Advanced Biographies Search
Filter biographies using dates, occupations and places related to people's lives.
-
1840–1901Merchant, shipping agent, company director, politician
James Alexander Bonar and his twin sister, Anne, were born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 12 June 1840, the children of Archibald Bonar, a banker, and his wife, Sophia Robertson. James was educated at the Edinburgh Academy, and in 1854 the family emigrated to Melbourne, Australia, where he was...
Story: Bonar, James Alexander
-
1857–1925Shearer, trade unionist
Charles Stephen Boreham, known as Stephen, was born on 19 December 1857 at Richmond, near Hobart Town, Tasmania. He was the eldest child of Stephen Boreham, a farmer, and his wife Ellen Lynch. There were at least three sons, all of whom became shearers. Stephen junior also worked as a sailmaker...
Story: Boreham, Charles Stephen
-
1886–1956Teacher, politician, diplomat
Charles Wallace Boswell, who was to become New Zealand’s first diplomat in the Soviet Union, was born at Coromandel on 5 August 1886, the son of Laura Jane Avery and her husband, James Boswell, a goldminer. He was educated at Driving Creek School and by 1903 was teaching on Waiheke Island. He...
Story: Boswell, Charles Wallace
-
1799–1854Traveller, sealer, diarist
John Boultbee was born on 3 September 1799 at Bunny, Nottinghamshire, England. He was the ninth and youngest son of Sarah Elizabeth Lane and her husband, Joseph Boultbee, minor Nottinghamshire gentry. A rover from boyhood, his schooling interrupted by homeward truancies, John was to be always...
Story: Boultbee, John
-
1901–1992Home science lecturer, writer
Avice Maud Bowbyes was born on 29 May 1901 at Kaikōura, the only child of Elizabeth Maud Glanville and her husband, Alfred Clarence Bowbyes, a schoolteacher. Avice spent her early life in Christchurch, where her father became principal of Hornby School. She attended Christchurch Girls’ High...
Story: Bowbyes, Avice Maud
-
1824–1906Anglican clergyman, farmer, teacher, educationalist
Thomas Adolphus Bowden, known either as Tom or Adolphus, was born at Aldermanbury, London, England, on 26 July 1824, the son of Rebecca Treacher and her husband, John Saunders Bowden, a solicitor. After attending a preparatory school and a school at West Hackney he had six years at Totteridge...
Story: Bowden, Thomas Adolphus
-
1830–1917Administrator, politician, poet, magistrate, educationalist
Charles Christopher Bowen is said to have been born at Milford, County Mayo, Ireland, on 29 August 1830. He was the elder son of Charles Bowen and his wife, Georgiana Lambert. The Bowens were an Anglo-Irish gentry family of Welsh origin. Bowen was educated first by a private tutor in France; he...
Story: Bowen, Charles Christopher
-
1821–1899Colonial governor
George Ferguson Bowen is said to have been born in Ireland on 2 November 1821, the eldest son of Edward Bowen, rector of Taughboyne, County Donegal. His mother's name is unknown. He was educated at Charterhouse, and won a scholarship to Trinity College, Oxford, where he was twice president of...
Story: Bowen, George Ferguson
-
1922–1994Shearer, shearing instructor and entrepreneur
Walter Godfrey Bowen was born in Hastings on 13 February 1922, the son of Catherine Wall and her husband, Walter Eugene Bowen. His father had been a station manager in Hawke’s Bay before moving to Hastings to become a builder. The family later owned a farmlet at Havelock North, where they...
Story: Bowen, Walter Godfrey
-
1905–1982Artist
Catherine Olivia Orme Spencer Bower, known as Olivia Spencer Bower, was born in St Neots, Huntingdonshire, England, on 13 April 1905, with her twin brother and only sibling, Marmaduke, arriving 20 minutes later. Her mother, Agnes Rosa Marion Dixon, had been brought up on a sheep station in...
