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.
The following have been mayors of Totnes:
1396–1398: Walter Browning (MP for Totnes), 1388 1399–1400: Walter Browning 1401–1403: Walter Browning 1517-1518: John Giles 1535-1537: Christopher Savery 1548-1549: Christopher Savery 1556-1557: Christopher Savery 1585–1586: Nicholas Ball 1589–1590: Nicholas Hayman 1593–1594: Leonard Darr 1598–1599: Philip Holditch (MP for Totnes, 1601) 1605–1606: Christopher Wise 1612-1613: Richard Rodd 1620: Richard Lee (died 1620)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" 1621–1622: Christopher Wise 1623–1624: Philip Holditch II (son of Philip Holditch above, MP for Totnes, 1626) 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) 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 OwenRobert Henry Mair, The School Boards: Our Educational Parliaments (London: Dean and Son, 1872), 332 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 1902-1903: Dr. J. G. Gibson 1945–1946: Lilley Ramsden (first female mayor of Totnes) 1950–1951: Charles Stanley Jacka 1970–1971: Jean M Gilbert
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 2016–2017: Eleanor Cohen 2017–2018: Rosie Adam 2018–2019: Judy Westacott
References