The names of the NZers who have biographies and photos, as at June 2011, at Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (DNZB). It is the foremost reference work on the lives of people who shaped this country’s history and culture from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries. It includes more than 3000 biographies, written by specialists and produced to a high standard by a team of researchers and editors. The DNZB’s 500 biographies on Maori subjects are also available in te reo Maori, which – together with the te reo sections of Te Ara – forms the largest Maori-language publishing programme yet undertaken.
The DNZB was originally published in five print volumes between 1990 and 2000, covering the lives of people who came to prominence before 1960 and died before 1998. All the biographies were released on a stand-alone website in 2001, and relaunched as part of Te Ara in 2010. Since that time the Dictionary has been solely digital. Fifteen new biographies were launched in 2010–11 and a new batch of 25 biographies of women were published in 2018 to celebrate 125 years of women’s suffrage. New batches of entries have been published twice yearly since 2019. Go to their link above for recent additions


Abbot-Ayton ~ Baber-Bell ~ Bellamy-Bragge

Braithwaite-Buxton ~ Cabot-Chapman/Taylor

Chapple-Copeland ~ Corban-Cussen ~ Dacre-Dyson

Eady-Eyre ~ Fabish-Fyffe ~ Gage-Guthrie/Smith

Haast-Hayes ~ Hayward-Hodgson ~ Hofmann-Hyde

Ihaka-Ivey ~ Jack-Jury ~ Kaaro-Kynnersley

La Trobe-Lyttleton ~ Maaka-Mann ~ Mannering-McCormick

McCullough-Merton ~ Messenger-Myers ~ Nahe-Nutsey

O'Brien-Otway ~ Paewai-Peters ~ Petersen-Pyke

Quaife ~ Radcliffe-Rigg ~ Rikihana-Rymill

Salaman-Sladden ~ Slattery-Syme ~ Taglicht-Te Rauparaha

Te Rei Hanataua-Tyree ~ Ulrich-Uru ~ Vaile-Vosseler

Waaka-Wynyard ~ Yate-Yue ~ Zedlitz-Zotov

C
Corban, Assid Abraham
1864?1941
Pedlar, importer, viticulturist, wine-maker

Corbett, Ernest Bowyer
1898?1968
Farmer, dairy industry leader, politician, conservationist

Corbin, Lorelle Henderson
1916?1995
Clerk, naval officer

Cordery, Hugh Sherwood
1880?1973
Customs official

Cornwell, Frederick Daniel
1875?1948
Painter, trade unionist

Corpe, William Wescombe
1836?1923
Clerk, station manager, sawmiller, storekeeper, dairy manufacturer

Corrigan, James Randall
1865?1935
Farmer, stock dealer, racehorse owner, businessman, politician

Corson, Thomas Allan Napier
1902?1972
Businessman, local politician

Cory-Wright, Silston
1888?1976
Engineer, university lecturer, soldier, company director

Cossey, Alice Eleanor
1879?1970
Tailoress, union leader

Cossgrove, David
1852?1920
Teacher, soldier, scout leader

Cossgrove, Selina
1849?1929
Community leader, scout leader

Costello, Desmond Patrick
1912?1964
Linguist, soldier, diplomat, university professor, alleged spy

Cotton, Charles Andrew
1885?1970
Geologist, geomorphologist, university professor, writer

Cottrell, Violet May
1887?1971
Writer, poet, spiritualist

Coubray, Edwin
1900?1997
Projectionist, film-maker, inventor

Couch, Manuera Benjamin Riwai
1925?1996
No Ngai Tahu; he kaihanga whare, he kaikanataraki kutikuti hipi, he apiha poropeihana, he kaihautu hapori, he kaitorangapu, he mihinare Momona

Courage, James Francis
1903?1963
Novelist, short-story writer, poet, bookseller

Courlander, Roy Nicolas
1914?1979
Clerk, soldier, prisoner of war, collaborator

Court, John
1846?1933
Draper, businessman, city councillor, philanthropist

Cousins, Alfred Ernest
1852?1935
Engraver, stamp designer

Cowan, James
1870?1943
Journalist, historian

Cowie, Bessie Lee
1860?1950
Temperance campaigner, social reformer, lecturer, writer

Cowie, Eliza Jane
1835?1902
Church and community worker

Cowie, Helen Stephen
1875?1956
Doctor

Cowie, John
1912?1994
Cricketer, businessman, sports administrator

Cowie, William Garden
1831?1902
Anglican bishop, primate

Cowley, Matthew
1897?1953
Mormon missionary, lawyer

Cox, James
1846?1925
Labourer, flax worker, swagger, agricultural worker

Cox, John Watson
1902?1984
Lawyer, town planning administrator

Cox, Norman Kershaw
1869?1949
Dentist, dental health reformer

Crabb, Helen Priscilla
1891?1972
Artist and art teacher

Crawford, James Coutts
1817?1889
Naval officer, farmer, scientist, explorer, public servant

Crawford, Jessie
1828?1875
Barrack matron

Crawford, Nora Mary
1917?1997
Policewoman

Crawford, William Fitzgerald
1844?1915
Storekeeper, brewer, mayor, photographer

Cresswell, Walter D'Arcy
1896?1960
Poet, journalist, writer

Crewes, John
1847?1925
Bible Christian minister, social worker, journalist

Cripps, Sarah Ann
1821/1822??1892
Accommodation-house keeper, shopkeeper, postmistress, midwife

Crisp, Benjamin
1808?1901
Carrier, temperance reformer, character

Croke, Thomas William
1822/1823??1902
Catholic bishop

Crombie, John Nicol
1827?1878
Photographer, businessman

Cronin, Leonard John
1900?1976
Journalist, editor, publisher

Crooke, Helen Iris
1895?1985
Nurse, voluntary aid administrator

Crookes, Samuel Irwin
1871?1955
Engineering teacher and consultant, local politician

Croskery, Alexander Wellington
1878?1952
Draper, trade unionist

Cross, Cecil Lancelot Stewart
1912?1989
Basketball player, sports administrator and broadcaster

Crosse, Latima George
1858?1948
Farmer, community leader

Crosse, Thomas Ezekiel
1855?1952
Farmer, community leader

Crowe, Ellen
1845-1847??1930
Homemaker, community leader

Cruickshank, Margaret Barnet
1873?1918
Doctor

Cryer, Sarah
1848?1929
Farmer, community worker, benefactor

Cuddie, Mary
1823?1889
Farmwife, midwife, shopkeeper

Cullen, John
1850??1939
Police officer and commissioner

Cumming, Francis George
1861?1941
Salvation Army officer, chaplain, social worker, probation officer

Cummings, Denis Joseph
1878?1956
Policeman, police commissioner

Cummings, James
1885?1976
Policeman, police commissioner

Cummins, Piipi Raumati
1857-1862??1952
No Te Roroa; he kaihoko kapia, he kaimau toa,he kaiwhakau mana whenua

Cunningham, Gordon Herriot
1892?1962
Horticulturist, plant pathologist, mycologist

Cunningham, Ira James
1905?1971
Veterinary scientist, scientific administrator, university professor

Cunnington, Eveline Willett
1849?1916
Social reformer, feminist, lecturer, writer

Curnow, Thomas Allen Monro
1911?2001
Journalist, poet, writer, university professor

Currie, George Alexander
1896?1984
Agricultural scientist, university professor and administrator

Curtis, Charles Stuart
1850?1923
Storekeeper

Curtis, Kathleen Maisey
1892?1994
Mycologist

Cusack, Francis Peter
1919?1990
Labourer, character

Cussen, Laurence
1843?1903
Surveyor, geologist