Advanced Biographies Search
Filter biographies using dates, occupations and places related to people's lives.
-
1813/1814?–1864Soldier, farmer
Marmaduke George Nixon was born probably in 1813 or 1814, in Valetta, Malta, the son of Henry Nixon, an army officer, and his wife, Elizabeth Browne. After graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, he was commissioned in 1831 as an ensign in the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot...
Story: Nixon, Marmaduke George
-
1913–2007Winemaker
Nikola Nobilo was one of New Zealand’s most successful winemakers of the 1960s and 1970s, building a few vines on his Huapai farm into a winemaking dynasty. With his sons, Nobilo was one the leaders of the transition from fortified wines to premium table wines, for which he established an...
Story: Nobilo, Nikola
-
1868–1942Seaman, cashier, gum-digger, farmer
Noda Asajiro is said to have been born on 17 January 1868 at Tomioka, a small fishing village on the island of Amakusa-Shimo-shima, near Nagasaki, Japan. His father was Noda Kakashi, a carpenter and shipbuilder. His mother's name is recorded as Noi Kimomo Kena Kuishn. When he was about eight or...
Story: Noda Asajiro
-
1875–1951Labourer, farmer
Patrick and William Denis Nolan were born at Arawata River, Jackson Bay, south Westland, on 19 September 1875 and 18 November 1877 respectively. They were the fourth and fifth children of Andrew Nolan and his wife, Mary Spillane, Irish immigrants who had met in the gold town of Stafford, near...
Story: Nolan, Patrick
-
1901–1989Presbyterian minister, politician
Heinrich Arnold Nordmeyer, later known as Arnold Henry Nordmeyer, was born at Dunedin on 7 February 1901, the son of Arnold Nordmeyer, a German seaman who worked on a gold dredge at Alexandra, and his wife, Martha Dunn (née Walker), a widow with three children, who came from County Tyrone,...
Story: Nordmeyer, Arnold Henry
-
1893–1980Lawyer, soldier, Anglican layman, historian
Hensleigh Carthew Marryat Norris, known as Car, was born in Hunterville, Rangitikei, on 12 March 1893, the son of land agent John Hensleigh Norris and his wife, Ida Helen Carthew. He was educated at Hunterville School and New Plymouth High School, where he was dux in 1909. Joining his parents...
-
1871–1950Baptist minister, editor, theological college principal
John James North was born at Dukinfield, Cheshire, England, on 26 July 1871, the son of Emma Heritage and her husband, Alfred North, a Baptist minister. The family settled in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1882 when Alfred accepted an invitation to be minister of the Hanover Street Baptist Church....
Story: North, John James
-
1903–1980Baptist minister and administrator
Lawrence Alfred North was born in Ghum, near Darjeeling, India, on 5 November 1903, the son of Charles North and his wife, Emily Jessie Wiseman, who were Baptist missionaries. He entered a family uniquely active and respected among New Zealand Baptists. His grandfather, Alfred North, and uncle...
Story: North, Lawrence Alfred
-
1913–1980Town planner
Anna Holmes Northcroft, known as Nancy, was born in Hamilton on 23 March 1913, the second daughter of Violet Constance Mitchell and her husband, Erima Harvey Northcroft, a barrister. He was later a distinguished Supreme Court judge and served on the International Military Tribunal for the Far...
Story: Northcroft, Anna Holmes
-
1884–1953Lawyer, military leader, judge
Erima Harvey Northcroft was born in Hokitika on 2 December 1884, the son of Leonard Northcroft, a sharebroker, and his wife, Louisa Pellow James, who had come to New Zealand from Victoria. Erima attended Hokitika School then secondary school at Wellington College. From 1903 he worked for a law...
Story: Northcroft, Erima Harvey
-
1882–1951Doctor, community leader
Hilda Margaret Northcroft was born in Hamilton on 22 April 1882, the daughter of Henry William Northcroft, a resident magistrate, and his wife, Margaret Henderson. Her father was English and her mother Canadian. Hilda attended Auckland Grammar School, gaining a Junior Scholarship in 1900....
Story: Northcroft, Hilda Margaret
-
1863–1935Catholic nun, teacher
Catherine Elizabeth Nowland was born on 16 June 1863 at Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia, the eldest daughter of Robert Nowland, a butcher, and his wife, Julia Leary. The family were devout Catholics and as a young woman Catherine decided to join the order of the Sisters of Mercy. She...
Story: Nowland, Mary Josepha
-
fl. 1820–1834Ngāti Kahungunu leader
Nuku, said to have been called Nuku-pewapewa because his moko was in the style called pewapewa, was born probably in the late eighteenth century in Wairarapa. He was descended from the ancestors Kahungunu, Rangitāne, Te Aomatarahi and Ira. His principal hapū was Ngāti Kahukura-awhitia. Some...
Story: Nuku-pewapewa
-
1872–1956Tennis player, librarian
Kathleen Mary Nunneley was born on 16 September 1872 at Little Bowden, Leicestershire, England, the daughter of John Alexander Nunneley, a wholesale grocer, and his wife, Kate Young. She began her tennis career at a young age, winning several championship events before she had turned 15. In...
Story: Nunneley, Kathleen Mary
-
1887–1953Nurse, civilian and army matron
Emily May Nutsey was born in Christchurch on 9 June 1887, the daughter of Sophia Regnault and her husband, Joseph Nutsey, a warehouseman. The family moved to Northcote, Auckland, during Emily's childhood and she was educated there. She was accepted for nurse training at Auckland Hospital,...
Story: Nutsey, Emily May
-
1821?–1888Artist, draughtsman, architect, surveyor
George O'Brien is said to have been born at Dromoland Castle, County Clare, Ireland, and was baptised in the parish of Kilnasoolagh (Newmarket-on-Fergus) on 16 September 1821. He was the fifth son of nine children of Captain (later Rear Admiral) Robert O'Brien and his wife, Anne O'Brien, who...
Story: O'Brien, George
-
1874–1947Miner, engine-driver, trade unionist, politician
James O’Brien belonged to the cluster of Australian labour activists who reached New Zealand in the first decade of the twentieth century, as the nation’s trade union movement was beginning to assert itself industrially and politically. Born at Forest Creek, near Castlemaine, Victoria, on 8...
Story: O'Brien, James
-
1906–1978Dance teacher, hostess, radio presenter, film director
Margaret Kathleen O’Brien was born in Wellington on 7 April 1906, the youngest of six children of Margaret O’Brien, a domestic servant, and her husband, Thomas O’Brien, a bootmaker. Her parents, both from County Clare, Ireland, had emigrated to New Zealand separately in the 1880s and married...
Story: O'Brien, Margaret Kathleen
-
1888–1948Cinema owner and entrepreneur
Thomas Alexander O'Brien was born in Thames on 11 June 1888, the son of Thomas O'Brien, a local police constable, and his Scottish-born wife, Rose Ann Gray. Details of his early life are sketchy, but it appears he went to Australia at a young age. On 5 April 1913, at Sydney, he married Mary...
Story: O'Brien, Thomas Alexander
-
1871–1952Timber worker, trade unionist, politician
Thomas Francis O'Byrne was born at Westbury, near Launceston, Tasmania, on 30 August 1871, the son of Irish Catholic immigrants Ellen Esther Ryan and her husband, Thomas O'Byrne, a farmer. Young Tom attended Cluan public school, drove a bullock team on the family farm, and later worked at the...
Story: O'Byrne, Thomas Francis