William Percy Gauvain
William Percy Gauvain (c1880-1942)
1943 Obituary [1]
WILLIAM PERCY GAUVAIN was associated with gold mining and electric power during the whole of his professional career, most of which was spent in New Zealand, and at the time of his death, which occurred on 17th October 1942, in his sixty-second year, had been the chairman and director of several electric power and gold mining companies. He was educated at the Leys School, Cambridge, and University College, London, where he was Chadwick Scholar and Silver Medallist.
He served his apprenticeship with Messrs. Hathorn, Davey and Company, Ltd., Leeds, and remained with the firm until 1905, in which year he was appointed engineer to the Waihi Gold Mining Company of New Zealand, a position which, later, he held jointly with that of assistant general manager. On vacating this appointment in 1920 he went into practice on his own account and was also so engaged from 1927 until 1929 after his return to England in the former year.
Mr. Gauvain was elected a Graduate of the Institution in 1901 and was transferred to Associate Membership in 1907, and to Membership in 1912. In 1904 he was awarded a Graduate's Prize for his paper on "Deep Well Pumping Machinery", which was published in the PROCEEDINGS for the previous year. He was also an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and a Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.