List of mayors of Totnes

Totnes, Devon, England received its first borough charter from King John and the recorded list of mayors dates from 1359. The town was incorporated in 1505 with a governing structure consisting of a mayor, recorder and a single council of burgesses. A further charter in 1596 concentrated power in the hands of the town's leading merchants, redefining the corporation as a governing body of 14 "masters", including the mayor, with an inferior council of 20 burgesses. The masters filled vacancies in their ranks by co-option and nominated the mayoral candidates.^[1]

The following have been mayors of Totnes:

• 1396–1398: Walter Browning (MP for Totnes), 1388^[2]
• 1399–1400: Walter Browning
• 1401–1403: Walter Browning
• 1517-1518: John Giles^[3]
• 1535-1537: Christopher Savery^[4]
• 1548-1549: Christopher Savery
• 1556-1557: Christopher Savery
• 1585–1586: Nicholas Ball^[5]
• 1589–1590: Nicholas Hayman^[6]
• 1593–1594: Leonard Darr^[7]
• 1598–1599: Philip Holditch (MP for Totnes, 1601) ^[8]
• 1605–1606: Christopher Wise^[9]
• 1612-1613: Richard Rodd^[10]
• 1620: Richard Lee (died 1620)^[11]
• 1621–1622: Christopher Wise
• 1623–1624: Philip Holditch II (son of Philip Holditch above, MP for Totnes, 1626)^[12]
• 1638–1639: Philip Holditch II
• 1687: Robert Symons
• 1718–1719: Nicholas Trist (High Sheriff of Devon, 1708)
• 1737–1738: Nicholas Trist (High Sheriff of Devon, 1708)
• 1754-1755: Benjamin Babbage (grandfather of Charles Babbage)^[13]
• 1780–1781: William Adams (MP for Plympton Erle 1796–1801 and Totnes 1801–1811)
• 1788–1789: William Adams
• 1797–1798: William Adams
• 1866–1867: Thomas Edward Owen^[14]
• 1870–1871: Robert W. Chaster
• 1872: Robert Bourne
• 1873: James Smith Rose
• 1874–1875: Jeffery Michelmore
• 1876–1877: Joseph Roe
• 1878: John P. F. P. Haines
• 1879: Jeffery Michelmore
• 1880–1881: Edward Harris
• 1882–1884: Frederick Bowden^[15]
• 1902-1903: Dr. J. G. Gibson^[16]
• 1945–1946: Lilley Ramsden (first female mayor of Totnes)
• 1950–1951: Charles Stanley Jacka^[17]
• 1970–1971: Jean M Gilbert^[18]

21st century

• 2001–2002: Pruw Boswell-Harper
• 2003–2004: J.A. Westacott
• 2004–2005: Jim Parkes
• 2005–2007: Pruw Boswell-Harper
• 2008–2009: David Horsburgh
• 2009–2010: Jean Rosemary Harrop
• 2010–2011: Anthony Whitty
• 2011–2012: Judy Westacott
• 2012–2014: Pruw Boswell-Harper
• 2014–2016: Jacqui Hodgson^[19]
• 2016–2017: Eleanor Cohen
• 2017–2018: Rosie Adam
• 2018–2019: Judy Westacott

References

1. "Totnes". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
2. "BROWNING, Walter, of Totnes, Devon". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
3. "mayors of totnes - Google Search". www.google.com. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
4. Members Constituencies Parliaments Surveys. "SAVERY, Christopher (by 1502-60), of Totnes, Devon". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
5. Members Constituencies Parliaments Surveys. "BALL, Nicholas (d.1586), of Totnes; later of Dartington, Devon". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
6. Members Constituencies Parliaments Surveys. "HAYMAN, Nicholas (d.1606), of Totnes; later of Dartmouth, Devon". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
7. "DARR, Leonard (c.1554-1615), of Totnes afterwards of South Pool, Devon. | History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
8. "HOLDITCH, Philip (D.c.1608), of Totnes and Blackawton, Devon. | History of Parliament Online".
9. "Christopher Wise (c.1566–1628), Mayor of Totnes (1605 & 1621)". Art UK. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
10. "RODD, Richard (-d.1633), of Totnes, Devon and Rodd, Herefs. | History of Parliament Online". historyofparliamentonline.org.
11. Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.527, pedigree of "Lee of Pinhoe"
12. "HOLDITCH, Philip (by 1587-1654), of Totnes, Devon". History of Parliament online. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
13. "Devon Perspectives-On Charles Babbage". Retrieved 3 September 2014.
14. Robert Henry Mair, The School Boards: Our Educational Parliaments (London: Dean and Son, 1872), 332
15. "Frederick Bowden (1819–1903), Mayor of Totnes (1883)". Art UK. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
16. "Election of Mayors". The Times. No. 36922. London. 11 November 1902. p. 12.
17. "Charles Stanley Jacka (1893–1970), Mayor of Totnes (1950–1951)". Art UK. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
18. "Mayor Choosing in Totnes Guildhall". Archived from the original on 4 September 2014. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
19. "Councillors". Totnes Town Council. Archived from the original on 29 April 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2014.