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Public servant Bing Lucas was responsible for developing New Zealand’s modern national park system from the early 1970s, balancing conservation and recreational values. Under his direction its workforce was…

John Luck was born in Peckham, Surrey, England, on 18 March 1840, one of seven children of Alfred Luck, a warehouseman, and his wife, Clementina Golding. Theirs was a profoundly religious household. After the death of…

David Luckie (Mitchell was added later) was born in Montrose, Forfarshire, Scotland, on 5 October 1827, the son of Thomas Luckie, a merchant, and his wife, Mary Mitchell. He was educated there and worked in a mercantile…

Bernice and Doreen Lumley were born at Grey Lynn, Auckland, on 29 August 1921, the identical-twin daughters and first of three children of William Lumley and his wife, Annie Mabel James. A Londoner, William had served…

John Lundon was a not atypical 'public man' in mid nineteenth century New Zealand, a society where political forms and commercial relationships could be worked to personal advantage by those with a sharp eye for the…

Sybil Audrey Marie Colley (or Wellesley-Colley) was born at Greenfields, her parents’ sheep farm near Clive in Hawke’s Bay, on 1 August 1916, the daughter of Ethel Violet Mary Goulter and her husband, Joseph Wellesley…

Doris More Lusk was born on 5 May 1916 in Dunedin, the daughter of Thomas Younger Lusk, an architect, and his wife, Alice Mary Coats. Her childhood was spent mostly in Hamilton, where the family had a house on the banks…

Wilfrid Mervyn Lusty was born in Auckland on 25 March 1907, the second of three children of Mary Walsh and her husband, William David Lusty. His mother was a keen writer, his father a journalist who later became a sub-…

Edgar Alfred Luttrell was born in Hobart, Tasmania, on 21 October 1865; his younger brother, registered as Edward Sydney, was born in Sydney, New South Wales, on 20 June 1872. The elder brother was known as Alfred Edgar…

John Hector Luxford was born at Palmerston North on 28 May 1890 to William Lewis Luxford, a prosperous timber merchant, and his wife, Isabella Eleanor Carolina Gonzales. He attended schools in Palmerston North and…

Nola Luxford was a New Zealand-born actress, writer, pioneer broadcaster and founder of the Anzac Club in New York City during the Second World War. Born Adelaide Minola Pratt on 23 December 1895 at Hunterville, she was…

Lydiard and his system The gregarious, dogmatic, hyperactive running coach Arthur Leslie Lydiard is one of the few New Zealand sportsmen to have influenced millions of people around the world. His system of training…

Leonard Charles Huia Lye was born on 5 July 1901 in Christchurch. A year earlier the marriage of his parents, Rose Ann Cole and Harry Lye, a hairdresser, had caused conflict between his father’s Anglican and his mother’…

Nothing is known of Margaret Lynch's background or early life, nor of the circumstances which brought her to New Zealand. She may have arrived in New Zealand by free passage as a government-assisted immigrant. Young,…

Averil Margaret Lysaght was born on 14 April 1905 at Mokoia, near Hawera, the daughter of Emily Muriel Stowe and her husband, Brian Cuthbert Lysaght, a farmer. The second of five daughters, she was taught at home by…

William Douglas Lysnar was born at Onehunga, Auckland, New Zealand, on 30 April 1867, the fourth of twelve children of William Dean Lysnar, a schoolmaster, and his wife, Frances Sarah Brewer. Douglas (as he was known)…

The author of a dozen novels and many scores of short stories that were widely read in New Zealand during the first four decades of the twentieth century, Edith Joan Lyttleton was born on 18 December 1873 at Clyne Vale…

Golan Haberfield Maaka, also known as Te Kōrana, was born on 4 April 1904 on Ōruawharo station, Takapau, Hawke's Bay. His father was Aritaku Maaka, of Ngāti Hikatoa of Waimārama and Ngāi Tahu of Takapau, hapū of Ngāti…

Molly Morell Macalister was born at Invercargill on 18 May 1920, the eldest of three daughters of Stanley Morell Macalister, a solicitor, and his wife, Catherine Holmes McQueen. A partner in the prominent Invercargill…

James Macandrew, the son of a merchant, Colin Macandrew, and his wife, Barbara Johnston, was baptised in Aberdeen, Scotland, on 18 May 1819. Little is known of his early life; he is said to have attended Ayr Academy and…