Walker Stanley Gawe was born in 1899 on 30 November in the Herschel district of the Cape, where both his parents were teachers. He attended St. Matthew's College in Keiskammahoek where he obtained a post-primary teacher's qualification and later trained in 1931-1933 as an Anglican Priest.He joined the Industrial and Commercial Worker’s Union (ICU),1920s and in 1926 he became a member of the African National Congress (ANC). In the late 1930s he served as chaplain of the Cape provincial ANCand from 1942 to 1946 was a chaplain in the Native Military Corps.Gawe married Regina in 1936 and during World War II. Reverend Gawe took part in the Defiance of Unjust Laws Campaign in 1952, and went on to succeed Professor Z K Matthews as the ANC’s Cape President in 1955. However, he could not be present, and his address was read out to the conference.Arrested on charges of treason on 5 December 1956, Gawe was detained at the Fort in Johannesburg. On 21 December he was released on bail of £50, and later charges were withdrawn against him.During detention at the Fort, the 156 accused were separated into four groups by the prison authorities, with Gawe allocated to the cell occupied by the younger accused. Daily, when those who shared the cell had left for their morning exercises, Gawe would say his prayers but charges against him were dropped in the late 1958.
Gawe at the time of post-Sharpville state of emergency he was detained without charge in an East London prison alongside Matthews between April and August1960.In the early 1970s Gawe and his nephew,Reverend JG,both of King William's Town supported the workof the black consciousness movement and concurred in offering an abandoned church building at 15 Leopold Street to Steve Biko and his colleagues whose operations became centered there.Reverend Walker Stanley Gawe lived in Zwelitsha, near King Williamstown, and passed away on 16 October 1980. In August 2005, his wife Regina celebrated her 100th birthday.