The Mayor of New Plymouth is the head of municipal government of New Plymouth District, New Zealand. Since the 2022 local elections, the mayor is elected directly using the single transferable vote electoral system; prior to that, first-past-the-post voting was used.[1] The current mayor is Neil Holdom.[2]
James Clarke was the town's first mayor to die in office. He died in New Zealand's second fatal air crash;[3] the three occupants of the plane he was in were killed on 11 November 1920. Clarke had foreshadowed that he intended to resign from the mayoralty that evening.[4]
New Plymouth has had more than 20 mayors:
| Name | Term | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arthur Standish[5] | 1876–1878 | |
| 2 | Albert Cracroft Fookes[6] | 1878–1879 | |
| 3 | James Davidson[7] | 1879–1881 | |
| 4 | William Bayly[8] | 1881–1884 | |
| 5 | James Paul[9] | 1884–1886 | |
| (4) | William Bayly | 1886–1888 | |
| 6 | John Barton Roy[10] | 1888–1889 | |
| 7 | James Bellringer[11] | 1889–1893 | |
| (6) | John Barton Roy | 1893–1897 | |
| 8 | Edward Dockrill[12] | 1897–1903 | |
| 9 | Richard Cock[13] | 1903–1906 | |
| (8) | Edward Dockrill | 1906–1908 | |
| 10 | Gustave Tisch[14] | 1908–1911 | |
| 11 | George William Browne | 1911–1914 | |
| 12 | J. E. Wilson | 1914–1915 | |
| 13 | Charles Hayward Burgess | 1915–1919 | |
| 14 | James Clarke | 1919–1920 | |
| 15 | Frank Edwin Wilson[15] | 1920–1927 | |
| 16 | Victor Griffiths | 1927–1933 | |
| 17 | Everard Gilmour[16] | 1933–1953 | |
| 18 | Edward Hill | 1953–1956 | |
| 19 | Alfred Honnor | 1956–1968 | |
| 20 | Denis Sutherland | 1968–1980 | |
| 21 | David Lean | 1980–1992 | |
| 22 | Claire Stewart | 1992–2001 | |
| 23 | Peter Tennent | 2001–2010 | |
| 24 | Harry Duynhoven[17] | 2010–2013 | |
| 25 | Andrew Judd | 2013–2016 | |
| 26 | Neil Holdom | 2016–present |
| Name | Term | Mayor |
|---|---|---|
| George Fry | 1951–1953 | Gilmour |
| Alfred Honnor | 1953–1956 | Hill |
| William Dean | 1956–1965 | Honnor |
| Royden Burkitt | 1965–1968 | |
| Edmund Allen | 1968–1974 | Sutherland |
| Royden Burkitt | 1974–1980 | |
| Ron Barclay | 1980–1989 | Lean |
| Thomas Watson | 1989–1992 | |
| Thomas Beeby | 1992–1994 | Stewart |
| W David Wilkinson | 1994–1995 | |
| Brian Bellringer | 1995–1998 | |
| Peter Tennent | 1998–2001 | |
| Lynn Bublitz | 2001–2007 | Tennent |
| Alex Matheson | 2007–2013 | |
| Duynhoven | ||
| Heather Dodunski | 2013–2016 | Judd |
| Craig McFarlane | 2016–2017 | Holdom |
| Richard Jordan | 2017–2022 | |
| David Bublitz | 2022 - present | Holdom |