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Frederick Henry McDowall, one of a small group of pioneering scientists in the dairy-processing industry of New Zealand, was born at Waianiwa, near Invercargill, Southland, on 1 September 1900. His parents, Montgomery…

Charles Yelverton O'Connor was born at Gravelmount, Castletown, County Meath, Ireland, probably on 11 January 1843, the son of John O'Connor, a farmer and company secretary, and his wife, Mary Elizabeth O'Keefe. He was…

Born at Dunedin on 18 February 1895, Ronald Stuart Park was the son of Samuel Morgan Park, a clerk, and his wife, Annie Penelope Maxwell. He was educated at Otago Boys’ High School from 1908 to 1913, where he excelled…

Charles Edward Peek was born at Picton, Marlborough, on 13 April 1904, the eldest of five children of Annie May Lange and her husband, Charles Peek, a storeman. He attended Picton School and Marlborough High School,…

Grace Nixon was born in Whāngārei on 6 July 1883, the daughter of Zillah Johnson and her husband, Adam Nixon, a fireman who later became a marine engineer. When Grace and her younger brother were infants, the Nixon…

Algernon Phillips Thomas (the name Withiel was added later) was born on 3 June 1857 at Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, the fifth of eight children of Edith Phillips and her husband, John Thomas, an accountant. Algernon…

William Webster was born in 1815 at Portland, Maine, in the United States, and arrived in New Zealand in March 1835. It has been suggested that he absconded from a whaling ship but he may have arrived by way of Sydney,…

Born in Blenheim on 27 May 1898, Charles Ritchie Burns was the eldest son of Archibald Douglas Burns, a draughtsman, and his wife, Margaret Mary Direen. He had two sisters and two younger brothers. In him were mixed…

John Cairney was born in Greymouth on 8 October 1898, the son of Elizabeth (Lily) Bramwell and her husband, John Cairney, a Dunedin-born jeweller. His father’s professional precision and dexterity almost certainly…

Thomas Forrester was born in Glasgow, Scotland, probably on 16 May 1838, the son of Janet Watt and her husband, George Forrester, a modelling and decorative plasterer. Thomas attended the Glasgow Government School of…

Francis John Fox was born in County Westmeath, Ireland, probably on 20 September 1857, the son of Dorothea West and her husband, Jemmett George Fox, an army officer. Educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, he…

Herbert Ellery Gilbert was born in Whanganui on 20 July 1916. His New Zealand-born father, Ellery George Gilbert, imported musical instruments; his mother, Nellie Gilbert (née Hall), was English-born. After attending…

John Joseph Grimes was the first Catholic bishop of Christchurch, New Zealand, being appointed on 13 May 1887 and dying in office on 15 March 1915. He was born John Grimes at Bromley in the East End of London, England,…

James Hargest, generally known as Jim or Jimmy, was born in Gore on 4 September 1891, the son of Mary Prosser and her husband, James Hargest, a labourer. He was educated at Gore and Mandeville schools, before joining…

Ākenehi Hei, occasionally called Agnes by her Pākehā employers, was born probably in 1877 or 1878 into a leading Te Whakatōhea and Te Whānau-ā-Apanui family at Te Kaha, Bay of Plenty. Her mother was Maria Nīkora; her…

Neil Lloyd Macky was born in Auckland on 20 February 1891, the son of Thomas Lindsay Macky, a clerk, and his wife, Elizabeth Stuart Lloyd. Polly Macky (as he was called from boyhood) was educated at Prince Albert…

Victor Leonard William Mitchell, always known as Leonard, was born in Palmerston North on 8 March 1925. He was the eldest son of Victoria Adelaide Cogswell and her husband, Leonard Cornwall Mitchell, an artist and…

Westby Brook Percival was born at Launceston, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), on 11 May 1854, the son of Westby Hawkshaw Percival, an Irish lieutenant in the Mounted Police, Melbourne, Australia, and his wife, Sarah Brook…

Alfred William Robin, incorrectly registered at birth as Robbin, was born on 12 August 1860 at Riddles Creek, Victoria, Australia. He was the son of James Robin, then working as a baker, and his second wife, Anne…

Sophia Ann Bates, the daughter of Elizabeth Hix Brown and her husband, John Bates, was born at Westminster, London, England, on 6 March 1817. She emigrated to New Zealand with her mother and her father, a corporal in…