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Hēni Materoa, also known as Te Huinga, was born at Makauri, a few miles to the north-west of Tūranga (Gisborne); her birth date could have been either 27 October 1852 or 29 October 1856. Her father was Mīkaera Tūrangi…

Nathanael Chalmers was born at Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, Scotland, on 22 August 1830. He was the youngest of 12 children and the seventh son of Elizabeth Margaret Pungel, daughter of the Dutch governor of Malacca,…

George Alexander Currie was born at Windyhills farm in the parish of Grange, Banffshire, Scotland, on 13 August 1896, the second son of Mary Craib and her husband, George Currie, a village blacksmith and later tenant…

Harry Delamere Dansey and Roger Ingram Dansey were sons of Englishman Roger Delamere Dansey, a postmaster, and his wife, Wikitōria Ngāmihi Kahuao. Harry was born at Tapuae-haruru (Taupō) on 7 November 1874 and Roger at…

Winifred (Winnie) Kathleen Joan Gonley was born in Ōtautau, Southland, on 27 July 1909, the daughter of Winifred Cecilia Crowe and her husband, Michael Gonley. She grew up in the house behind her parents’ main-street…

Rangitīaria Dennan, better known as Guide Rangi, achieved wide recognition as a cultural ambassador. With charm, insight and wit she imparted the essentials of Māori tradition to the tourists she guided around the…

Alexander Drennan was born on 16 December 1899 in Greenock, Scotland, to Flora Wingate and her husband, Alexander Drennan, an engine fitter. He began work in the Clyde shipyards and became an active member of the…

Maurice Noel Duggan ranks with Katherine Mansfield and Frank Sargeson as one of New Zealand’s greatest short-story writers and literary stylists. He was born in Auckland on 25 November 1922 and grew up on the North…

James Henry Edwards was born at Islington, London, England, on 19 February 1892, the son of Ellen Sellman and her husband, James John Edwards, a printer. He began work as a telegraph boy at 13, then served as a steward…

Percy Leo Fowler was born at Litherland, Lancashire, England, on 14 December 1902, the son of Percy Nason Fowler, a clothing collector, and his wife, Christina O’Sullivan, a schoolteacher. In 1910 the family emigrated…

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…

Janet Munro was born on 31 January 1883 in Glasgow, Scotland, to Mary McLean, a housekeeper, and William Munro, an iron foundry warehouseman. Her parents married four years later. Janet sometimes used her maternal…

Oscar Garden was born at Tongue, on the north coast of Scotland, on 21 August 1903, the second son and fourth child of Robert Garden, a merchant from Orkney, and his wife, Rebecca Jane Ward, a Salvationist and later…

Leslie Issott Grange was born on 4 March 1894 at Castlecliff, Wanganui, the son of Thomas Issott Grange, a blacksmith, and his wife, Mary Eleanor Conelly. His father deserted the family, leaving Mary to raise her four…

Mary Victoria Cracroft Wilson was born at Culverden in North Canterbury on 18 August 1897, the third of five children of John Cracroft Wilson, a sheepfarmer, and his wife, Mildred Hall. Her maternal grandfather, John…

Josiah Alfred Hanan was born in Invercargill, New Zealand, on 12 May 1868, the son of James Albert Hanan, a storekeeper, and his wife, Sarah Matilda Clarke. He was educated at the Invercargill Central School (later…

Rudall Hayward was New Zealand's most prolific pioneer film-maker in an era when local film-going was dominated by American westerns. Inspired by New Zealand's ‘rough-hewn story’, he made seven local feature films, four…

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…

Rangimārie Hursthouse was born on 24 May 1892 at Oparure, near Te Kūiti. Her parents were Charles Wilson Hursthouse and Mere Te Rongopāmamao Aubrey. Charles Hursthouse had emigrated with his family from England in 1843…

Frederic Le Cren and his brother, Henry John Le Cren, were born in London, England. Henry was baptised on 3 September 1828; Frederic was born on 7 November 1835. They were the sons of Henry Le Cren and his wife, Emma…