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Alice Eleanor Cossey was born on 8 November 1879 at Drury, Auckland, New Zealand, the eighth of nine children of Solomon Cossey, a shoemaker, and his wife, Martha Bragg Martin. She inherited an interest in industrial…

Jane Elizabeth Francis was born in St John's Wood, London, England, probably in 1852 or 1853, the daughter of Harriett Francis and Adelbert Sevyney Frantz, a silk merchant. On 11 January 1866 Harriett Francis married…

Frederick Jones was born Charles Frederick Benney Dunshea on 16 November 1884 in Dunedin. His mother, Jessie Drummond Dunshea, married Charles Jones, a butcher, in 1890. After attending school in Dunedin and…

Edward Joshua Riddiford was born on 7 August 1842 at the Hutt, Wellington, the third of 12 children of Harriot Stone and her husband, Daniel Riddiford, an emigration agent in the New Zealand Company. Around 1845 the…

James Nelson Williams was born at Waimate mission station inland from the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, probably on 22 August 1837, the third son of Jane Nelson and her husband, William Williams, a missionary and later…

John Hall, the leading 'conservative' politician in nineteenth century New Zealand, was born at Hull, England, probably on 18 December 1824, and was baptised on 31 January 1825. He was the third son of George Hall and…

George Laking was one of New Zealand’s key twentieth-century public servants. In a career lasting more than 40 years, he was adviser on international relations to successive governments and an important diplomat during…

Thomas Noel Brodrick (known as Noel) was born to Mary Anne Potts and her husband, Thomas Brodrick, a stock and share broker, at Islington, London, England, on 25 December 1855. He came to New Zealand with his family on…

Frederick Widdowson Doidge was born at Cootamundra, New South Wales, on 26 February 1884, the son of Edwin Doidge and his wife, Mary Lucy Chilcott. His father had been a journalist in Thames, New Zealand, before…

Adam Hamilton was born at Forest Hill, Southland, on 20 August 1880, the son of Scottish parents John Hamilton, a farmer, and his wife, Mary McIlwrick. He attended school at Forest Hill and Lochiel, leaving from…

Thomas Alexander Hunter was born on 28 February 1876 in Croydon, Surrey, England, the son of Louisa Jane Harton, a woman of force and character, and her husband, William Hunter, a banker's clerk. The third of five…

James Mills was born at Wellington, New Zealand, on 30 July 1847, the third son of Catherine Miller and her husband, William Mills, a carpenter. Two years later William became landing waiter at Port Chalmers and in 1853…

Alan Edward Mulgan was born on 18 May 1881 at George Vesey Stewart's Irish Protestant settlement in Katikati, in the Bay of Plenty. He was the son of Frances Maria Johnston and her husband, Edward Ker Mulgan, a farmer…

David Stanley Smith was born in Dunedin on 11 February 1888, the first child of John Gibson Smith, a Presbyterian minister, and his wife, Ann Gibb. His primary education began in Dunedin, but was completed at the Middle…

Edward Cephas John Stevens was born on 18 October 1837, at Salford, Oxfordshire, England, the youngest son of the local rector, the Reverend William Everest Stevens, and his wife, Mary James. He was educated at…

On 3 August 1870 17-year-old Marianne Allen Manchester arrived at Auckland on the Excelsior. She was one of a group of single women brought out from Britain on assisted passages by the Hawke's Bay provincial government…

Taiāwhio Tikawenga Te Tau was a leader of the major Māori political and religious movements in Wairarapa in the 15 years following 1910. He was the younger son of Kaipāoe, a high-ranking woman of Ngāti Rākairangi, and…

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…

William Gisborne was born probably on 13 August 1825, the third son of Thomas John Gisborne of Holme Hall, Bakewell, Derbyshire, England, and his wife, Sarah Krehmer. The Gisbornes were among Derbyshire's pre-eminent…

John Henry Rushworth Jellicoe was born at Southampton, England, on 5 December 1859, the son of John Henry Jellicoe, a master in the merchant service, and his wife, Lucy Henrietta Keele. At the age of six he attended a…