born in the West End of London, England, on 14 February 1829, the illegitimate son of a lady's maid and 'some one connected with the Horse-guards'. When his father…

George Clarke was born in Wymondham, Norfolk, England, on 27 January 1798. His parents were Mary Clarke and her husband, William Clarke, a gunsmith and builder. Between the ages of 11 and 20 he learnt carpentry and…

Kura Ensor was an Auckland-based Māori fashion entrepreneur who was part of a renaissance in Māori-influenced design during the 1970s. She ran a successful nationwide fashion business, selling garments which often…

William Fitzherbert was born on 15 August 1810 at Winterborne, Houghton, Dorset, England. He was the third son of Samuel Fitzherbert, an Anglican clergyman, and his wife, Ann Joyce. Fitzherbert was educated at the local…

According to family information, Edward Francis Harris, also known as Eruera Paranihi Hārete, was born on 13 May 1834 at Tūranga (Gisborne). He was the elder of two sons of Tukura-ā-Rangi and John Williams Harris.…

Wī Te Tau was the third in a succession of Anglican Māori ministers from the Huata family, their careers spanning most of the history of Christianity in New Zealand. His father, Hēmi, and his paternal grandfather,…

Kīngi Matutaera Īhaka was born at Te Kao, Northland, on 18 October 1921. His great-grandfather, Parāone Ngāruhe, signed the Treaty of Waitangi on behalf of Te Aupōuri. Kīngi was the 13th of 14 children of Eru Tīmoko…

Thomas Kendall was baptised on 13 December 1778 at North Thoresby, Lincolnshire, England. He was probably the fifth child (of seven) of Susanna Surflit and her husband, Edward Kendall, a small copyhold farmer. He…

David Alexander Cecil Low earned world fame, and the particular hatred of Adolf Hitler, in the years leading up to the Second World War for his cartoons attacking European fascism and the Nazi regime. Born in Dunedin on…

Dubbed an educational ‘saboteur’ by poet James K. Baxter, Elwyn Richardson was an educator who helped change the practice of teaching and learning in New Zealand schools in the second half of the twentieth century.1 He…

Eve Rimmer was one of New Zealand’s greatest paraplegic athletes, winning 32 medals – including 22 gold medals – for athletics and swimming at international sporting events. A household name during the late 1960s and…

George Warren Russell was born in Haggerston, London, England, on 24 February 1854, the son of Miriam Warren and her husband, Gregory Ruffell Russell, a bricklayer and builder. The family emigrated to Tasmania, where…

Te Awa-i-taia was born probably in the late eighteenth century. His mother was Purehina, and his father was Te Kata. Most sources state that Te Awa-i-taia had nine wives, including Rangihikitanga, Hinu, Kararaina,…

Te Hura was the chief of Ngāi Te Rangihouhiri, once a powerful hapū of Ngāti Awa, which occupied several villages in the region of Te Awa-a-te-Atua and Ōtamarākau, in the Bay of Plenty. Te Hura's main base in Te Awa-a-…

Te Rangikāheke, known also by his baptismal name of Wiremu Maihi (William Marsh), or Wī Maihi, was born in the early nineteenth century, according to his own evidence, about 1815, possibly at Puhirua or Te Awahou, in…

Tohu Kākahi, whose historical importance has often been ignored, was responsible along with Te Whiti-o-Rongomai III for making the village of Parihaka in Taranaki a symbol of pacifist protest against government land…

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…

Davina Whitehouse’s career in performance spanned 70 years, from theatre and film roles in Britain between the 1920s and the 1940s to radio, theatre, television and film roles in New Zealand from the 1950s to the 2000s…