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

B
Bellamy, Elizabeth
1845?1940
Anglican missionary, teacher

Bellingshausen, Fabian Gottlieb Benjamin von
1778?1852
Naval officer, explorer

Bellwood, James Charles
1912?1994
Labourer, physical education instructor, sports coach

Belshaw, Horace
1898?1962
Teacher, economist, university professor

Benham, William Blaxland
1860?1950
Zoologist

Benjamin, Ethel Rebecca
1875?1943
Lawyer, businesswoman

Bennett, Agnes Elizabeth Lloyd
1872?1960
Doctor

Bennett, Charles Moihi Te Arawaka
1913?1998
No Ngati Whakaue, no Ngati Pikiao; he kaipaho, he kaingarahu hoia, he kaimahi kawanatanga, he mangai kawanatanga

Bennett, Francis Oswald
1898?1976
Doctor, military medical administrator, writer

Bennett, Frederick Augustus
1871?1950
No Ngati Whakaue; he minita Mihingare, he pihopa

Bennett, Henry Gilbert Scott
1877?1959
Socialist, lecturer

Bennett, Mary Jane
1816??1885
Lighthouse keeper

Bensemann, Leo Vernon
1912?1986
Artist, printer, typographer, publisher, editor

Benson, Gertrude Helen
1886?1964
Professor of home science

Benson, William Noel
1885?1957
Geologist, university professor

Bent, Kimble
1837?1916
Soldier, deserter, Pakeha-Maori, character

Benyon, Edgar Wilson
1901?1978
Magician, juggler, entertainer

Berendsen, Carl August
1890?1973
Senior public servant, diplomat

Bergamini, Carlo Giuseppe
1868?1934
Stonemason, sculptor, commercial traveller

Berry, Reginald George James
1906?1979
Commercial artist, stamp, coin and medal designer, landscape painter

Berry, William
1834/1835??1903
Journalist, newspaper editor

Bertram, James Munro
1910?1993
Journalist, writer, relief worker, prisoner of war, university professor, editor

Best, Elsdon
1856?1931
Farm worker, soldier, sawmiller, health inspector, ethnographer, writer

Bestall, Leonard Delabere
1895?1959
Architect, draper, museum director, benefactor

Bethell, Marmaduke
1876?1955
Local politician, community leader

Bethell, Mary Ursula
1874?1945
Social worker, poet

Bethell, Thyra Talvase
1882?1972
Community leader

Bettjeman, Agnes Muir
1885?1964
Nurse, community leader

Bettjeman, Frederick Charles
1884?1987
Engineer, soldier, farmer

Beverly, Arthur
1822?1907
Watchmaker, mathematician, astronomer

Bews, Mary Ellen
1856?1945
School principal, educationalist

Bibby, Mary Ann
1832??1910
Storekeeper, homemaker

Bickerton, Alexander William
1842?1929
Scientist, university professor, eccentric

Bicknell, Jessie
1871?1956
Nurse, military matron, health administrator

Bidois, Louis Hekenui
1899?1955
No Ngati Ranginui, no Ngai Te Rangi; he pirihimana

Biggs, Reginald Newton
1831?1868
Station manager, soldier, magistrate

Binney, Roy Keith
1885?1957
Architect, soldier

Binns, George
1815?1847
Chartist leader, poet

Birchfield, Constance Alice
1898?1994
Housekeeper, trade unionist, hotel maid, communist, bookseller, political activist

Bird, William Watson
1870?1954
Headmaster, school inspector, educational administrator, Maori linguist

Birks, Lawrence
1874?1924
Electrical engineer

Bjork, Carl Axel
1880?1952
Whaler, goldminer, character

Black, Helen McKenzie
1896?1963
Mayoress, community worker

Black, James Gow
1835?1914
Chemist, mineralogist, lecturer, university professor

Black, Sholto Kairākau
1902?1963
No Te Whanau-a-Apanui, no Te Whakatohea; he kura māahita, he tumuaki kura, he kaituitui ratonga a-iwi, he kaiarahi hapori

Black, William Pierpont
1876/1877??1942
Wood carver, journal editor and publisher, journalist

