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Thomas William Downes was born on 18 February 1868 at Wellington, New Zealand. He was the son of Emily Adele Harrington and her husband, Thomas William Downes, a surveyor who had earlier been a drawing teacher in Nelson…

Mary Manson Bain was born in Dunedin on 31 March 1887, the first of thirteen children of Alexander Manson Bain, a cabinetmaker, and his wife, Hanna Kiely. Her parents, he a Scottish Presbyterian and she an Irish…

Alexander Drennan was born on 16 December 1899 in Greenock, Scotland, to Flora Wingate and her husband, Alexander Drennan, an engine fitter. He began work in the Clyde shipyards and became an active member of the…

Samuel Henry Drew was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, on 17 November 1844, the son of Fanny Booker and her husband, Henry Drew, a watchmaker and jeweller. Soon after Samuel's birth the family moved to Ventnor on…

Minnie Kronfeld, who was to become well known in New Zealand theatrical circles as Maria Dronke, was born on 17 July 1904 in Berlin, Germany. She was the youngest child and only daughter of Salomon Kronfeld, a barrister…

Tony Druce was New Zealand’s pre-eminent twentieth-century field botanist. Over his lifetime he built up an extensive knowledge of New Zealand’s flora, through his many tramping trips, close observation of plants and…

Alison Edith Hilda Craig was born on 22 January 1903 at Waitekauri on the Coromandel Peninsula, the eldest of six children of George Craig, a physician and surgeon, and his wife, Hilda Johnstone Gudgeon. Alison was the…

David Archibald Victor Clive Drummond was born at Mārahau, near Motueka, on 4 August 1890. Always known as Clive, he was the son of Sarah Elizabeth Stillwell and her husband, Peter Drummond, a sawmiller. After attending…

James Mackay Drummond was born in Thames, New Zealand, on 17 October 1869, the son of John Drummond, a surveyor, and his wife, Annie Mackay. He received his secondary education at Napier Grammar School, was apprenticed…

Francis William Dry was born in Driffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, on 23 October 1891. He was the elder son of Frank Dry, a master draper, and his wife, Mary Avis Corke. William attended the Driffield…

Emmeline Freda Du Faur was born on 16 September 1882 at Croydon, Sydney, Australia, the daughter of Frederick Eccleston Du Faur, a stock, station and land agent, and his second wife, Blanche Mary Elizabeth Woolley.…

Albert Duder was born at North Shore (Devonport), Auckland, New Zealand, on 21 April 1856, the youngest of eight children of Thomas Duder and his wife, Margaret Dunne. Thomas, from Devon, England, was a crewman aboard…

Oliver Duff was born at Waitāhuna Gully, Otago, on 28 May 1883, the 10th of 13 children of English-born William Duff and his Scottish wife, Margaret Shepherd. His parents had kept a general store at Waitāhuna since the…

Roger Shepherd Duff was born in Invercargill on 11 July 1912, the son of Jessie Barclay and her husband, Oliver Duff, a schoolteacher who later became well known as a journalist and first editor of the New Zealand…

Eileen May Duggan was born on 21 May 1894 at Tuamarina, near Blenheim, the youngest of four daughters of John Duggan, a plate layer for New Zealand Railways, and his wife, Julia Begley, both from County Kerry, Ireland.…

Maurice Noel Duggan ranks with Katherine Mansfield and Frank Sargeson as one of New Zealand’s greatest short-story writers and literary stylists. He was born in Auckland on 25 November 1922 and grew up on the North…

John Evelyn Duigan was born at Whanganui on 30 March 1883, the son of Mary Emily Broad and her husband, James Duigan, a miller and later editor of the Wanganui Herald. He attended Wanganui Collegiate School in 1894, but…

Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville was born on 23 May 1790 at Condé sur Noireau, Normandy, France. He was the son of Gabriel Charles François Dumont d'Urville, a civil and criminal judge and heir to vast estates,…

Arthur Donald Stuart Duncan was born at Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), probably on 6 August 1875, the son of John Duncan, a merchant, and his wife, Emily Georgina Macartney. Duncan arrived in New Zealand in January 1881…

David and Peter Duncan were born on 22 January 1832 and 27 December 1838 at Braidmore farm, near Brechin, Forfarshire, Scotland, the sons of Ronald Duncan, a farm servant and later overseer, and his wife, Betty Low.…