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Blanche Edith Baughan was born on 16 January 1870 at Putney, Surrey, England. She was the youngest of six children of Ruth Catterns and her husband, John Baughan, a scrivener. Her father died when she was 10 years old.…

Roderick David Finlayson was born in Devonport, Auckland, on 26 April 1904. His father, John Maclennan Finlayson, was an accounts clerk in the Bank of New South Wales in Auckland. Because of gambling debts he absconded…

Frederick William Furkert was born in Ross, Westland, on 14 October 1876, the son of Geoffrey William Furkert, a butcher, and his wife, Eliza Sales. He attended school in Ross and Hokitika and in 1893 topped the junior…

Thomas Samuel Grace was born to John Grace and his wife, Sarah Lawrence Cox, on 16 February 1815 in Liverpool, Lancashire, England. He married Agnes Fearon on 23 July 1845 at Whitehaven, Cumberland, and they had 12…

Thomas Alexander Hunter was born on 28 February 1876 in Croydon, Surrey, England, the son of Louisa Jane Harton, a woman of force and character, and her husband, William Hunter, a banker's clerk. The third of five…

Clutha Nantes Mackenzie was born on 11 February 1895 at Balclutha, the seventh and youngest child of Thomas Noble Mackenzie, an MP and businessman, and his wife, Ida Henrietta Nantes. For a few months in 1912 Thomas was…

John Morgan was born in Dublin, Ireland, probably in 1806 or 1807. His parents' names are unknown. He was employed as a clerk, and then taught at a Church of England adult Sunday school, before entering the Church…

Leslie Knox Munro was born in Auckland on 26 February 1901, the son of Colin Robert Munro, a schoolteacher, and his wife, Maria Caroline Knox. He was educated at Remuera School and at Auckland Grammar School. At 19 he…

William Nelson was born at Warwick, Warwickshire, England, on 15 February 1843, the son of Sarah Philbrick and her husband, George Nelson, a chemist and well-known manufacturer of gelatine and other meat extracts.…

James O’Brien belonged to the cluster of Australian labour activists who reached New Zealand in the first decade of the twentieth century, as the nation’s trade union movement was beginning to assert itself industrially…

Hirawanu Tapu (known also as Maitarawai and Taputehara Maitara) was born about 1824 at Te Awapātiki on the east coast of Chatham Island. He was a member of the Ōwenga Moriori tribe. His mother's name was either Rūnanga…

Te Rangiotū, who took in baptism the name of Hoani Meihana (John Mason), was a descendant of the ancestors Te Rangi-te-pāia and Rangitāne through his father, Pohoi Te Rangiotū. Rīria Rangipōtango was his mother. He was…

Te Rangitāhau, often known as Tāhau, was born probably in the late 1820s or early 1830s near Ōpepe, 10 miles south-east of Tapuaeharuru (Taupō). His descent was from Ngāti Hineuru, and from Ngāti Kurapoto and Ngāti…

John Weeks, although one of the leading New Zealand painters of the 1930s and 1940s, has been rather neglected by art historians. He was born on 8 June 1886 at Sydenham Damerel, Devonshire, England, to farmer parents…

Ruth Gray was born on 27 April 1908 at Pipiriki on the Whanganui River. She was one of many children of Robert Gray, a farmer of English and Māori descent, and his wife, Ngāraiti Tuatini of Ngāti Kura. Through her…

Rona Bailey was one of the most important figures on the radical left in twentieth-century New Zealand. She was a communist and an organiser of protest movements, particularly against the Vietnam War, apartheid and…

The distinguished writer and journalist Christine Cole Catley was one of New Zealand’s leading independent publishers of the late twentieth century. She was co-founder of the Parents Centre movement in the 1950s, and an…

Patrick (Paddy) Charles Webb was born in Rutherglen in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, on 30 November 1884. He was one of nine children of George Webb, a miner, and his wife, Mary Ann McNamara. The family established…

William Fox was born at Westoe, Durham, England, and was baptised on 2 September 1812 at South Shields. He was the third of five surviving sons of George Townshend Fox and his wife, Ann Stote Crofton. His father was a…

Mary Anne Stewart was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, on 29 May 1831, the eldest daughter of Walter George Stewart, Jamaica's last island secretary, and his wife, Susan Hewitt. Mary Anne Stewart seemed destined for a…