Biographies : New Zealand

Baird, David Lindsay 1895 - 1947 [ Football player ]

Born Friday, 26 July 1895 in Gore. David Baird, who was better known by his nickname "Scotty", was a leading exponent of the old wing forward position, especially in the early 20s. Baird played for Southland before the outbreak of World War I and that cut across what would probably have been his best rugby years. But in 1920 and 1921 he achieved considerable distinction. In 1920 he toured Australia with the first All Black team chosen after the end of the war. He was a leading player on tour missing only one midweek match and appearing in all three of the unofficial tests against the New South Wales Waratahs.
Tall at more than 1.83 and strongly built, Baird was an excellent all round athlete and adept as well in line outs. He had considerable pace, too, and was not out of place when running with a back line. He was, indeed, remarkably versatile and when the All Blacks met Wellington on their return home he appeared at centre. Baird was also a capable goal kicker landing a penalty in the win over Wellington and a conversion in Australia.

The highlight of Baird's relatively short career came in 1920 but not with the All Blacks. Rather this was for Southland when he captained that province to its first ever Ranfurly Shield success, 17-6 over Wellington in Invercargill. It was perhaps inevitable that eventually in 1920 Wellington's liberal attitude to the shield in playing for it both in away and home matches would mean the shield's departure and then, as now, Southland were difficult to beat on their home ground.
But the main factor in Southland's shield win, it was agreed by all contemporary critics, was the role played by Baird. Southland's main tactical aim was to shut down Wellington's dangerous halfback Teddy Roberts and this Baird achieved with his defence from the wing forward position. Baird was again Southland's captain in 1921 when the province met the touring Springboks. But Southland were beaten 12-0 (four tries to nil) and Baird departed the Southland ranks soon after when there was public criticism of the Southland tactics from the union's special coach, the 1905 All Black "General" Booth. David died Thursday, 11 December 1947 in Invercargill

Baird, Helen Stephen 1875 - 1956 [ Medical Practioner ]

Born on 29 Sep 1875 at Hampden, Otago, New Zealand, the daughter of Elizabeth Stephen and her husband, James Baird, a Presbyterian minister, who had emigrated to New Zealand from Scotland in 1870. Helen was the third in a family of remarkably talented children, of whom five pursued a career in medicine. They were undoubtedly influenced by the social concerns of their parents. James Baird had worked in the slums of Glasgow, where the misery caused by alcohol led him to become a staunch prohibitionist. His views were shared by his wife, who joined the Women's Christian Temperance Union. She played an important part in parish affairs, first at Hampden and after 1879 at Winton in Southland and was involved in Presbyterian charity groups and organized a home for single pregnant women in Invercargill.
Helen Baird received her primary school education at Winton School, winning a scholarship to Southland Girls' High School in 1891. She then took a BA degree at the University of Otago. She and her younger sister, Agnes, an Otago undergraduate, decided to study medicine at the University of Glasgow, although it was then unusual for women to follow a medical career, and those who did usually trained in New Zealand. In 1898 the two sisters departed from Bluff. They were spirited and confident, and made the most of the long sea voyage after overcoming their sea-sickness. In a change of plan they disembarked at Marseilles so that they could see something of Europe before arriving at their destination.

In Glasgow they were met by their mother's sister, Jessie Stephen, and stayed with her before beginning the gruelling medical course. They entered Queen Margaret College, the women's medical school of Glasgow University, and both graduated MB, ChB, Helen in 1903 and Agnes in 1905. As part of her training Helen worked as a midwife in the Glasgow slums, and after completing her degree she gained experience at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Around 1905 the sisters returned to New Zealand. Agnes practiced for a time at Pembroke (Wanaka), but her career was cut short by tuberculosis; she was to die prematurely in 1920. Helen Baird began general practice in Invercargill, and is thought to have been the first woman doctor in Southland. On 10 January 1908 at Invercargill she married a fellow doctor, James Alexander Cowie. They were students together at Otago University, where James Cowie had taken his BA and BSc. When Helen decided to study medicine at Glasgow, he followed her there, qualifying MB, ChB and MRCS.

