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Filter biographies using dates, occupations and places related to people's lives.
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1888–1977Domestic servant, storekeeper, community leader
Edith Lucy Morfett was born at Kamo, Whangarei, on 26 May 1888, the fourth daughter of Mary Puttenham, a seamstress from Kent, and her husband, George Morfett, a farm manager. The Morfetts had emigrated to New Zealand in 1886 with their family of four; four more children were born in New...
Story: Oldbury, Edith Lucy
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1922–1976Artist, art teacher
Raymond Paul Olds was born at Linwood, Christchurch, on 28 November 1922, the younger of twin boys of English-born parents James Olds, a tailor, and his wife, Ida Annie Saraski, who was of Polish Jewish descent. Paul grew up in Christchurch with three brothers and a sister. His mother owned a...
Story: Olds, Raymond Paul
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1883–1957Customs officer, naturalist, museum director, writer
Walter Reginald Brook Oliver was born in Launceston, Tasmania, on 7 September 1883, the son of Henry Oliver and his wife, Josephine Caroline Stevenson. The family came to New Zealand in March 1896, settling first near Warkworth, but moving to Tauranga in the following year. Here, Oliver...
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1925–2015Historian, poet, editor, social commentator
W.H. (Bill) Oliver was one of New Zealand’s most eminent twentieth-century historians. He gained distinction as a scholar of British and New Zealand history and was part of a tradition of poet-historians, with five highly regarded volumes of poetry to his name. He was also a teacher,...
Story: Oliver, William Hosking
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1891–1970Ngāti Kahungunu; rugby player, farmer, politician
John (Jack) Ormond was born at Māhia on 18 December 1891; he was commonly known as Tiaki Ōmana. Tiaki was the fourth child of George Canning Ormond, a sheepfarmer, and his wife, Maraea Kiwiwharekete of Ngāti Kahungunu. The family hapū was Ngāti Rongomaiwahine. His grandfather was John Davies...
Story: Ōmana, Tiaki
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1888–1976Geologist, scientific administrator
Montague Ongley was born in Oamaru on 10 December 1888, the 10th in the large family of Frederick Ongley, a gardener, and his wife, Mary Ann Mullin. His father was born in England and his mother in Ireland. Several members of the family would distinguish themselves scholastically and at sport...
Story: Ongley, Montague
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1853–1911Politician, colonial governor
William Hillier Onslow was born at Old Alresford, Hampshire, England, on 7 March 1853, the only son of George Augustus Cranley Onslow and his wife, Mary Harriet Anne Loftus. He was educated at Eton College and then briefly entered Exeter College, Oxford. In 1870, on the death of his great-uncle...
Story: Onslow, William Hillier
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1924–1999Polio survivor, clinical psychologist, writer, broadcaster
June Opie was a polio survivor, clinical psychologist, writer and broadcaster who overcame discrimination against the disabled to achieve professional and personal success. Her memoir, Over my dead body (1957), was an international best-seller and brought her widespread fame. Her determination...
Story: Opie, Alice June Norma
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1885–1969Lawyer, aviation promoter, politician, parliamentary Speaker
Matthew Henry Oram was born in Christchurch on 2 June 1885, the son of May Eltham and her late husband, Matthew Henry Oram: his English-born father, one of five brothers who owned and managed several hotels in the city, died three months before his birth. His mother, who was from Hobart,...
Story: Oram, Matthew Henry
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1889–1966Anglican clergyman
William Alfred Orange was born on 9 August 1889 in Woolston, Christchurch, the second of eleven children of Albert Edward Orange, a wool-classer, and his wife, Helen Brenda Hinkley, a nurse. After a period in Auckland the family returned to Christchurch and William attended Christchurch Normal...
Story: Orange, William Alfred
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fl. 1848–1869Ngāti Ruanui leader
Tāmati Hōne Ōraukawa was a member of Ngāti Manuhiakai hapū of Ngā Ruahine, a section of Ngāti Ruanui of South Taranaki. He was the principal leader of Ngā Ruahine from the 1840s to the 1860s, and lived at Katotauru. Little is known of his life before this time. As a boy he had been taken into...
Story: Ōraukawa, Tāmati Hōne
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1934–2006Māori literature scholar and author
Margaret Orbell was one of New Zealand’s leading authorities on traditional Māori literature. She published prolifically, for both academic and general audiences, and her books achieved critical and popular success. Although she had highly developed written skills in te reo Māori, she was not a...
Story: Orbell, Margaret
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1831?–1917Runholder, politician, provincial superintendent
John Davies Ormond, known as 'The Master' by his family and as 'The Hon. J. D.' by his parliamentary colleagues, was born in Wallingford, Berkshire, England, and baptised on 28 June 1831, the fourth child and third son of Francis Kirby Ormond and his wife, Frances Hedges. After the family moved...
Story: Ormond, John Davies
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1905–1995Farmer, meat industry representative, trade negotiator, company chairman
The name of John Davies Wilder Ormond came to be synonymous with the New Zealand meat industry in the three decades following the Second World War. He was born at Waipukurau on 8 September 1905, the eldest son of English-born Emilie Mary Gladys Wilder and her husband, John Davies Ormond junior...
Story: Ormond, John Davies Wilder
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1854–1927Ngāti Maniapoto negotiator, local politician, farmer, businessman
John Ormsby (Hone Omipi), of Ngāti Te Waha and Ngāti Pourāhui hapū of Ngāti Maniapoto, was born, according to family information, at Te Kōpua, near Pirongia Mountain, on 6 November 1854. He was the fourth child of the Waipā schoolmaster, Robert Ormsby (known to Māori as Pumi), and his wife,...
Story: Ormsby, John
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1888–1957Artist, craftswoman, art teacher
Daisy Frances Christina Osborn was born in Christchurch on 27 April 1888, the only child of Emily Jane Turvey and her husband, Alfred Patterson Osborn, an engraver. Her father was Australian and her mother English. She had a religious upbringing that remained central to her everyday activities...
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1852–1934Artist
Fanny Malcolm was born at Auckland, New Zealand, on 29 January 1852, the second of 13 children of Emilie Monson Wilton and her husband, Neill Malcolm, a barrister. When Fanny was six years old the family moved to Great Barrier Island, 56 miles north-east of Auckland, where Neill Malcolm began...
Story: Osborne, Fanny
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1842–1931Farmer, contractor, well-sinker
Job Osborne was born at Road, Somersetshire, England, on 26 April 1842, the son of Mary Tucker and her husband, George Osborne, a labourer. Job walked to London at the age of 13 or 14 and worked in a candle factory before taking an assisted passage to New Zealand under the auspices of the...
Story: Osborne, Job
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1848/1849?–1922Teacher, prohibitionist, landowner, businesswoman
Emma Brignell Roberts was born in Westham, Essex, England, probably in 1848 or 1849, the daughter of Mary Griffith and her husband, Thomas Roberts, a clergyman. In 1852 her parents emigrated to Melbourne, Australia, with their 11 children.
On 14 July 1868 at Melbourne, Emma Roberts...
Story: Ostler, Emma Brignell
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1876–1944Farmer, lawyer, judge
Henry Hubert Ostler was born at Ben Ohau station near Timaru, South Canterbury, on 2 July 1876, the third child and only son of Emma Brignell Roberts and her husband, William Henry Ostler, the station proprietor. After William's sudden death, when Hubert was not yet three years old, Emma was...
Story: Ostler, Henry Hubert