The Mayor of Thames officiated over the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

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 The Thames-Coromandel District is a territorial authority district in the North Island of New Zealand, covering all the Coromandel Peninsula and extending south to Hikutaia. It is administered by the Thames-Coromandel District Council, which h ...

. There were 24 holders of the office.

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 The Auckland Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. Area The province covered roughly half of the North Island of New Zealand. It was the largest of the six initial provinces, both ...

. In late 1871, a public meeting in Grahamstown (one of the two historic towns that now forms Thames) resolved:

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

Henry Greenslade Henry James Greenslade (28 August 1866 – 18 April 1945) was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament in New Zealand. Biography Greenslade was born in Auckland, but came to Thames, where he grew up, with his parents when he was less than two y ...

resigned from the mayoralty on 31 May 1900, as he had bought a farm in

Ōhaupō Ōhaupō is a rural community in the Waipa District and Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located on State Highway 3, about halfway between Hamilton and Te Awamutu. The Ōhaupō area and surrounding Ngāhinapōuri, Te Rore a ...

in the

Waipa District Waipa District is a municipality in the Waikato region of New Zealand that is administered by the Waipa District Council. Its most populous town is Cambridge. The seat of the council is at the second most populous town, Te Awamutu. The district i ...

. Francis Trembath succeeded him and was elected unopposed. In total, there were 24 Mayors of Thames Borough. The last mayor was Wallace (Wally) Brunton, who served from 1959 until 1975. In 1975, Thames Borough amalgamated with Coromandel County, out of which

arose. Hence, the role was succeeded by that of the

Mayor of Thames-Coromandel The Mayor of Thames-Coromandel officiates over the Thames-Coromandel District of New Zealand, which is administered by a district council. The office has existed since 1975, when the Thames Borough and the Coromandel County were amalgamated. Phil ...

. Four mayors were also represented in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

: * James McGowan *

William Fraser William Fraser may refer to: Military people *William W. Fraser (1844–1915), American Civil War soldier and Medal of Honor recipient *William Archibald Kenneth Fraser (1886–1969), British army officer *William Fraser (British Army officer) ( ...

* Thomas William Rhodes McGowan was later appointed to the

New Zealand Legislative Council The New Zealand Legislative Council was the upper house of the General Assembly of New Zealand between 1853 and 1951. An earlier arrangement of legislative councils for the colony and provinces existed from 1841 when New Zealand became a co ...

. William McCullough was also an MLC.

List of mayors of Thames

Mayors of Thames were:

Notes

References

* {{Mayors in New Zealand

Mayors of places in Waikato