-
1880–1960Doctor, military medical administrator
Fred Thompson Bowerbank was born at Penrith, Cumberland, England, on 30 April 1880, the son of Joseph Bowerbank, an ironmonger, and his wife, Mary Farrer. After attending Penrith High School he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating MB, ChB in 1904. He worked for a while...
Story: Bowerbank, Fred Thompson
-
1827?–1914Founding mother, herbalist
Ann Cave, whose name sometimes appears in family records as Mary Ann, was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and was baptised on 20 November 1827. Her mother, Susannah Dockrell, and her father, Samuel Cave, also known as Charles Samuel Cave, married in Sydney. Both arrived there from...
Story: Boyce, Ann
-
1885/1886?–1959Nō Ngāti Moe; he wahine whai mana, he kaiwhakamārama reo
He wahine kahurangi, tino whai mana kē nei a Te Heke-rangatira-ki-Nukutaurua Boyd, inarā he mea karanga anō hoki ia ko Heke Boyd, ko Agnes Boyd kē rānei. Ko te whakamāramatanga o tōna īngoa – te īngoa ake anō hoki o tōna tipuna tuarua – he īngoa whakamahara nei ki ‘te wehenga atu o ngā rangatira...
-
1865–1939Science artist and lecturer, university professor, school principal
Winifred Lily Boys Smith (who as an adult used the name Boys-Smith) was born at Corsham, Wiltshire, England, on 7 November 1865. She was the daughter of Rosamond Georgiana Cox and her husband, John Boys Smith, an Anglican clergyman. Winifred received her early education at the Tunbridge Wells...
Story: Boys-Smith, Winifred Lily
-
1841?–1898Poet, journalist, politician
Thomas Bracken, the son of Margaret Kiernan and her husband, Thomas Bracken, was baptised a Catholic at Clonee, County Meath, Ireland, on 30 December 1841. His mother died in 1846, and his father, a postmaster, died in 1852. Thomas was cared for by an aunt until about the age of 12, when he was...
Story: Bracken, Thomas
-
1853–1936Ferryman, ship owner
James Henry Bradney was born at West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England, on 2 April 1853, the son of Emily Morris and her husband, Joseph Bradney, an ironmonger. The family emigrated to Auckland, New Zealand, in 1859, arriving on the Mermaid on 19 October.
After a short-lived attempt at...
Story: Bradney, James Henry
-
1832–1886Newspaper editor, gold assayer and buyer, politician, sharebroker, labour law reformer
James Benn Bradshaigh Bradshaw was born in Barton Blount, Derbyshire, England, probably on 22 September 1832, the son of Joseph Bradshaw, a clergyman, and his wife, Frances Clowes. Of James's early career little is known. He appears to have travelled widely before arriving on the Victorian...
-
1876–1950Organist, conductor, choirmaster, university professor
John Christopher Bradshaw was born at Adlington, Lancashire, England, on 23 June 1876, the son of John Bradshaw, a chemist, and his wife, Louisa Ward Jackson. He was educated at Rivington Grammar School and studied the organ under James Kendrick Pyne at the Royal Manchester College of Music....
Story: Bradshaw, John Christopher
-
1895–1975Nō Ngāi Tahu; he wahine mahi pāmu miraka kau, he matua whāngai
Nō te 30 o Maehe i te tau 1895 i whānau ai a Martha Sarah Kāhui Isaac (Maata Īhakara) i Te Wehinga o Te Wera (The Neck) i Rakiura (Stewart Island). He tamāhine tana māmā, a Mereana (Maryanne) Louise Māpepe Īhakara, nā Alice Pohe Whaitiri o te hapū o Ngāi Taoka o Ngāi Tahu, me ngā iwi anō hoki o...
Story: Bragg, Martha Sarah Kahui
-
1833?–1908Photographer
James Bragge was baptised on 12 June 1833 at South Shields, Durham, England, the son of Harriet Wigglesworth and her husband, James Bragge, a mechanic and later a builder and architect. Of his early life little is known. Following his father's trade he completed an apprenticeship as a...
Story: Bragge, James