Percy Thomson

Percy Thomson (17 November 1884 – 24 August 1962) was a New Zealand lawyer and politician. He served as mayor of Stratford from 1929 to 1933, and again from 1938 to 1947.

Early life and family Born in Dunedin on 17 November 1884, Thomson was the son of William Thomson and Elizabeth Sarah Thomson (née Halliwell). He received his secondary education in Dunedin and Sydney. From 1950 to 1910, he was a clerk at Adams Brothers law firm in Dunedin, before entering legal practice himself in Stratford in 1910 under the firm of Halliwell and Thomson. Together they had two daughters and five sons,

Later life In 1928, a portion of his Stratford land was developed and thus named Percy Avenue in his honour. In 1953, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. He died on 24 August 1962, and was buried at Kopuatama Cemetery, Stratford. He had been predeceased by his wife, Hilda Thomson, in 1954.

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 is Stratford's public art gallery and was opened in June 2002. The gallery contains both exhibition areas and work areas for use by local artists and community art groups. The gallery provides an active programme of exhibitions and events that is both internally generated and toured from other art collections.