Mayor of Thames

The Mayor of Thames officiated over the Thames Borough of New Zealand, which was administered by the Thames Borough Council. The office existed from 1874 until 1975, when Thames Borough and Coromandel County were amalgamated to form Thames-Coromandel District. There were 24 holders of the office.

Clockwise from top left: James McGowan (10th), Colonel William Fraser (7th), William McCullough (4th), and Henry Greenslade (15th)

History

The Thames Gold Rush in the late 1860s and the early 1870s made Thames known as a locality, and the township developed from diggers settling in the area. The area was controlled by the Auckland Provincial Council. In late 1871, a public meeting in Grahamstown (one of the two historic towns that now forms Thames) resolved:[1]

That in the opinion of the meeting it is desirable that a Municipal Corporation should be established for the Thames.

This resulted in the forming of a Thames Municipality Committee in early 1872. The Borough of Thames was gazetted in November 1873. The first Borough Council was elected in March 1874. As was practice at the time, the councillors voted one of themselves to be the mayor. William Davies was the only person proposed and voted into the role unanimously in April 1874.[1]

After having served as mayor for a year, James McAndrew was re-elected unopposed in 1890.[2]

Henry Greenslade resigned from the mayoralty on 31 May 1900, as he had bought a farm in Ōhaupō in the Waipa District.[3][4] Francis Trembath succeeded him and was elected unopposed.[5]

In total, there were 24 Mayors of Thames Borough.[6] The last mayor was Wallace (Wally) Brunton, who served from 1959 until 1975.[7] In 1975, Thames Borough amalgamated with Coromandel County, out of which Thames-Coromandel District arose.[1] Hence, the role was succeeded by that of the Mayor of Thames-Coromandel.

Four mayors were also represented in Parliament:

McGowan was later appointed to the New Zealand Legislative Council.[12] William McCullough was also an MLC.[12]

List of mayors of Thames

Mayors of Thames were:[6]

Name Term
1 William Davies 1874–1875
2 J.E. MacDonald 1875–1876
3 James Kilgour 1877–1878
4 William McCullough[13] 1878–1879
5 Louis Ehrenfried[14] 1879–1880
6 William Wilkinson 1880–1882
7 William Fraser[15] 1882–1887
8 Alexander Brodie 1887–1888
9 William Carpenter 1888–1889
10 James McGowan[16] 1889
11 James McAndrew 1889–1891
12 James Renshaw 1891–1892
James McGowan (second period)[16] 1892–1893
13 Thomas Radford 1893–1897
14 William Scott 1897–1898
15 Henry Greenslade[17] 1898–1900
16 Francis Trembath 1900–1905
17 Archibald Burns 1905–1909
18 Frank Henry Claxton 1909–1910
19 Henry Lowe 1910–1919
20 Ernest Napier Miller 1919–1923
21 Thomas William Rhodes[18] 1923–1927
22 William Bongard 1927–1931
23 Sidney Ensor 1931–1959
24 Wallace Brunton[7] 1959–1975

Notes
  1. "Council History". Thames-Coromandel District Council. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  2. "The Evening Star". Thames Star. XXII (6734). 18 November 1890. p. 2. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  3. "Thames Mayoralty". Auckland Star. XXXI (70). 23 March 1900. p. 2. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  4. "The Mayor's Resignation". Thames Star. XXXIX (9652). 1 June 1900. p. 4. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  5. "Election of Mayor". Thames Star. XXXIX (9665). 16 June 1900. p. 3. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  6. "Mayors and Councillors of Thames". The Treasury. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  7. Thames Library Staff. "Brunton House, 210 Parawai Road, Thames". Kete Hauraki Coromandel. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  8. Wilson 1985, p. 215.
  9. Wilson 1985, p. 198.
  10. Wilson 1985, p. 201.
  11. Wilson 1985, p. 230.
  12. Wilson 1985, p. 157.
  13. Cyclopedia Company Limited (1902). "The Hon. William Mccullough". The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : Auckland Provincial District. Christchurch: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  14. "Death of Sir Louis Ehrenfried". Auckland Star. XXVIII (47). 26 February 1897. p. 5. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  15. Cyclopedia Company Limited (1897). "Colonel William Fraser". The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : Wellington Provincial District. Wellington: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  16. Cyclopedia Company Limited (1902). "The Hon. James McGowan". The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : Auckland Provincial District. Christchurch: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  17. Cyclopedia Company Limited (1902). "Mr. Henry James Greenslade". The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : Auckland Provincial District. Christchurch: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  18. "Obituary". Evening Post. CXXXVIII (53). 31 August 1944. p. 6. Retrieved 8 January 2011.

References
  • Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840–1984 (4 ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
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