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Tāpihana (Dobson) Paraire Paikea, known as Dobbie, but registered at birth as Poata Paikea, was a great-great-grandson of the paramount Te Uri-o-Hau chief Paikea Te Hekeua. As such, he had his roots deep in Tai Tokerau…

Heremia Te Wake belonged to Ngāti Manawa, a hapu of Te Kaitūtae and Te Rarawa. He was born at Te Karaka in the Hokianga district, probably in the 1830s, the son of William Hoard (known to his Māori family as Pire Hoa),…

Born on 21 February 1835 in Chiddingly, Sussex, England, Alfred Feist was the second son of William Feist, a butcher, and his wife, Martha Holman. In his youth Alfred went to London, and was working as a house steward…

William Jenkins, known as 'Bill the Steward', was born on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England, on 13 September 1813, the first child of William and Catherine Jenkins. Following his father's calling, William went to sea…

Ann Lovell was born Ann Brown probably some time between 1803 and 1811. Her birthplace and parents' identities are unknown. She married James Lovell on 3 January 1837 at St Peter's Church, Bristol, England. The couple…

Kimble Bent, also known as Kimball Bent, was born in Eastport, Maine, USA, on 24 August 1837, the fourth of the seven children of John (or Waterman) Bent, a shipbuilder and carpenter, of Nova Scotian origin, and his…

Manuera Benjamin Rīwai Couch (or Rīwai-Couch) was known throughout his life, and by his own preference, as Ben Couch. He was born at Lyttelton on 27 June 1925, the first of eight children of a farmer, George Manning…

Bishop Wiremu Nētana Pānapa, known affectionately as Barney, was the second bishop of Aotearoa. He was born in Ahikiwi, north of Dargaville, on 7 June 1898. Pānapa’s grandfather, Pānapa Hōhāpata, of Ngāti Ruanui, was…

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 Arthur Satchell was born on 1 February 1861 in London, England. He was the son of Hannah Mordey and her husband, Thomas Satchell, a civil servant who became surveyor general of the Inland Revenue. Thomas…

Īhaka Whaanga, born perhaps late in the eighteenth century, was the son of Te Rātāu of Ngāti Rākaipaaka and Ngāti Kahungunu. Te Rātāu was killed and eaten in a conflict with Whakatōhea at Ōhiwa and his own relative…

Johannes Carl Andersen was born on 14 March 1873 at Klakring, a village in Jutland, Denmark, the second child of Jørgen Andersen, a watchmaker, and his wife, Johanne Marie Hansen. The family arrived at Lyttelton, New…

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…

The time and place of Hēnare Matua's birth are uncertain. It may have been at Nukutaurua, on the Māhia peninsula, in the 1830s. Airini Donnelly, his stepdaughter, said that he returned from Nukutaurua to Hawke's Bay '…

Thomas McDonnell, eldest son of Thomas McDonnell and his wife, Anna Patterson, was born probably some time between 1831 and 1833, possibly at Manila in the Philippines while his parents were on a trading voyage. His…

Mira Szászy emerged from a humble upbringing to become one of the greatest Māori leaders and proponents of mana wāhine in the twentieth century. Throughout her life, Mira pushed for education, health and social reforms…

James Carroll was born at Wairoa, northern Hawke's Bay, probably on 20 August 1857, one of eight children of Joseph Carroll and his Ngāti Kahungunu wife, Tapuke, a woman of mana. His father, a Sydney-born Irishman, had…

Charles Bathurst was born in London, England, on 21 September 1867, the son of Charles Bathurst, a barrister of Lydney Park, Gloucestershire, and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Hay. He was educated at Sherborne School, Eton…

Pāora Te Pōtangaroa was the son of Ngaehe, of Ngāti Kerei and Ngāti Te Whatuiāpiti, and Wiremu Te Pōtangaroa, a leader in the Mātaikona area of Wairarapa, of Te Ika-a-Papauma, a hapū of Ngāti Kahungunu. Through his…

When soldiers of the New Zealand Pioneer Battalion recalled 'the Padre' they spoke with genuine warmth of the Reverend Hēnare Wēpiha Te Wainohu. As chaplain to the Māori troops during the First World War, Te Wainohu…