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 page 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.