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Rutherford Waddell was born in Ballyroney, County Down, Ireland, probably sometime between 1850 and 1852. His father was the Reverend Hugh Waddell, a Presbyterian minister; his mother, Margaret Reid, was the sister of…

Thomas Clifton Webb was born on 8 March 1889 at Te Kopuru, Northland, the son of English parents Thomas Webb, a farmer, and his wife, Penelope Martha Massey. Clifton attended Te Kopuru School and in 1902 won a Junior…

Harry Albert Atkinson was born in Urenui, north-east of New Plymouth, New Zealand, on 15 October 1867, the fourth of six sons of Marion (Polly) Ronalds and her husband, Decimus Atkinson, a farmer. The Atkinsons were one…

Tom Barker was born on 3 June 1887 at Crosthwaite, Westmorland, England, the eldest child of Thomas Grainger Barker, a farm labourer, and his wife, Sarah Trotter. As a boy he worked on farms, attending school part time…

William Pierpont Black's career illustrates some of the more unusual aspects of the New Zealand labour movement in the early twentieth century. William Peter Negrescu was born in Bucharest, Romania, probably in 1876 or…

Berkeley Lionel Scudamore Dallard, known to his friends as Bert, was born at Christchurch on 27 August 1889, the son of Sarah Maria Day and her husband, George Joseph Dallard, who had settled at Waikari, North…

Willi Fels was born on 17 April 1858 at Halle an der Weser, Brunswick, Germany, the eldest of four children of Heinemann Wilhelm Fels, a merchant, and his wife, Kätchen Hallenstein. He attended a Jewish school run by…

Charles Fraser was baptised in Aberdeen, Scotland, on 29 July 1823, the son of Hugh Fraser, a merchant, and his wife, Christina McAllan. Educated at the Grammar School of Aberdeen from 1833 to 1838 and then at Marischal…

Christina Kirk Henderson was born, according to family information, on 15 August 1861 at Emerald Hill, Melbourne, Australia. She was the second of nine children of Alice Connolly and her husband, Daniel Henderson. Her…

Flora MacKenzie (or McKenzie) was born in Māngere, Auckland, on 15 August 1902, the daughter of Hugh Ross MacKenzie, a farmer, and his wife, Lillie Theresa Ellett. Flora, her brother and sister were brought up on the…

William Arthur Greener Penlington was born on 8 October 1890 at Akaroa, Banks Peninsula, where his grandfather, a sawmiller, had settled in the late 1850s. The son of compositor William Penlington and his English-born…

Duncan McFadyen Rae was born at Glenham, Southland, on 2 June 1888, the son of Scottish parents Susan Ann McIntyre (née McFadyen) and her husband, William Rae, a shepherd, who was later a farmer. After attending…

John Perry Robinson was born probably in Surrey, England, in 1810 or 1811. He became a wood and ivory turner, and took an active interest in politics. He moved to Birmingham and during the 1830s became closely…

Foss Shanahan was born at Alexandra on 10 June 1910, the son of Thomas Shanahan, a police constable, and his wife, Ethel Florence Foss. He was educated at the Christian Brothers’ Boys’ School in Dunedin and Waitaki Boys…

Helen Lilian Shaw was born in Timaru on 20 February 1913, the only child of Jessie Helen Gow and her solicitor husband, Walter Shaw, a shadowy, romantic figure whom Helen never knew. In September 1913 he was imprisoned…

Sidney George Holland was born at Greendale, Canterbury, on 18 October 1893, one of eight children of English-born parents Jane Eastwood and her husband, Henry Holland, a farmer. His father later became a Christchurch…

Jeannie Begg was born on 7 October 1886 at Port Chalmers, one of 10 children of Scottish parents Eliza Johnstone and her husband, John Begg, a tanner and rug-maker. Her close-knit Presbyterian family considered her the…

William Watson Bird was born on 8 February 1870 at Crookham Common, Crondall, Hampshire, England, the sixth child of Harriet Hale and her husband, Alfred Bird, a carpenter. The family emigrated to Dunedin, New Zealand,…

Eileen Marjorie Fosbery Nancarrow, always called Marjorie, was born on 29 May 1906 in Sydney, Australia, the daughter of Fosbery Maunsell Nancarrow, a shipping clerk, and his wife, Violet Marjorie Campbell. Both parents…

John Bell Condliffe was one of the first generation of students trained in economics under James Hight at Canterbury College, Christchurch, and went on to become one of New Zealand's best-known international economists…