Percy Thomson
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Percy Thomson MBE was born in Dunedin in 1884. He died in 1962.
He first visited Taranaki in 1900 to work with Herbert Halliwell, a Hawera lawyer, then returned to Dunedin in 1905.
He returned to Stratford in 1910, starting a legal practice.
Was chairman of the Stratford Doman Board, director of Ngaire Dairy Company for 25 years and served on the Stratford Hospital Board.
Awarded an MBE in 1946.
He was Mayor of Stratford Borough 1929–1933 and again 1938–1947.
He left a significant bequest to be used and applied towards the establishment and maintenance of an arboretum and herbarium of the native flora of New Zealand and an art gallery.
The Stratford District Council established the Percy Thomson Trust to manage these facilities for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Stratford District and the public generally.
The Percy Thomson Gallery was opened in June 2002. The gallery contains both exhibition areas and work areas for use by local artists and community art groups.
