Keri Hulme

Birth Name: Keri Ann Ruhi Hulme

Place of Birth: Otautahi, Christchurch, New Zealand

Date of Birth: March 9, 1947

Ethnicity:
*father – English
*mother – 1/4th Scottish, 1/4th Orcadian-Scots [Orkney Islander], 3/16th Māori [Ngāi Tahu/Kāti Māmoe] and some English

Keri Hulme is a New Zealand writer and poet. She is know for her novel The Bone People (1984).

Keri is the daughter of John William Hulme, a carpenter, and Mary Ann Lillian (Mere) Miller, a credit manager. Keri is affiliated with Ngāi Tahu and Kāti Māmoe (aka Ngāti Mamoe). She told Contemporary Women Poets, “Our family comes from diverse people: Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe (South Island Māori iwi); Orkney islanders; Lancashire folk; Faroese and/or Norwegian migrants.”

Keri’s paternal grandfather was named William Hulme. William was from Lancashire, England.

Keri’s paternal grandmother was named Emma Risley. Emma was from Lancashire.

Keri’s maternal grandfather was Thomas Tame Richard Rangakino Gilbert Miller (the son John Tiaki Mira Miller and Emma Lillian Stevens). John was the son of Thomas White, a whaler, and of Piraurau, the daughter of Puaka and Pioio of Ngāi Tahu/Kāi Tahu. Emma was the daughter of William Stevens, from Gloucestershire, England, and of Maria Catherine Driver, whose own father was from Bath, Somerset England, and whose own mother was of Kāti Māmoe/Ngāti Mamoe.

Keri’s maternal grandmother was Mary Ann Yorston Matches (the daughter of William Yorston Matches and Ann Ingles Dinnington). William was from Orkney, Scotland. Ann was the daughter of Thomas Dinnington and Mary Brown Whyte, who were from Stirlingshire, Scotland.

Sources: Biography of Keri’s maternal grandfather, Thomas Tame Richard Rangakino Gilbert Miller – http://www.heraumahara.nz

Genealogy of Keri’s maternal great-great-grandmother, Maria Catherine Driver – https://www.geni.com

Genealogy of Keri’s maternal grandmother, Mary Ann Yorston Matches – https://ancestors.familysearch.org

Obituary of Mere Miller – https://tributes.co.nz