Richard Warwick Rapley (1918 – 10 July 1972) was a New Zealand-born businessman and politician in the Cook Islands.
Born in New Zealand, Rapley arrived in the Cook Islands to run a citrus plantation at Titikaveka,[1] later representing the Cook Islands in negotiations with New Zealand over fruit prices.
[1] In 1963 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly from the European constituency, replacing Les Bailey.
[3] The European constituency was abolished prior to the 1965 elections, in which Rapley unsuccessfully ran in the four-seat Te-au-o-Tonga constituency as an Independent Group candidate, finishing sixth out of nineteen candidates.
However, the following year he returned to New Zealand for medical treatment, after which he travelled around East Asia for several months.