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Hāmiora Wiremu Maioha, of Ngāi Tawake hapū of Ngāpuhi resident in the Bay of Islands, was often known as Hāmi, as Tahi to his intimates, and as Sam Maioha junior to his Pākehā business associates. He was the son of…

William Hillier Onslow was born at Old Alresford, Hampshire, England, on 7 March 1853, the only son of George Augustus Cranley Onslow and his wife, Mary Harriet Anne Loftus. He was educated at Eton College and then…

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…

William Lee Rees was born probably on 16 December 1836 at Bristol, England, the son of James Rees, a surgeon, and his wife, Elizabeth Pocock. Rees's father died when he was young, and he was brought up by his mother and…

Ngāpipi Rēweti was an enigmatic and controversial figure. Almost the whole of his recorded life was dominated by competition between Māori living on the Auckland isthmus and European authorities for ownership of land at…

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…

Architect and landscape architect Harry Turbott pioneered an environmentally focused design practice in New Zealand in the latter half of the twentieth century. His work continually emphasised the designer’s role in…

James Wattie was born on 23 March 1902 in Hawarden, North Canterbury. The third of five sons of William John Wattie, a shepherd, and his wife, Annie Elizabeth Jifkins, he grew up in a close-knit, hardworking farming…

Ranginui Walker was a highly influential writer, public commentator, community leader and activist who played a significant role in the cultural and political renaissance of Māori in the 1970s and 1980s. He contributed…

John Bryce was born in Glasgow, Scotland, probably on 14 September 1833, the son of Grace McAdam and her husband, John Bryce, a cabinet-maker. John junior, his father, an older brother and a younger sister arrived in…

Frederick Edward Maning was born in Dublin, Ireland, probably on 5 July in 1811 or 1812, the eldest son of moderately wealthy, Protestant, Anglo-Irish parents. His father, Frederick, married his mother, Mary Barrett, in…

John White was born in the village of Cockfield in Durham, England, on 3 January 1826, one of a family of eight children born to Francis White, a blacksmith, and his wife, Jane Angus. The White family emigrated to New…

George Hamish Ormond Wilson was born in Bulls on 18 November 1907, the eldest son of George Hamish Wilson, a farmer, and his wife, Ada Mary Ormond. His grandfathers, J. G. Wilson and J. D. Ormond, had taken up land in…

Marie Bell was an educator and tireless campaigner for the rights of both children and parents, challenging educational orthodoxies to ensure more child-centred practices and an environment more supportive of parents.…

John Logan Campbell is said to have been born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 3 November 1817, the only son of John Campbell and his wife, Catherine Logan, of Ayrshire. His father, as a younger son of Sir James Campbell,…

Bill Wilson was a key figure in Group Architects, an Auckland collective instrumental in developing a modern architecture responsive to New Zealand’s culture and conditions. This interest informed the buildings he…

Michael King was New Zealand’s most popular late twentieth-century historian. His best work combined the research-based scholarship of a historian with the fluent accessible style of a journalist. His output was…

Alistair Te Ariki Campbell was one of New Zealand’s most distinctive poetic voices from the 1950s to the 2000s. His work, which combined lyricism and darkness, was shaped by an idyllic Rarotongan childhood, early family…

Bernard Fergusson was the country’s tenth governor-general and the last in a long line of British representatives in the imperial tradition. Cheerful and friendly, he was immensely popular and admired for his…

Erihapeti Rehu-Murchie was a Ngāi Tahu (or Kāi Tahu) leader and woman of mana, and a prominent activist in the fields of Māori welfare and health from the 1970s to the 1990s. She was a long-serving member and president…