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The time and place of Hēnare Matua's birth are uncertain. It may have been at Nukutaurua, on the Māhia peninsula, in the 1830s. Airini Donnelly, his stepdaughter, said that he returned from Nukutaurua to Hawke's Bay '…

John Alexander McCullough was born at Belfast, Ireland, on 17 January 1860, the eldest of five children. He was the son of Sarah Davison and her husband, William John McCullough, a seaman, staunch unionist and Orangeman…

Thomas McDonnell, eldest son of Thomas McDonnell and his wife, Anna Patterson, was born probably some time between 1831 and 1833, possibly at Manila in the Philippines while his parents were on a trading voyage. His…

Guy Hardy Scholefield was born at Dunedin on 17 June 1877, the third child of John Hoick Scholefield, an accountant, and his wife, Marion Hardy. His father died in 1885, and the family moved to Milton, South Otago. Guy'…

Te Ua Haumēne was the founder and prophet of the Hauhau church, the first organised expression of an independent Māori Christianity. He was born into the Taranaki tribe at Waiaua, in South Taranaki, in the early 1820s.…

Apirana Turupa Ngata was born at Te Araroa on the East Coast on 3 July 1874. He had connections with the leaders of Ngāti Porou. His hapū included Te Whānau-a-Te Ao, Ngāti Rangi, Te Whānau-a-Karuai and Ngāti Rākairoa.…

Francis Dillon Bell, usually called Dillon, is said to have been born in France on 8 October 1822. His father, Edward Bell, was a merchant and the British consul at Bordeaux. His mother, Frances, was the daughter of an…

Thomas Robert Gore Browne was born on 3 July 1807 at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, the second son of Robert Browne and his wife, Sarah Dorothea Steward. The family, of Anglo-Irish origin, had settled near…

Lindsay Poole was a forester and senior public servant who guided the New Zealand Forest Service, first as assistant director then as director, during the middle decades of the twentieth century. His career followed an…

Norris Frank Davey, who would in adult life change his name to Frank Sargeson, was born in Hamilton on 23 March 1903, the second of four children. His father, Edwin John Davey, had taken over his father's general store…

Henry Sewell came to New Zealand in 1853 at the age of 45 as an official of the Canterbury Association and spent about 17½ years in the colony in three periods: 1853–56, 1859–66 and 1870–76. He became one of the leaders…

Maurice Shadbolt was a leading figure in the growth of a New Zealand literature during the second half of the twentieth century. He was the first New Zealand author to earn a good living as a full-time writer, although…

Takaanui Tarakawa was born, according to his own account, in 1852. His mother, Te Whakaumata, also known as Patumoana, of Ngāi Te Rangi, was one of three or four wives of Te Ipututu Tarakawa, Takaanui's father. Takaanui…

Hoani Te Heuheu Tūkino, sometimes known as Hoani Te Rerehau or John Heuheu, was the youngest of five children of Tūreiti Te Heuheu Tūkino V of Ngāti Tūwharetoa and his wife, Te Rerehau Kahotea (also known as Mere Te Iwa…

Selwyn Toogood was New Zealand’s best-known broadcaster from the 1950s to the 1970s, as quizmaster of the enormously popular It’s in the bag radio programme. Audiences revelled in the suspense as he invited contestants…

Rēweti Tūhorouta Kōhere was born on 11 April 1871 at Orutua, Horoera, near East Cape. He was the first of five children of Hone Hiki Kōhere and Henarata Peretō, the daughter of Umutahi, who belonged to Te Whanau-a-…

Nene was born probably in the 1780s. He was the second son of Tapua, leader and tohunga of Ngāti Hao of Hokianga, and the younger brother of Patuone, the inheritor of their father's mana. By descent and marriage this…

John Thomas Paul was born near Boort, Victoria, Australia, on 16 August 1874, the son of Mary Tomkins and her husband, Daniel Fisher Paul, who farmed a small selection and worked as a railway employee. Tom served his…

Hilda Phillips was one of the best-known and most persistent critics of the Māori land, resource rights and autonomy campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s. She attacked the foundations of Māori grievances against the Crown,…

William Rolleston was born at Maltby Hall, Yorkshire, England, on 19 September 1831, the ninth child and youngest son of the Reverend George Rolleston and his wife, Anne Nettleship. He married Elizabeth Mary Brittan (…