List of mayors of Totnes explained

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:

• 1396–98: Walter Browning (MP for Totnes), 1388 ^[2]
• 1399–1400: Walter Browning
• 1401–03: Walter Browning
• 1517-1518: John Giles^[3]
• 1535-37: Christopher Savery^[4]
• 1548-49: Christopher Savery
• 1556-57: Christopher Savery
• 1585–86: Nicholas Ball^[5]
• 1589–90: Nicholas Hayman^[6]
• 1593–94: Leonard Darr^[7]
• 1598–99: Philip Holditch (MP for Totnes, 1601) ^[8]
• 1605–06: Christopher Wise ^[9]
• 1612-13: Richard Rodd^[10]
• 1620: Richard Lee (d.1620)^[11]
• 1621–22: Christopher Wise
• 1623–24: Philip Holditch II (son of Philip Holditch above, MP for Totnes, 1626) ^[12]
• 1638–39: Philip Holditch II
• 1687: Robert Symons
• 1718–19: Nicholas Trist (High Sheriff of Devon, 1708)
• 1737–38: Nicholas Trist (High Sheriff of Devon, 1708)
• 1754-55: Benjamin Babbage (grandfather of Charles Babbage)^[13]
• 1780–81: William Adams (MP for Plympton Erle 1796–1801 and Totnes 1801–11)
• 1788–89: William Adams
• 1797–98: William Adams
• 1866–67: 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
• 1882–84: Frederick Bowden ^[15]
• 1902-03: Dr. J. G. Gibson^[16]
• 1945–1946: Lilley Ramsden (1st Female Mayor of Totnes)
• 1950–51: Charles Stanley Jacka ^[17]
• 1970–71: Jean M Gilbert ^[18]

21st century

• 2001–02: Pruw Boswell-Harper
• 2003–04: J.A. Westacott
• 2004–05: Jim Parkes
• 2005–07: Pruw Boswell-Harper
• 2008–09: David Horsburgh
• 2009–10: Jean Rosemary Harrop
• 2010–11: Anthony Whitty
• 2011–12: Judy Westacott
• 2012–14 Pruw Boswell-Harper
• 2014–16: Jacqui Hodgson ^[19]
• 2016–17 Eleanor Cohen
• 2017–18 Rosie Adam
• 2018–19 Judy Westacott

Notes and References

1. Web site: Totnes. History of Parliament Online . 3 September 2014.
2. Web site: BROWNING, Walter, of Totnes, Devon. History of Parliament Online . 2014-09-04.
3. Web site: mayors of totnes - Google Search. 2020-08-01. www.google.com.
4. Web site: Members Constituencies Parliaments Surveys . SAVERY, Christopher (by 1502-60), of Totnes, Devon. . History of Parliament Online . 2014-06-25.
5. Web site: Members Constituencies Parliaments Surveys . BALL, Nicholas (d.1586), of Totnes; later of Dartington, Devon. . History of Parliament Online . 2014-06-25.
6. Web site: Members Constituencies Parliaments Surveys . HAYMAN, Nicholas (d.1606), of Totnes; later of Dartmouth, Devon. . History of Parliament Online . 2014-06-25.
7. Web site: DARR, Leonard (C.1554-1615), of Totnes afterwards of South Pool, Devon. | History of Parliament Online.
8. Web site: HOLDITCH, Philip (D.c.1608), of Totnes and Blackawton, Devon. | History of Parliament Online.
9. Web site: Christopher Wise (c.1566–1628), Mayor of Totnes (1605 & 1621) . Art UK. 3 September 2014.
10. Web site: RODD, Richard (-d.1633), of Totnes, Devon and Rodd, Herefs. | History of Parliament Online.
11. [John Lambrick Vivian|Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L.]
12. Web site: HOLDITCH, Philip (by 1587-1654), of Totnes, Devon. History of Parliament online. 3 September 2014.
13. Web site: Devon Perspectives-On Charles Babbage. 3 September 2014.
14. Robert Henry Mair, The School Boards: Our Educational Parliaments (London: Dean and Son, 1872), 332
15. Web site: Frederick Bowden (1819–1903), Mayor of Totnes (1883). Art UK. 3 September 2014.
16. Election of Mayors . 11 November 1902 . 12 . 36922.
17. Web site: Charles Stanley Jacka (1893–1970), Mayor of Totnes (1950–1951). Art UK. 3 September 2014.
18. Web site: Mayor Choosing in Totnes Guildhall. 3 September 2014. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140904115314/http://www.totnesimagebank.org/media-gallery/detail/296/1062. 4 September 2014.
19. Web site: Councillors . Totnes Town Council . 2014-06-25 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130429031108/http://www.totnestowncouncil.gov.uk/Core/Totnes-TC/Pages/Councillors_2.aspx . 2013-04-29 .