Leslie George Kelly

Who is Leslie George Kelly?

Leslie George Kelly was a New Zealand journalist, engine driver and historian. Kelly's father, Sidney Mellish Kelly, was descended from Edward Meurant, a trader and interpreter at Kāwhia in the 1830s, and his wife, Kenehuru, the daughter of Ngāti Mahuta leader Te Tuhi-o-te-rangi. Leslie Kelly was born in Auckland on 10 May 1906. He married Heera Te Moengaroa Ueke, who was of Ngāi Tawake, a hapu of Ngāpuhi, and Ngāti Mahuta, on 11 February 1929, in Auckland. From the late 1920s, he studied Māori history and wrote articles for the Journal of the Polynesian Society, later writing two books. He died in a train crash at Motumaoho, Morrinsville, on 6 August 1959.