GAPES, William 1822–1903

Born Saffron Walden, brought up in the cigar making trade in London. Left England in 1858 on the Clontarf for Lyttelton and

– 101 –

worked on various sheep stations; 18 months at A. Cox's Raukapuka Station, Geraldine; five years at W. Hornbrook's Arowhenua Station at Te Temuka. He then started Edward Acton's butchering business in Timaru, managing it for five years. In 1871 took up a farm himself in the valley named for him Gapes Valley, part fruit farm, part general farm. In 1891 retired to Geraldine. He was a keen amateur painter. Exhibited: NZ Industrial Ex, Wtn 1885 paintings of the Geraldine district, Riversley, and a copy of an A. Penley, the teacher of the painter John Kinder.