Arthur Guyon Purchas (27 September 1821 – 28 May 1906) was a clergyman, missionary, surgeon, musician, engineer, inventor, pioneer, geologist and botanist born at St. Arvans in the Wye Valley, Monmouthshire, Wales, who lived most of his life in Auckland, New Zealand.

He travelled to several parts of New Zealand, including Nelson, Wellington, New Plymouth and Auckland, before returning to England.

[7]: Appx [8] He learnt to speak and write the Māori language fluently[9][10] and continued work as a doctor and a missionary.

He was appointed to the Parish of Onehunga (which additionally included Epsom, Remuera, Otahuhu, Waiuku and Manukau districts),[11][12] inducted vicar of St Peter's Church and ordained deacon on 19 September 1847.

[3][6] In 1848, Purchas met and helped introduce future British Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil to New Zealand.

[11] In his medical career, he successfully operated on a number of women suffering abdominal cancer, a dangerous procedure at the time.

[7] It has been noted that Purchas "played a part in fostering the growth of respect and understanding between Maori and Pakeha".

In March 1861, Purchas and James Ninnis were granted the first New Zealand patent (lodged 10 October 1860),[6] for a plant fibre dressing process and leaf-stripping machine invention installed at their flax mill on the Waitangi Stream at Waiuku.

[11] Frederick Hutton, who owned and operated a flax mill at Churchill on the Waikato River, noted, in an 1870 Auckland Institute lecture on the subject, that Purchas and Ninnis had introduced iron stampers to the process.

[13] Purchas was the musical director for the New Zealand Anglican Diocese, leading him to produce two national hymnals in both English and Māori.