The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council is an honorary position bestowed upon a Citizen of Derry City & Strabane District in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, who is in practice a member of
Derry and Strabane District Council
Derry City and Strabane District Council ( ga, Comhairle Chathair Dhoire agus Cheantar an tSratha Báin; Ulster-Scots: ''Derry Cittie & Stràbane Destrìck Cooncil'') is the local authority for Derry and Strabane district in Northern Ireland. ...
, chosen by their peers on the Council to serve a one-year term. The
Mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
is Chairman of the Council as well as the city's first citizen. The current Mayor is Sandra Duffy of
Sinn Fein
In the philosophy of language, the distinction between sense and reference was an idea of the German philosopher and mathematician Gottlob Frege in 1892 (in his paper "On Sense and Reference"; German: "Über Sinn und Bedeutung"), reflecting the ...
.
The district was created in 2015 by the merger of two existing councils. The previous post of ''Mayor of Derry'', more formally ''Lord Mayor of Londonderry'', has a long history. A
provost, Sir
Henry Docwra
Henry Docwra, 1st Baron Docwra of Culmore (1564 – 18 April 1631) was a leading English-born soldier and statesman in early seventeenth-century Ireland. He is often called "the founder of Derry", due to his role in establishing the city.
Ba ...
, was appointed in the initial city charter of 1604 by
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
. In 1613, this post was replaced with that of governor, or mayor, with John Rowley being the first to serve.
[Thomas Colby, ''Ordnance Survey of the County of Londonderry'', p.87] The City charter of 1665 which provided:
During much of its history, it has been held by
unionists (largely due to the practice of
gerrymandering
In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...
),
but in recent years, the majority of mayors have been
Irish nationalist
Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of c ...
s, reflecting the majority of the city's population.
From 1921 until 1969, the Lord Mayor was automatically entitled to a seat in the
Senate of Northern Ireland
The Senate of Northern Ireland was the upper house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920. It was abolished with the passing of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973.
Powers
In practice the S ...
.
List of mayors
17th century
18th century
19th century
20th century
21st century
References
{{reflist
External links
Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1921 - 72
*Mayor
1613 establishments in Ireland
Derry