After marriage Helen Cowie shifted to Masterton, where she joined her husband in his medical practice as an equal partner. Dr Helen, as she was known, specialized in obstetrics and anesthetics, while James Cowie (Dr Jim) undertook general and gynecological surgery.
Although she had two children (Elizabeth, born in 1909 and Graham, born in 1911), Helen Cowie continued to work full time. Combining family and career was made possible with the help of a housekeeper, Etty Eagle, who attended to the house and the welfare of the children.
During the First World War Helen and James Cowie went to England, where Helen was employed in various civilian hospitals while James worked with the Royal Army Medical Corps. When they returned to New Zealand the influenza epidemic was at its height. At one stage Helen Cowie was the only doctor in Masterton well enough to work. Inevitably the Cowie family became infected, but all recovered.

Further trips to London were made in 1924 and 1934, and in 1938 Helen and James took their son, Graham, into partnership. In 1940 Helen Cowie, at nearly 65 years of age, was eager to retire after a long and demanding career. However, the outbreak of war thwarted her plans. James Cowie died in 1941 and Graham was posted overseas with the New Zealand Medical Corps, leaving her in sole charge of the family practice. On his return in 1945 she promptly retired.

Helen Cowie was interested in books, history and antique furniture. She was an enthusiastic gardener, and had a great knowledge of native trees and shrubs. In her youth she wrote poetry but later was too busy to pursue this interest. She attended Knox Presbyterian Church regularly. A small, neat woman, always formally attired, she was particular about manners. While she was respected as a highly skilled doctor, her other attractive qualities were recognized and appreciated. In her last two years Helen Cowie was incapacitated by progressive muscular atrophy, a condition she bore without complaint. She died at Masterton on 8 July 1956.
Cowie, G. Life and times of a GP. Waikanae, 1989, Obit. Wairarapa Times-Age. 11 July 1956

Baird, James Alexander 1893-1917 [ Football player ]

Born Sunday, 17 December 1893 in Dunedin, New Zealand, he last attended the Caversham school then went on to play just three first class games and for one of them to be a test would be an impossibility in modern rugby. But in the early part of the 20th centuries the sort of career Otago's James Baird had in representative rugby was not all that uncommon. In 1913 Baird made two appearances for Otago, having previously entered senior club rugby with the Zingari-Richmond club the previous season at the age of 18. Clearly he was a centre of considerable promise but the circumstances which led to his one test cap in what proved to be his last match were fortuitous.
He was brought in as a late replacement for the 1913 test at Carisbrook against Australia when the original choice, South Canterbury's Eric Cockcroft, was forced to withdraw late with injury. Travel being much more difficult around New Zealand at that time, Baird thus received a call up because he was the closest player on hand. Baird obviously played satisfactorily at least for the All Blacks won comfortably 25-13 and he was selected again for the next test in Christchurch, only to have to withdraw himself with a hand injury.
That ended Baird's rugby for the 1913 season and in 1914 he was unable to play any rugby because of illness. World War I then broke out and that ended not only his rugby but his life. Baird served in the New Zealand forces and on Thursday, 7 June 1917 aged only 23 died from wounds received in action in France.

Hall, Kathleen Anne Baird 1896 - 1970 [ Nurse - Missionary ]

Born in Napier on 4 Oct 1896, the fifth child in a family of seven. Her father, Thomas Hall, was the district land registrar in Napier; her mother, Helen Baird Macky, was a teacher before her marriage. Kathleen attended the primary department of Napier Girls’ High School until 1909, when the family moved to Auckland and she attended the Ladies’ College, Remuera.
On leaving school she was expected to stay home and help her mother. However, after her elder sister returned home, she took the opportunity to train as a nurse at Auckland Hospital; she was registered in 1921 and soon promoted to sister. While working she met Crichton McDouall, an Anglican priest and missionary, who was on furlough in New Zealand from his work in north China. Kathleen had been involved in church and Bible class activities for some time and, wanting to serve God, she volunteered for work in the mission field. Before leaving she trained in midwifery at St Helens Hospital, Christchurch.

Kathleen arrived in China in early 1923 and spent two years studying Chinese language in Peking (Beijing), before working in mission hospitals in Datong, Hejian and Anguo. In 1933, seeing the need to extend medical services to the country areas, she applied to the bishop for permission to set up a cottage hospital in Songjiazhuang, a small village in western Hebei, her request had been granted. She was in New Zealand on her second leave in 12 years from March 1934 until January 1935. After returning to China in April, she recruited two Chinese nurses and began working in Songjiazhuang, living simply and using her salary for the needs of the villagers.
By 1938 the area lay in the no-man’s land between the Japanese-occupied lowland and the mountain headquarters of the Eighth Route Army. Hall made trips to Peking to collect supplies for the hospital and was asked by the medical adviser to the Eighth Route Army, Norman Bethune, a Canadian doctor, if she would also bring back medical supplies for the army. Fully committed to this dangerous course of action, she not only organized mule trains of medical supplies and saw them through Japanese check points, but also attended to wounded soldiers and partisans and recruited nurses for the army, bringing them up the rough terrain to the mountains.

