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Elijah Carey was born in the goldmining town of Gympie, Queensland, Australia, on 20 August 1876, a twin son of Catherine Newman and her husband, Elijah Carey, a miner. Elijah junior, who later added the name John and…

Margaret Malcolm was born at Richmond, Nelson, New Zealand, on 17 December 1848. She was the youngest of five children of Margaret Barrie and her husband, Andrew Malcolm, a wheelwright. Her parents were Presbyterians…

Charles Rooking Carter was born in Kendal, Westmorland, England, on 10 March 1822, the second son of John Carter, a builder, and his wife, Hannah. An older brother, John, died in 1832. Charles's early education was by…

Thomas Frederick Cheeseman was born in Hull, Yorkshire, England, on 8 June 1845, one of five children of Eliza Cawkwell and her husband, Thomas Cheeseman, a Methodist minister. The family emigrated to Auckland, New…

Helen Stephen Baird was born on 29 September 1875 at Hampden, Otago, New Zealand, the daughter of Elizabeth Stephen and her husband, James Baird, a Presbyterian minister, who had emigrated to New Zealand from Scotland…

James Coutts Crawford, generally known as Coutts, was born at Overton, Strathaven, Lanarkshire, Scotland, on 19 January 1817, the only son of Captain James Coutts Crawford, RN, and his second wife, Jane Inglis. Educated…

James Wightman Davidson was born in Wellington on 1 October 1915, the son of George Wightman Davidson, a commercial traveller, and his wife, Edith Mabel Brown. Jim attended Waitaki Boys’ High School and Victoria…

William Raymond Fell was born on 26 October 1904 at Melksham, Wiltshire, England, the son of Edward Thomas Abraham Richards Fell, a farmer, and his wife, Mary Blanche Collett. The family came to New Zealand in 1912 and…

Joseph Firth was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on 25 March 1859, the son of Aaron Firth, a stonemason from the north of England, and his wife, Ann Priestnell. Gold fever took the family to Cobden on the West Coast…

Archibald Joseph Charles Fisher was born on 15 June 1896 at Dudley, Worcestershire, England, the son of Edmund Scambler Fisher, a jeweller, and his wife, Thirza Wilkinson. Archie studied fine arts at the Birmingham…

Woolf Fisher was born in Wellington on 20 May 1912, the eldest of six children of Jewish parents Michael Fisher and his wife, Fanny Dabscheck. His father, who owned the bakery and general store in Paraparaumu, was from…

Helena Ruth Henderson was born on 12 June 1913 at Leithfield, Canterbury, the third of six children in a Catholic family. Her mother, Helena Jane Hayes, wrote prolifically; the Christchurch Press published many of her…

Annabella Mary (known as Mary) Webster was born on 19 May 1864 at Mangungu on the Hokianga Harbour, one of twins born to William Webster, an interpreter and sawmiller, and his wife, Annabella Gillies, whose mother was…

Elizabeth May Seddon was born on 24 March 1880 at Kūmara, Westland, the seventh of eleven children of Louisa Jane Spotswood and her husband, Richard John Seddon, later to be premier of New Zealand from 1893 to 1906.…

John Anderson Gilruth was born on 17 February 1871 at Auchmithie, near Arbroath, Forfarshire, Scotland, the son of Ann Anderson and her husband, Andrew Gilruth, a farmer. A schoolteacher before marriage, his mother…

Elizabeth Gregory was born in Dunedin on 4 March 1901 to Catherine Cameron and her husband, William Edgar Gregory, a printer. She was educated in Dunedin at Arthur Street School, St Andrew’s Collegiate School, Otago…

Elsie Mary Griffin was born on 1 November 1884 at Lawrence, Otago, New Zealand, the daughter of Mary Brown, a Canadian by birth, and her husband, Cornelius Griffin, a Wesleyan minister. The Griffins moved around the…

Alice Gwendoline Rhona Haszard was born at Thames on 21 January 1901, the daughter of Alice Elizabeth Vaughan Wily and her husband, Henry Douglas Morpeth Haszard, a surveyor with the Lands and Survey Department. Rhona,…

Robert Cecil Hayes was born in Wellington on 19 January 1900, the son of Robert Edward Hayes and his wife, Ellen (Nell) Thomas. His father worked as a clerk in the accounts branch of the Post and Telegraph Department…

David Hendry was born the third of four children to Robert Hendry, a labourer, and his wife, Agnes Stevenson, on 24 November 1888 at Juniper Green, Midlothian, Scotland. His mother died when he was young. On leaving…