William Gibbs (1819 or 1820 – 7 November 1896) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from the Nelson Region of New Zealand.

Gibbs migrated to New Zealand in 1851 and purchased a large block of land at Tōtaranui. Much of this land is now incorporated into the Abel Tasman National Park. He completed a large homestead there for his wife and eight children, where they lived until moving to Nelson in 1892 when Gibbs retired.^[1]

His daughter Hannah Sarah Gibbs married Alexander Mackay at Collingwood in 1863.^[2]

He narrowly lost (by three votes) the 1868 by-election for Collingwood.

He represented the Collingwood electorate from 1873 to 1881, when he was defeated for Motueka.^[3] His son W. B. Gibbs stood in the Nelson electorate in the 1887 election, but came third against Henry Levestam and Jesse Piper.^[4][5]

The town of Collingwood was originally called Gibbstown after Gibbs.

Gibbs died aged 76 at his home in Nelson on 7 November 1896,^[6] and was buried at Wakapuaka Cemetery.^[7]