William Penny, born 1863 at Penrose, Masterton, was a sheep farmer in the Wairarapa and Manawatu Districts. He was an acknowledged authority on sheep breeding and Lincoln and Romney sheep breeds, and was successful in the show ring. Penny was the Secretary of the A. and P. Association (1911-34), served on the Farmers Union and Meat Control Board, was Director of the Wairarapa Frozen Meat Company (1923), President of the Royal Agricultural Socitey (1924) and a Justice of the Peace. See A. G. Bradfield, The Precious Years, pp.85-88.