In 1939 the Japanese carried out a punitive raid on Songjiazhuang, destroying the mission and hospital. Hall travelled to Peking to re-equip the hospital and found the Japanese had demanded she be expelled from China. Rather than compromise the safety of others, she went to Hong Kong. With the help of Madame Sun Yat-sen (Soong Ch’ing-ling), she re-entered China through Vietnam with the Chinese Red Cross and joined a medical unit at Guiyang and travelled north under conditions of great hardship and deprivation to Chongqing, and then on to Luoyang. Eventually she collapsed from the effects of exhaustion and beriberi; after recuperating she returned to New Zealand in 1941.

She had arranged to return to north China via Burma, but her mother became ill and she stayed to look after her. While living in Auckland she took in six pupils from Epsom Girls’ Grammar School as boarders. She spoke on China whenever she had the opportunity and worked for the missions, for the China Aid Council and for CORSO. After the war she moved with her mother to a cottage on her brother-in-law’s farm near Raglan. When her mother died in 1948 she made plans to return to China, but by then it was difficult to get a visa. In 1950 she travelled to Hong Kong, and while waiting for permission to enter China helped Neil Fraser of the Mission to Lepers set up the mission in Hong Kong. When it was established and the door to China remained closed, she returned to New Zealand in May 1951. Soon after, she went to work for the Maori mission of the Waikato diocese with the missioner Wi Huata, spending time in Te Kuiti and Waitara.

Hall never married and retired to Auckland in 1956. From there she was involved in setting up branches of the New Zealand China Society around the country. In March 1960 she finally met Rewi Alley, who was home on a visit from his work in China. Her wish to return to China was granted later in the year when she was invited to take part in the national day celebrations in Beijing. She again visited China in 1964 as a guest of the Chinese Peoples Association for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. In 1968, with a failing memory, she moved to a retirement home in Hamilton. She died on 3 April 1970 in Te Awamutu. In 1993 soil representing her ashes was carried to China by two nieces and placed in an impressive tomb that was built for her in the Martyr’s Memorial Cemetery in Quyang, Hebei.
Kathleen Hall. Beijing, Newnham, T. 1992. Our Florence Nightingale’. Sunday Star-Times. 22 Sept. 1996

Johnstone, James Armour 1859 - 1933 [Businessman, Stock Breeder ]

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 25 June 1859, the son of a Congregational minister, David Johnstone, and his wife, Jessie Baird. In 1868 the Johnstones emigrated with their four children to Dunedin, New Zealand, where David Johnstone became minister of the Leith Street church.James attended the High School of Otago from 1873 to 1875, and then joined the stock and station agency Wright Stephenson and Company. For 10 years he worked throughout Otago and with every class of livestock. He developed a devotion to the firm, an integrity of character, an industrious lifestyle and a remarkable acumen and decisiveness in business. In 1885, when still in his mid-20s, he was made a partner in the firm.

On 31 May 1894, at Dunedin, James Johnstone married Margaret Forrest Donald, a governess to a family at West Taieri. They made their home at Maori Hill, and were to have three daughters. In 1899, on the retirement of John Wright and John Stephenson, James Johnstone became senior partner in the stock and station agency. When the firm was formed into a public company in 1906 he was made chairman of directors. Ill health forced him to relinquish this position, but he remained a managing director until his death. A world tour with his family in 1907 was the first of many trips abroad, mostly to buy or sell stock or to exhibit or judge in agricultural shows, especially in Australia and Argentina. In 1910, in partnership with W. D. Hunt, he purchased 900 acres of the Bushey Park estate, near Palmerston, to which they appointed Alex Twaddle as manager. When the whole of the estate came on the market in 1920 Twaddle persuaded Johnstone to become the sole owner.

Aware of a developing demand in South America for Corriedale sheep, a breed pioneered in New Zealand, in 1920 he bought the entire stud flock of Leonard White of Rakaia, and a further 200 ewes from James Ross. This was a landmark purchase, with a reputedly record price of £10,000 for just under 1,000 sheep. Bushey Park became a famous stud-stock breeding centre, sending Corriedales to many countries. From Scotland he imported shorthorn cattle, whose progeny were prominent in shows in New Zealand and had an influence on the country's beef breeds. A Clydesdale stud kept farm teams up to strength. Johnstone was a founder and the first president of the Clydesdale Horse Society of New Zealand.

