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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…

Mina Louise McKenzie was a key player in New Zealand’s museums sector from the 1970s to the 1990s. As curator, and later director, of Manawatū Museum, she pioneered a model of museum practice which placed primacy on…

Thomas Burns, the most important religious leader in the early settlement of Otago, was baptised at Mauchline, Ayrshire, Scotland, on 17 April 1796, the son of Gilbert Burns, a farmer and estate manager, and his wife,…

Montague Harry Holcroft (registered at birth as Joyce Harry) was born on 14 May 1902 in Rangiora, where his father, Harry Cooper Holcroft, a salesman, was about to buy a grocery shop. His mother, Harriet Emily Soanes,…

Īhāia Hūtana was born at Poroutāwhao, near Ōtaki, probably in 1843 or 1844. His parents had been taken there as captives by Ngāti Raukawa after a battle at Te Roto-a-Tara in Hawke's Bay. His mother was Te Ahiahi of…

Sybil Audrey Marie Colley (or Wellesley-Colley) was born at Greenfields, her parents’ sheep farm near Clive in Hawke’s Bay, on 1 August 1916, the daughter of Ethel Violet Mary Goulter and her husband, Joseph Wellesley…

Margaret Pattison Thom, who was later widely known as Mākereti (or Maggie) Papakura, was born at Matatā, in the Bay of Plenty, on 20 October 1873. Her father was an Englishman, William Arthur Thom, a storekeeper who…

Samuel Duncan Parnell, a carpenter and joiner by trade, initiated the eight hour working day in Wellington. He is said to have been born in London, England, on 19 February 1810, the son of Joan Duncan and her husband,…

Colin Graham Scrimgeour was born at Wairoa on 30 January 1903, the son of John Graham Scrimgeour, a farmer, and his wife, Robina Maud Clunie. He left school at the age of 11 and unsuccessfully tried to enlist for…

Mihi Kōtukutuku was born, according to family information, on 30 October 1870 at Pōhaturoa, a point near Raukōkore in the Bay of Plenty. She was the third daughter of Maaka Te Ehutū of Te Whanau-a-Maruhaeremuri, a hapū…

Hirini Rāwiri Taiwhanga was born probably at Kaikohe, west of the Bay of Islands, in 1832 or 1833. His mother was Mata Rawa of Te Arawa. His father, a mission worker and farmer, was Rāwiri Taiwhanga, leader of Ngāti…

Te Rangi-taka-i-waho was born in Wairarapa. His baptismal name may have been Mānihera (Maunsell); the missionary William Colenso, with whom he had a close connection, knew him as Maunsell Te Kehu and he was commonly…

Carlo Giuseppe Bergamini was born at Carrara, Italy, on 19 January 1868, the son of Oreste Bergamini and his wife, Marie de Raimondo Castelpoggi. Carrara was the centre of the Italian marble industry and the family were…

Leonard Delabere Bestall was born in Wellington on 21 November 1895, the son of Richard Bestall and his wife, Eleanor Beatrice Pidgeon. Afterwards the family moved to Napier, where Richard, a draper, established the…

William James Broughton was born in Foxton on 6 January 1913, the son of Charles Rudolph Broughton, a flax-mill worker, and his wife, Rosie May Edith Lee. Through his paternal great-grandmother, Hereora Taueki, he had…

John Vigor Brown was born in London, England, on 18 June 1854. He was one of three sons of Jessie Gilmour and her husband, John Brown, a banker's clerk and later a commercial traveller; both were of Scottish descent.…

John Carruthers was born at Inverness, Inverness-shire, Scotland, on 21 June 1836, the son of Janet Roberts and her husband, Robert Carruthers, editor and proprietor of the Inverness Courier and author of works on…

Chan Lit Chong, known in New Zealand as Tommy Chan, was born in May 1889 near Canton (Guangzhou), China, to peasant farmer Chan Kwong Yee and his wife, Foon Tong. He was the eldest of the couple’s four children. In 1908…

Te Paea was the eldest daughter of Hēmi Tonoriri Kīngi and Ākinihi Ngaro Brown. Her father was a direct descendant of Te Whareumu of Ngāti Manu, now regarded as Ngāpuhi; her mother was the eldest daughter of Hōne and…

Leopold Henry Collinson was born in Palmerston North on 13 May 1878, the son of Frances Elizabeth Gittings and her husband, Henry Clement Collinson, a carpenter, professional photographer and farmer. After attending…