Advanced Biographies Search
Filter biographies using dates, occupations and places related to people's lives.
-
1852/1853?–1942Writer, lecturer, spiritualist
Jane Elizabeth Francis was born in St John's Wood, London, England, probably in 1852 or 1853, the daughter of Harriett Francis and Adelbert Sevyney Frantz, a silk merchant. On 11 January 1866 Harriett Francis married Henry Stilwell and emigrated to New Zealand with him and her daughter. They...
Story: Harris, Jane Elizabeth
-
1875–1960Poet, short-story writer, novelist
Alice Annie Kenny, one of New Zealand's most assiduous but least-remembered writers, was born on 31 August 1875 at Newcastle (Ngāruawāhia), the third of eight children of Annie Edgecumbe and her husband, Thomas Nepean Edward Kenny, a sub-inspector in the Armed Constabulary, formerly an officer...
Story: Kenny, Alice Annie
-
1817–1894Soldier, coloniser, postmaster, teacher
Martin Krippner was born probably on 23 September 1817 at Mantau, Bohemia (Czechoslovakia), in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the eldest son of Johannes Krippner, a blacksmith, and his wife, Anna Pallier. Martin received a better education than his peers. After attending secondary school he...
Story: Krippner, Martin
-
1908–1965Journalist, cookery writer, crime novelist
Elizabeth Messenger was born Betty Margery Esson on 25 July 1908 at Thames, the second of three children of Amy Isobel Dodd and her husband, Melvin Brown Esson, a senior telegraphist with the Post and Telegraph Department. The family moved around New Zealand as Melvin Esson was promoted,...
Story: Messenger, Elizabeth
-
1875/1876?–1963Actress, theatre producer, novelist
In 1936 Rosemary Rees described herself, with a mixture of pride and self-deprecation, as 'the "best selling’’ New Zealand author'. This claim may have been debatable, but there was no questioning her international reputation as a romance novelist. In addition, she could look back on a...
Story: Rees, Rosemary Frances