His success as a businessman and stock breeder made him a wealthy man. On weekends and school holidays the family would travel out to Bushey Park from Dunedin in a chauffeur-driven Daimler. Margaret Johnstone and her daughters entertained expertly. The governor general, Lord Bledisloe, visited the farm on one occasion.Margaret Johnstone was for many years president of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society), while her husband was financial adviser to the society and a member of its council, and founder-director of the Karitane Products Society. The Johnstones were close friends of the Plunket Society's founder, Truby King.

In his 70s James Johnstone had a bad fall from his horse, from which he never fully recovered. He died at home in Dunedin on 8 May 1933. Margaret Johnstone died just over three months later, on 20 August. To further the development of farming in New Zealand, James Johnstone had instituted a trust in Wright Stephenson to provide grants for research and study in wool-classing, seed and fertiliser specialisations, accounting and promotion. After his death his daughter Ethel Johnstone carried this on, and also endowed a J. A. Johnstone Memorial Laboratory at Lincoln College for research relating to livestock.
Bushey Park estate. Hunter, A. T. Wellington, 1967. century's challenge. Irving, J. C. Wellington, 1961

Martin, John 1822 - 1892 [ Merchant, Politician ]

John Martin was born on 11 Nov 1822 at Moneymore, Co Londonderry, Ireland. Son of John Martin, a clergyman, and his second wife, Sarah Espie. There were three children of the first marriage, and John Martin jnr was the second of eight more children who survived infancy. Sarah and John Martin senior died of typhus in 1838, and in 1840 the 11 Martin children set sail for New Zealand from London on the Lady Nugent. John Martin landed at Port Nicholson, New Zealand, on 17 March 1841. Johnny Martin, as he was known, began work as a pick-and-shovel hand and eventually purchased a horse and cart. In 1846, when settlers were in conflict with Maori, he carted stores and ammunition to the militia in the Hutt valley.
On 14 September 1847 at Wellington he married Marion Baird, a domestic servant from Scotland; the couple were to have 10 children.
In 1860 he went to Otago to join his brother-in-law, James C. Smith, in partnership on a pastoral run. However, in May 1861 Gabriel Read found gold on their land; the de-pasturing license was cancelled and the run officially declared a gold field. Smith and Martin sold their stock as meat for the miners and transported gold to Dunedin. John Martin returned to Wellington with about £13,000. He bought land in Taranaki Street, set up as a merchant and general commission agent in Manners Street and built a residence, Fountain Hall, in Ghuznee Street.

In April 1864 he sold three acres of Taranaki Street land at a handsome profit. In 1869 he purchased the 12,698-acre Otaraia station in Wairarapa, and in partnership with Thomas Henderson bought out the New Zealand Steam Navigation Company. In 1871 he cheekily bought at auction 24,787 acres in the centre of Daniel Riddiford's Te Awaiti station in Wairarapa. A year later Riddiford was forced to buy the land; Martin made £500 and an implacable enemy. But not all went well. In 1869 Martin lost over £7,000 completing a contract for the construction of the new Government House in Wellington, and in 1871, after petitioning Parliament for compensation, lost his appeal. J. C. Andrew was the only Wairarapa run-holder to cast a vote against the appeal and in 1872 a vengeful Martin applied for and won the right to purchase more than 3,000 acres of previously leasehold pastoral land on Andrew's station. Enraged, Andrew raised the matter in the House. Only after the Committee of Privileges advised that 'Mr Andrew should be protected from the injury with which he has been threatened' did Martin withdraw his land application.

