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Annie Mona Burgin was born at Kirk Michael, on the Isle of Man, on 11 March 1903, the daughter of John Robert Burgin, an Anglican clergyman, and his wife, Henrietta Jane Woollcombe. She came to New Zealand with her…

By his own account Henry Burling was born at Stratford, Essex, England, on 1 May 1801, the son of Thomas Burling, a soap-maker; another account suggests he was born on 5 October 1807, the son of James Burling and Joanna…

Margaret Gordon Huie was born on 22 March 1825, at Edinburgh, Scotland, the eldest child of Eliza Gordon Edgar and her husband, Alexander Huie, an accountant. After private tuition Margaret attended Circus Place School…

William Wallace Burn (later known as William Wallace Allison Burn) was the first New Zealand army officer to qualify as a military aviator. He was born on 17 July 1891 at Melbourne, Australia, where his parents, Forbes…

John Henry Davis Burnand (known as Harry) was born on 2 December 1850 at Paddington, London, England, the son of John Henry Burnand, gentleman, and his wife, Harriette Davis. The Burnand family emigrated to New Zealand…

Norah Telford Drummond was born at Clareville, Wairarapa, on 14 July 1902, the eldest of 10 children of Agnes Cecilia Mary Telford and her husband, Robert Crawford Drummond, a teacher. After leaving Masterton District…

Barnet Burns claimed to have been born in Liverpool, England; the year of his birth was probably about 1806 or 1807. At the age of 13 or 14 he went to sea as a cabin-boy. He spent some time in Jamaica in the service of…

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…

Joseph Burns was born in Liverpool, England, in 1805 or 1806 of Irish parents. He joined the Royal Navy as a ship's carpenter at about the age of 20, and arrived at the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, on the Buffalo in…

Malcolm McRae Burns was born on 19 March 1910 at Ashley Bank, North Canterbury, the child of farming parents John Edward Burns and his wife, Emily Jeffrey. He attended primary schools at Ashley Bank, Fernside and then…

Thomas Burns, the most important religious leader in the early settlement of Otago, was baptised at Mauchline, Ayrshire, Scotland, on 17 April 1796, the son of Gilbert Burns, a farmer and estate manager, and his wife,…

Violet Alberta (Berta) Jessie Watson, one of the first women to achieve high office in the New Zealand National Party, was born in Winchester, South Canterbury, on 12 March 1893, the first of two children of Agnes…

James Thomas Burrows was born at Prebbleton, near Christchurch, on 13 July 1904, the sixth of seven children of Frederick William Burrows, a storekeeper, and his wife, Sarah Johnson. Most of his childhood was spent at…

Alexander Burt was born on 4 April 1840 at Camelon, Stirlingshire, Scotland, the son of Frances (Fanny) Ross and her husband, James Burt, a nailmaker. Later in 1840 the family moved to Glasgow, where Thomas Burt was…

Gordon Onslow Hilbury Burt was born in Christchurch on 27 November 1893, the son of Alfred John Hilbury Burt, a wool sorter, and his wife, Annie Pannell. He was raised in Christchurch, and his formal education was…

Alfred Henry Burton was the eldest of four sons of John Burton and his wife, Martha Neal. He was born at Leicester, Leicestershire, England, probably sometime between 1833 and 1835. John Burton had founded the firm of…

Ormond Edward Burton was born in Auckland on 16 January 1893, the son of Mary Alice Beatrice Winn and her husband, Robert Burton, a carter, who was later a market gardener. As a child Ormond learnt the value of hard…

Recognised in the 1950s as the world’s greatest short-range archer, William John Burton (known as Jim) was born at Hoylake, Cheshire, England on 8 March 1908. The second in a family of seven, at the age of one he came…

Maxwell Bury was born on 28 July 1825, at East Retford in Nottinghamshire, England, the son of William Bury, an Anglican clergyman, and his first wife, Harriet Fowler. He spent part of his childhood in Cambridgeshire,…

James Busby was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 7 February 1802, the second son of Sarah Kennedy and her husband, John Busby, a mineral surveyor and civil engineer. James Busby studied viticulture in France before…