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Walter Reginald Brook Oliver was born in Launceston, Tasmania, on 7 September 1883, the son of Henry Oliver and his wife, Josephine Caroline Stevenson. The family came to New Zealand in March 1896, settling first near…

Charles Alexander Fleming was born in Auckland on 9 September 1916. He was the eldest of three children of Winifred Hardy and her husband, George Herbert Fleming. George had inherited a substantial private income from a…

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…

Alexander Robert Entrican was born at Devonport on 28 January 1898, the son of Robert John Entrican, a merchant, and his wife, Annie Isabella Lamb. Known as Pat, he was educated at Auckland Grammar School and in 1915…

John Buchanan is said to have been born on 13 October 1819, at Levenside (Strathleven), Dunbartonshire, Scotland. He was the eldest of four children of William Buchanan and his wife, Nancy Somerville. He was educated at…

William Langston Newnham was born in Christchurch on 14 October 1888, the son of Charles Langston Newnham, a journalist, and his wife, Eliza Friar. He attended Timaru Boys’ High School, then joined the Public Works…

George Conrad Petersen was born in Mauriceville West, near Eketahuna, on 19 June 1900, to Danish parents Jens Peter Petersen and his wife, Anna Katrine Nielsen. They developed a small farm and Jens was a founding…

Takaanui Tarakawa was born, according to his own account, in 1852. His mother, Te Whakaumata, also known as Patumoana, of Ngāi Te Rangi, was one of three or four wives of Te Ipututu Tarakawa, Takaanui's father. Takaanui…

Thomas Bracken, the son of Margaret Kiernan and her husband, Thomas Bracken, was baptised a Catholic at Clonee, County Meath, Ireland, on 30 December 1841. His mother died in 1846, and his father, a postmaster, died in…

Joan Wiffen was a self-taught palaeontologist who greatly advanced knowledge of fossil reptiles in New Zealand. Wiffen, who described herself as ‘a rank amateur, a Hawkes Bay housewife in fact, with no scientific…

Lawrence Birks was born at Adelaide, Australia, on 19 May 1874, the son of Walter Richard Birks, a draper, and his wife, Jemima Scott Crooks. Lawrence attended Prince Alfred College and the University of Adelaide.…

John Nicol Crombie was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 11 August 1827, the son of John Crombie, a weaver who later became a grocer and merchant, and his wife, Margaret McKellar. Emigrating to Melbourne, Australia, at the…

Richard William Fereday, the son of John Turton Fereday, an ironmaster, and his wife, Ann Cecilia Heming, was born at Ettingshall, Staffordshire, England, and baptised at nearby Sedgley on 22 March 1820. After service…

John Thomas Marryat Hornsby was born at Hobart, Tasmania, on 13 March 1857, the son of Sarah Turner and her husband, John Marryat Hornsby, a constable who later became a general printer. Hornsby junior was brought up in…

Thomas Kirk was born in Coventry, Warwickshire, England, on 18 January 1828, the son of George Kirk, a nurseryman, and his wife, Sarah West, a nurserywoman and florist. He showed a keen interest in botany from an early…

Frederick Horace Smirk was born on 12 December 1902 in Accrington, Lancashire, England, the son of Thomas Smirk and his wife, Betsy Ann Cunliffe. He attended Haslingden School, where his father was assistant…

Edgar Fraser Stead was born in Christchurch on 22 October 1881, the son of George Gatonby Stead and his wife, Lucie Maria Wilkinson. His father was a grain and export merchant, president of the local chamber of commerce…

Francis John Turner was born in Auckland on 10 April 1904, the son of Gertrude Kingcome Reid and her husband, Joseph Hurst Turner, a Latin master at Auckland Grammar School. His father died in 1913, leaving Frank's…

George Leslie Adkin was a self-taught scholar with the skills and integrity of a professional. Most of his working life he farmed with little profit or pleasure. His real interest was in geology and archaeology, and in…

Thomas Hill Easterfield was born on 4 March 1866 in Doncaster, Yorkshire, England, the son of Susan Hill and her husband, Edward Easterfield, secretary and later manager of the local branch of the Yorkshire Savings Bank…