''His Worship the Mayor'' is a 1934 novel by the British writer

Walter Greenwood Walter Greenwood (17 December 1903 – 13 September 1974) was an English novelist, best known for the socially influential novel ''Love on the Dole'' (1933). Early life Greenwood was born at 56 Ellor Street, his father's house and hairdres ...

. It was his second novel, following on from the success of his bestselling debut ''

Love on the Dole ''Love on the Dole'' is a novel by Walter Greenwood, about working-class poverty in 1930s Northern England. It has been made into both a play and a film. The novel Walter Greenwood's novel (1933) was written during the early 1930s as a respons ...

'' the previous year. His new work drew on his experience as a

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

, and focuses on corruption in local government a theme also addressed in

Winifred Holtby Winifred Holtby (23 June 1898 – 29 September 1935) was an English novelist and journalist, now best known for her novel '' South Riding'', which was posthumously published in 1936. Biography Holtby was born to a prosperous farming family in ...

’s '' South Riding''. The novel features Sam Grundy, the

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookma ...

who had appeared in ''Love on the Dole''. It received positive reviews from critics including

Harold Brighouse Harold Brighouse (26 July 1882 – 25 July 1958) was an English playwright and author whose best known play is '' Hobson's Choice''. He was a prominent member, together with Allan Monkhouse and Stanley Houghton, of a group known as the Manche ...

in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. In 1936 Greenwood adapted it into a play ''Give Us This Day''.Hopkins p.208

Synopsis

Edgar Hargreaves, a struggling

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, suddenly comes into a sizable inheritance and enters local politics.

References

Bibliography

* Hopkins, Chris. ''Walter Greenwood's Love on the Dole: Novel, Play, Film''. Oxford University Press, 2018. * Woods, Tim. ''Who's Who of Twentieth Century Novelists''. Routledge, 2008. 1934 British novels Novels by Walter Greenwood Novels set in Manchester Jonathan Cape books {{1930s-novel-stub