John Martin could be a generous host. At the Otaraia station woolshed in 1873 he held a ball to celebrate the opening of the Waihenga bridge. Festivities continued until daybreak: 'it was a great shivoo.' In early 1875, when he had a drinking fountain erected on Lambton Quay, the water at the opening ceremony was liberally mixed with whisky. Before leaving for a tour of Europe and America in 1875 he held a farewell dinner at his own hotel, the Panama, and next day departed on his own steamer, the Taranaki. He was to sell this and two other steamers, the Phoebe and the Wellington , to the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand in 1876.
Martin had been made a justice of the peace in 1876, and in 1878 he was called to the Legislative Council by Premier George Grey, In January 1879 John Martin caused a sensation when he purchased G. M. Waterhouse's 33,346-acre Huangarua estate in Wairarapa. Newspapers reported that Martin paid £85,000 in gold for the land and stock. He immediately split the run into 334 small farms; the township of Waihenga was renamed Martinborough and divided into 593 sections to be sold. But Martin's speculation coincided with the onset of the agricultural depression, and the auction was a flop. He also left his mark on Wellington's urban landscape in the form of Martin Square; Marion, Jessie and Espie streets were named after his two youngest daughters and his mother. Marion Martin died in Wellington on 11 February 1892 and John Martin followed on 17 May. He was remembered as an exceptional self-made man who had 'raised himself by untiring energy and perseverance from the bottom of the ladder'. He left a substantial fortune to his children.
Robert Martin and his immediate heirs, of Fairfax, Tokomairiro. Dunedin, 1979. Obit. New Zealand Times. 18 May 1892

Stewart, Catherine Campbell 1881 - 1957 [ Welfare Worker, Politician ]

Catherine Campbell Sword was born on 15 August 1881 in Glasgow, Scotland, the daughter of Margaret Neilson and her husband, William Baird Sword, a journeyman iron-fitter. After attending Rockvilla school she worked in the weaving industry. On 23 March 1900, at Glasgow, she married Charles Stewart, a foreman iron-fitter. By the age of 24 she had three sons. A staunch Presbyterian, at 16 she began to work for Labour candidates in Glasgow and attended meetings of the Glasgow City Corporation, becoming known as ‘the silent lady in the gallery’. To extend her knowledge she went to evening lectures at the University of Glasgow and to Sunday tutorials on economics taken by the socialist John Maclean. She was a founder of the Women’s Co-operative Guild, which aimed to educate and assist members to improve themselves economically. A member of the militant feminist Women’s Social and Political Union, she was taken into custody three times during demonstrations. However, she fell out with the union because it advocated a property-based franchise. During the First World War she helped the dependants of enlisted men.

In 1921 the Stewarts came to Wellington, where Charles worked for the government railway service. Catherine became the first secretary of the Wellington After-care Association, established to mind intellectually handicapped children, in 1928. She also became active in the Wellington women’s branch of the New Zealand Labour Party.As economic conditions deteriorated in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Catherine Stewart actively promoted the co-operative movement, which gave full control of its stores to members, returning profit partly as dividend and partly as a fund for educational and social work. In April 1934 she helped to establish the Women’s Central Co-operative Committee in Wellington, and when the Wellington South Co-operative Committee was set up a month later, she became its first president. Stewart also helped found the Wellington District Co-operative Society, which had a grocery store in Cuba Street.
In 1938 Stewart's friends persuaded her to accept nomination as the Labour Party’s parliamentary candidate for the new seat of Wellington West. At the party’s annual conference in April, her eloquent speech was a highlight and soothed the fears of reactionaries: ‘I am not speaking as a feminist but as a woman who wishes to stand shoulder to shoulder with our men'. She joined a delegation of women to the minister of justice, H. G. R. Mason, asking that courts be cleared and publicity restricted in cases dealing with domestic matters, the custody of children or sex crimes.

At the election in October Stewart won the seat by 956 votes. Until 1941, when she was joined by Mary Dreaver, she was the sole woman in Parliament. Meanwhile, Charles Stewart had retired from the railways to take charge of the household. Believing that she had a responsibility to be the ‘Member for Everywoman’ and to concentrate on those issues traditionally associated with her sex, Catherine Stewart strove to protect and further the interests of women, children and those in need. She urged that the working conditions and status of domestic workers be improved, and advocated the establishment of a meeting house for Wellington Maori. Because youth employment had increased under war conditions, she asked that no child under 14 be exempted from school and demanded better accommodation for the young women who came to the city to do essential work. A Christian socialist, Stewart strongly supported the 1938 Social Security Act, but asked for the family allowance to be extended to cover all children of poorer families. As part of a general swing against Labour in the 1943 election she lost her seat to the New Zealand National Party. Soon afterwards she moved with her husband to a chicken farm near Geraldine, South Canterbury, close to their eldest son. Charles died in 1948 and two years later Catherine Stewart returned to Glasgow with her two younger sons. She died there on 2 April 1957.
McCallum, J. Women in the House. McCallum, J. Picton, 1993. The new parliament'. New Zealand Herald. 17 Oct. 1938: 15