Blackett, Annie Maude
1889?1956
Librarian

Blackett, Henry
1819/1820??1907
Storekeeper, politician

Blackett, John
1818?1893
Engineer

Blackie, Jeannetta Margaret
1864?1955
Governess, teacher, church administrator

Blackwell, Ellen Wright
1864?1952
Writer, botanist

Blaiklock, Edward Musgrave
1903?1983
Schoolteacher, university professor, classicist, writer

Blair, John Rutherfurd
1843?1914
Printer, publisher, bookseller, businessman, educational administrator, mayor

Blair, William Newsham
1841?1891
Engineer, surveyor

Blake, Geoffrey
1882?1968
Naval officer

Blake, Joan Isabel Faulkner
1921?1990
Journalist, broadcaster

Blake, John Thomas
1853?1940
No Taranaki; he kairuri, he kaiwhakamaori, he kaihoko whenua, he tumu korero, he kaiwhiwhi, kaiwhakaako hoiho rehi

Blake, Peter James
1948?2001
Yachtsman, environmentalist

Blakeley, Philip William
1915?1994
Electrical engineer, engineering administrator

Blamires, Edgar Percy
1878?1967
Methodist minister, community leader

Blazey, Cecil Albert
1909?1998
Insurance company manager, military administrator, sports administrator

Bledisloe, Charles Bathurst
1867?1958
Lawyer, politician, agriculturalist, governor general

Blomfield, Charles
1848?1926
Decorator, artist, music teacher

Blomfield, Dorothy Constance
1893?1987
Welfare worker, local politician

Blomfield, Meynell Strathmore
1908?1971
Wrestler, hotel-keeper

Blomfield, William
1866?1938
Cartoonist, local politician

Bloodworth, Rhoda Alice
1889?1980
Labour activist, community worker, feminist

Bloodworth, Thomas
1882?1974
Carpenter, trade unionist, local politician

Blundell, Henry
1814/1815??1878
Newspaper editor and proprietor

Bock, Amy Maud
1859?1943
Confidence trickster, criminal

Bock, William Rose
1847?1932
Engraver, medallist, illuminator, stamp designer, lithographer, publisher

Bockett, Herbert Leslie
1905?1980
Public servant

Bodell, James
1831??1892
Soldier, businessman, local politician, writer

Bodkin, William Alexander
1883?1964
Lawyer, local promoter, politician

Bollinger, George Wallace
1890?1917
Soldier, diarist

Bollons, John Peter
1862?1929
Mariner, naturalist, ethnographer, collector

Bolt, George Bruce
1893?1963
Aviator, aeronautical engineer, military leader

Bonar, James Alexander
1840?1901
Merchant, shipping agent, company director, politician

Boreham, Charles Stephen
1857?1925
Shearer, trade unionist

Boswell, Charles Wallace
1886?1956
Teacher, politician, diplomat

Boultbee, John
1799?1854
Traveller, sealer, diarist

Bowbyes, Avice Maud
1901?1992
Home science lecturer, writer

Bowden, Thomas Adolphus
1824?1906
Anglican clergyman, farmer, teacher, educationalist

Bowen, Charles Christopher
1830?1917
Administrator, politician, poet, magistrate, educationalist

Bowen, George Ferguson
1821?1899
Colonial governor

Bowen, Walter Godfrey
1922?1994
Shearer, shearing instructor and entrepreneur

Bower, Catherine Olivia Orme Spencer
1905?1982
Artist

Bowerbank, Fred Thompson
1880?1960
Doctor, military medical administrator

Boyce, Ann
1827??1914
Founding mother, herbalist

Boyd, Te Heke-rangatira-ki-Nukutaurua
1885/1886??1959
No Ngati Moe; he wahine whai mana, he kaiwhakamārama reo

Boys-Smith, Winifred Lily
1865?1939
Science artist and lecturer, university professor, school principal

Bracken, Thomas
1841?1898
Poet, journalist, politician

Bradney, James Henry
1853?1936
Ferryman, ship owner

Bradshaw, James Benn Bradshaigh
1832?1886
Newspaper editor, gold assayer and buyer, politician, sharebroker,
labour law reformer

Bradshaw, John Christopher
1876?1950
Organist, conductor, choirmaster, university professor

Bragg, Martha Sarah Kāhui
1895?1975
No Ngai Tahu; he wahine mahi pāmu miraka kau, he matua whangai

Bragge, James
1833??1908
Photographer