The Most Famous
SOCIAL ACTIVISTS from New Zealand
This page contains a list of the greatest New Zealander Social Activists. The pantheon dataset contains 840 Social Activists, 1 of which were born in New Zealand. This makes New Zealand the birth place of the 77th most number of Social Activists behind Romania, and Jordan.
Top 3
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary New Zealander Social Activists of all time. This list of famous New Zealander Social Activists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Nancy Wake (1912 - 2011)
With an HPI of 55.78, Nancy Wake is the most famous New Zealander Social Activist. Her biography has been translated into 37 different languages on wikipedia.
Nancy Grace Augusta Wake, (30 August 1912 – 7 August 2011), also known as Madame Fiocca and Nancy Fiocca, was a nurse and journalist who joined the French Resistance and later the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II, and briefly pursued a post-war career as an intelligence officer in the Air Ministry. The official historian of the SOE, M. R. D. Foot, said that "her irrepressible, infectious, high spirits were a joy to everyone who worked with her". Many stories about her World War II activities come from her autobiography, The White Mouse, and are not verifiable from other sources. Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Wake grew up in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. By the 1930s, Wake was living in Marseille with her French industrialist husband, Henri Fiocca, when the war broke out. After the fall of France to Nazi Germany in 1940, Wake became a courier for the Pat O'Leary escape network led by Ian Garrow and, later, Albert Guérisse. As a member of the escape network, she helped Allied airmen evade capture by the Germans and escape to neutral Spain. In 1943, when the Germans became aware of her, she escaped to Spain and then went to the United Kingdom. Her husband was captured and executed. After reaching Britain, Wake joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE) under the code name "Hélène". On 29–30 April 1944 as a member of a three-person SOE team code-named "Freelance", Wake parachuted into the Allier department of occupied France to liaise between the SOE and several Maquis groups in the Auvergne region, which were loosely overseen by Émile Coulaudon (code name "Gaspard"). She participated in a battle between the Maquis and a large German force in June 1944. In the aftermath of the battle, a defeat for the Maquis, she claimed to have bicycled 500 kilometers to send a situation report to SOE in London. Wake was a recipient of the George Medal from the United Kingdom (17 July 1945), the Medal of Freedom from the United States (1947), the Légion d'honneur from France (1970: Knight; 1988: Officer), a Companion of the Order of Australia from Australia (22 February 2004), and the Badge in Gold from New Zealand (2006).
2. Cindy Kiro (b. 1958)
With an HPI of 52.24, Cindy Kiro is the 2nd most famous New Zealander Social Activist. Her biography has been translated into 27 different languages.
Dame Alcyion Cynthia Kiro (Māori: [kiːɾɔ]) (née Simpson; born 1958) is a New Zealand public-health academic, administrator, and advocate, who has been serving as the 22nd governor-general of New Zealand since 21 October 2021. Kiro is the first Māori woman and the third person of Māori descent to hold the office. Before she was announced as governor-general designate, Kiro was Chief Executive of the Royal Society Te Apārangi and was previously the Children's Commissioner, head of school of the School of Public Health at Massey University, head of Te Kura Māori at Victoria University of Wellington, and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Māori) of the University of Auckland. During her term as governor-general, Kiro responded to the death of Elizabeth II, and has undertaken several overseas visits, including attending the Platinum Jubilee and state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles III in the United Kingdom.
3. Meri Mangakāhia (1868 - 1920)
With an HPI of 47.81, Meri Mangakāhia is the 3rd most famous New Zealander Social Activist. Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia (22 May 1868 – 10 October 1920) was a campaigner for women's suffrage in New Zealand, who inspired future generations of Māori women.
People
Pantheon has 3 people classified as New Zealander social activists born between 1868 and 1958. Of these 3, 1 (33.33%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living New Zealander social activists include Cindy Kiro. The most famous deceased New Zealander social activists include Nancy Wake, and Meri Mangakāhia. As of April 2024, 2 new New Zealander social activists have been added to Pantheon including Cindy Kiro, and Meri Mangakāhia.
