James LeRoy Giles (June 16, 1863 – May 3, 1946) was the twenty-second, twenty-fourth, and twenty-sixth

Mayor of Orlando The city of Orlando, Florida, was incorporated in 1875. The first mayor, William Jackson Brack, took office in 1875. The Orlando mayor is officially a nonpartisan election. The current mayor is Buddy Dyer, who was first elected in a special e ...

, serving non-consecutively from 1916 to 1920, 1924 to 1926, and 1929 to 1932. He also served as an alternate delegate to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

from

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in the

1912 United States Presidential Election The 1912 United States presidential election was the 32nd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1912. Democratic Governor Woodrow Wilson unseated incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft and defeated former Pr ...

Biography

James Giles was born in Zellwood in Orange County, Florida, on June 16, 1863. His father was the Reverend Enoch H. Giles (1836–1908) and his mother was Nellie B. Giles (1847–1917). He first became Mayor of Orlando when he succeeded incumbent E. Frank Sperry upon his death on August 13, 1916. In his 1919 bid for reelection, he was defeated by Eugene Duckworth. Later, in 1924, he became mayor again upon Duckworth's resignation from office due to a failed city commissioners

recall election A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which, in certain polities, voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of offi ...

. He was defeated in his bid for reelection again in 1925 by

Latta Malette Autrey Latta Malette "LM" Autrey (July 7, 1876 - May 17, 1938) was an American politician who served one term as the 25th mayor of Orlando, Florida, from 1926 to 1929. Two of his former homes are now designated as historical landmarks, the Autrey-Wil ...

, but subsequently defeated Autrey in the next election in 1929. He did not run for another term in 1931, and was succeeded by Samuel Yulee Way.

Death

Giles died on May 3, 1946, in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. He was 82 years old. He was interred at Greenwood Cemetery.

Legacy

His niece Edna Giles Fuller would eventually become the first woman elected to the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giles, James LeRoy Mayors of Orlando, Florida 1863 births 1946 deaths Florida Democrats