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1907–1992Teacher, yacht designer and manufacturer, mechanical engineer, engineering administrator
John Balmain Brooke was born in Auckland on 28 July 1907, the eldest of three children of Ernest Brooke, a commercial traveller, and Amy Isobel Balmain, a schoolteacher. He attended Belmont School and Auckland Grammar School before studying at Auckland University College and Canterbury College...
Story: Brooke, John Balmain
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1873–1943Clothier, tailor
William Henry Broome was born at Leek, Staffordshire, England, on 30 September 1873, the fifth child of Joseph Broome, a shoe manufacturer, and his wife, Elizabeth James. His father died when he was a few months old. At 21 he emigrated to New Zealand and settled in New Plymouth, where he...
Story: Broome, William Henry
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1940–1986Nō Ngā Rauru; he tohunga, he pirihi Mihinare, he pūkenga whare wānanga
I whānau a Rangiāhuta Alan Herewini Ruka Broughton ki Whanganui i te 21 o Āperira i te tau 1940. Ko tōna matua ko Ruka Rākei Broughton o Ngāti Hine, he hapū nō Ngāti Ruanui; ko Rēhia Bella Toherangi Whiu tōna whaene, he wahine nō te hapū o Ngāti Maika o te iwi o Ngā Rauru. I tua atu i a Ruka,...
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1913–1990Jockey
William James Broughton was born in Foxton on 6 January 1913, the son of Charles Rudolph Broughton, a flax-mill worker, and his wife, Rosie May Edith Lee. Through his paternal great-grandmother, Hereora Taueki, he had Muaupoko ancestry. The family moved to Tokomaru, another flax industry centre...
Story: Broughton, William James
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1838–1919Soldier, farmer, teacher, entomologist
Thomas Brown (known as Broun) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 15 July 1838, the son of John Brown, a soldier, and his wife, Margaret Stewart. Both his father and an uncle were naturalists of considerable repute. From an early age Broun took a keen interest in natural history, especially in...
Story: Broun, Thomas
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1830–1913Marine engineer, foundry and shipping company manager
Alexander Brown was born in Larkhall, Lanarkshire, Scotland, probably on 23 February 1830, the son of Ellen Graham and her husband, Thomas Brown, a blacksmith. From 1846 to 1854 he was apprenticed to, and became a journeyman engineer at, the engineering and shipbuilding yards of James Gray and...
Story: Brown, Alexander
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1803–1884Missionary
Alfred Nesbit Brown served as a Church Missionary Society missionary in New Zealand from 1829 to 1884. He was born on 23 October 1803 in Colchester, Essex, England. His parents were Ann and Joseph Brown. Alfred attended school in Colchester, and became articled to a local attorney. He applied...
Story: Brown, Alfred Nesbit
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1907–1986Mechanic, entrepreneur, entertainment promoter, businessman, racehorse owner
Andrew Joseph Francis Brown (known as Joe) was born at Naseby, Central Otago, on 3 October 1907, the son of goldminer George Bernard Brown and his wife, Mary Josephine Downes. He attended Naseby School, and later recalled that he was ‘a bad fellow’, failing the proficiency examination more...
Story: Brown, Andrew Joseph Francis
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1866–1947Storekeeper, businessman, community leader, broadcaster, entrepreneur, philanthropist
Born in Wellington on 8 July 1866, Byron Paul Brown was the seventh of fourteen children of Jane Winton and her husband, Arthur Brown, a carpenter who later became a cabinet-maker and shipwright. He attended Mount Cook Boys' School, but his parents could not afford to let him take up a...
Story: Brown, Byron Paul
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1907–1982Accountant, co-operative retail manager, businessman, rugby administrator, local politician
Gordon Alexander Brown was born at Turakina, near Wanganui, on 28 November 1907, one of 12 children of Annie Cains and her husband, John Robert Brown, a flaxmill worker. Gordon initially attended Tokomaru School, but after his father became an auctioneer in Palmerston North during the First...
Story: Brown, Gordon Alexander
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1819?–1877Engraver, caricaturist, drawing tutor
James Brown, New Zealand's first caricaturist, was born in Scotland, and baptised at Linlithgow, West Lothian, on 10 October 1819. He was the son of James Brown, a calico printer, and his wife, Mary Campbell, and was brought up at Milngavie, Dumbartonshire, where he was apprenticed as a calico...
Story: Brown, James
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1845–1935University professor and administrator
John Macmillan Brown was born on 5 May 1845 in the Ayrshire town of Irvine, Scotland. Registered at birth simply as John Brown, he was the sixth child of Ann Brown and her husband, James Brown, a shipmaster. A woman 'of the true old puritan type' who set a high value on education, Ann Brown saw...
Story: Brown, John Macmillan
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1854–1942Businessman, politician
John Vigor Brown was born in London, England, on 18 June 1854. He was one of three sons of Jessie Gilmour and her husband, John Brown, a banker's clerk and later a commercial traveller; both were of Scottish descent. The family lived briefly in France before emigrating to Australia. The three...
Story: Brown, John Vigor
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1821–1824?–1906Bootmaker, botanist
Robert Brown, also known as Robert Brown tertius, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, probably between 1821 and 1824, the son of Mary Miller and her husband, George Brown, a bootmaker. Nothing is known of his early life or education. On 7 May 1849 he married Helen Nicolson at Edinburgh; they were to...
Story: Brown, Robert
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1905–1965Architect, university lecturer
Vernon Akitt Brown was born in West Derby, Liverpool, England, on 23 March 1905, the son of Thomas Brown, a surveyor in the British civil service, and his wife, Mary Augusta Brown. He attended Highgate School and the Northern Polytechnic School of Architecture, and became a licentiate member of...
Story: Brown, Vernon Akitt
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1809/1810?–1898Merchant, writer, newspaper proprietor, politician, provincial superintendent
William Brown was born probably in Dundee, Angus, Scotland, in 1809 or 1810. After studying law he was admitted as a Writer to the Signet. He did not practise for long in his homeland. In 1839 he and his wife, Jessie Smith, settled in Adelaide, Australia. He 'spent ten months of misery',...
Story: Brown, William
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1829–1906Political hostess, community leader, letter-writer
Harriet Louisa Campbell was born on 1 July 1829 probably at Edinburgh, Scotland, the daughter of Grace Elizabeth Hay and her husband, James Campbell. On 4 June 1851 at St Quivox, Ayrshire, Harriet married Thomas Robert Gore Browne, who was some 20 years her senior. Thomas had begun his career...
Story: Browne, Harriet Louisa
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1807–1887Soldier, colonial governor
Thomas Robert Gore Browne was born on 3 July 1807 at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, the second son of Robert Browne and his wife, Sarah Dorothea Steward. The family, of Anglo-Irish origin, had settled near Aylesbury in the late eighteenth century: sons in each generation had entered the...
Story: Browne, Thomas Robert Gore
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1838/1839?–1917Engineer, trade unionist, baker, goldminer, local politician
Alexander Bruce was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, probably in 1838 or 1839, the son of a master mariner. His parents' names are unknown. He worked 2½ years as a page in the service of Lord Lindsay and then completed an engineering apprenticeship with Blackie Brothers, Aberdeen. Before emigrating...
Story: Bruce, Alexander
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1824–1911Presbyterian minister, journalist
Born at Cramond, near Edinburgh, Scotland, on 20 June 1824, David Bruce was the son of a carpenter, also named David Bruce, and his wife, Margaret Robertson. The family moved to Perthshire, where David attended parish schools and Mr Davidson's Classical Academy in Perth. In 1847 he graduated...
Story: Bruce, David