Tom Long was a 19th century celebrity, known the length and breadth of New Zealand and newspapers regularly reported his antics in detail. He was a habitual criminal but did not commit crimes of great moment – his specialities were drunkenness, disorderly behaviour...

The last of the swaggers The most famous of all Wairarapa swaggers arrived, rather abruptly, in New Zealand on 23 June, 1912. The man officially known as Barrett Crumen but known to all as 'Russian Jack' was born in Latvia on 26 March 1878, in a small village called...

Retimana Te Korou, the principal Maori chief involved in the sale of the land for the township of Masterton, was born in the later years of the eighteenth century. He was the son of Te Raku and Te Kai from both Rangitane and Ngati Kahungunu peoples of Wairarapa. Te...

Joseph Masters was born in 1802, in Derby, England, where his father was a leather breeches manufacturer. His father died when he was very young and he was sent to work in a silk mill, threading the bobbins. After a troubled childhood up he ended up living with his...