Edward Augustus Gifford was born in London, the son of Edward Gifford, an architect at the firm of Ashpitel, where E. A. Gifford himself trained. He studied at the Royal Academy School, winning a gold medal in his final year and later exhibiting irregularly with the Academy between 1842 and 1870. In 1854, he travelled in Europe. He exhibited in Sydney, Australia, in 1877. That same year, he arrived in New Zealand, settling in Oamaru or, more correctly, Te Oha-a-Maru, where his brother was vicar. He exhibited with the Otago Arts Society between 1877 and 1894 and with the Auckland Society of Arts between 1885 and 1888. He also spent some time in Ahuriri Napier. Gifford was a painter of landscapes, townscapes, genre pictures, and portraits. In Lichfield, England, is a portrait he made of Bishop Selwyn.
