Search

William Ranstead was born on 8 December 1859 at Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, the son of John Ranstead, an engine fitter, and his wife, Margaret Morris. The Ransteads moved to Liverpool and William was educated at the…

Te Kāhui Kararehe lived at a time when Māori–Pākehā relations in Taranaki were at their most critical. Born on 14 January 1846 at Te Ahoroa pā, Pungaereere, he was the eldest surviving son of Minarapa Rangihatuake, also…

Te Rei Hanataua was the leading chief of Tangahoe hapū of Ngāti Ruanui. He was the son of Wakataparuru and Hineao; his ancestry extends back to Turi and Rongorongo. He was born probably early in the nineteenth century,…

Wahanui Huatare, also known as Reihana Te Huatare, Te Reihana Whakahoehoe and Te Wahanui, was born probably in the late 1820s. He was the son of Te Ngohiteārau, also known as Te Huatare, of Ngāti Maniapoto. His mother,…

John Ewart was born at Caldronlee near Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, on 14 May 1858, the son of Robert Ewart, a farmer, and his wife, Jane Paterson. He was educated at Annan academy and the University of…

Amy Isabella Johnston, one of the few women to become registered dentists in New Zealand in the nineteenth century, was born at Greymouth, New Zealand, on 5 April 1872. She was the daughter of Marion Jennings and her…

Joseph Angus Mackay was born on 9 September 1882 in Invercargill to Emma Elizabeth Wood and her husband, William Gair Mackay, a grocer. One of twelve children, he left school young, attended night school, and while…

'Tear them down boys; I will give £100 out of my pocket this minute to prevent them from marching.' Thomas O'Driscoll was said to have incited a riot with these words on 26 December 1879, as members of the local…

John Sinclair, the eldest son of Mary Ann Henderson and her husband, John Sinclair, a carpenter, was born in Olrig, Caithness, Scotland, on 18 September 1843. He was educated at Olrig parish school. Nothing else is…

Joseph George Ward (registered at birth as Joseph Ward) was born in Hawke Street, North Melbourne, Australia, on 26 April 1856, the son of Irish immigrant parents William Ward, a clerk, and his wife, Hannah Dorney.…

Alfred Domett is said to have been born on 20 May 1811 at Camberwell Grove, Surrey, England, and was baptised on 4 November 1812 at Bermondsey. His father, Nathaniel Domett, was a ship owner of naval and merchant…

Kawiti was born, probably in the 1770s, in northern New Zealand. He was descended from Nukutawhiti, commander of the Ngā-toki-mata-whao-rua canoe, which made its landing at Hokianga. He was the 11th generation from…

Korokī Te Rata Mahuta Tāwhiao Pōtatau Te Wherowhero was the elder of two sons of Te Rata, the fourth Māori King, of Ngāti Mahuta. His mother was Te Uranga of Ngāti Korokī and he was named for the eponymous ancestor of…

Te Wherowhero was born in Waikato towards the end of the eighteenth century. He was the eldest son of a Waikato warrior chief, Te Rauangaanga, and Parengāope of Ngāti Koura. He belonged to the senior chiefly line of…

Henry Samuel Chapman was born in Kennington, London, England, on 21 July 1803, the son of Henry Chapman, a civil servant in the Barrack Department, and his wife, Ann Hart Davies. He was educated in schools at Bromley,…

Charles Edward Douglas was born on 1 July 1840 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the sixth and youngest child of Martha Brook and her husband, James Douglas, an accountant with the Commercial Bank of Scotland. Douglas…

Henry (Harry) James Hopkins was born on 11 August 1912 in the tiny Western Australian town of Dwellingup, the son of Emma Eliza Watts and her husband, Harold Hopkins, a yard foreman and later forestry department…

Frank Langstone was born, probably on 10 December 1881, in Bulls, the fourth of five children. His father, Charles Walter Langston, had various occupations, including that of veterinary surgeon; his mother, Margaret…

James West Stack, born on 27 March 1835 in a tent in a Māori pā at Pūriri in the Thames district, New Zealand, was the oldest of seven children of the missionary James Stack and his wife, Mary West. He married Eliza…

Te Matakātea was a principal chief of Ngāti Haumiti hapū of the Taranaki tribe. Born probably in Taranaki in the early years of the nineteenth century, he was first known as Moki. In the 1820s and 1830s he was caught up…