The city of Lower Hutt, New Zealand, was first proclaimed a borough on 1 February 1891. Prior to this it had been part of Hutt County, initially as a Roads Board and from 1881 as a Town Board.
Since October 2025, the mayor has been Ken Laban.
History The Hutt County Council was established in 1877, covering the region from Wellington's south coast up to Waikanae, excluding Wellington City. The county council was headed by a chairman rather than a mayor. As the region grew, urban parts of the Hutt County became autonomous boroughs with Lower Hutt becoming its own borough in 1891 with a borough council headed by a mayor to be directly elected by ratepayers. William Fitzherbert was elected unopposed with six borough councillors also being elected. From the 1920s on population grew quickly and in 1941 Lower Hutt became a city after reaching the required population of 20,000 for city status. As a result of the 1989 local government reforms Lower Hutt City amalgamated several of the neighbouring authorities including the Petone Borough Council, Eastbourne Borough Council and Hutt County Council (centred on Wainuiomata) as well as land on the waterfront formerly in the possession of the Wellington Harbour Board. The sitting mayor of Lower Hutt City was elected as mayor of the expanded Hutt City Council in 1989, however retaining the title mayor of Lower Hutt despite the "Lower" being dropped from the name of the council.
The longest-serving mayor was Percy Dowse who held office for twenty years, from 1950 to 1970.
List of mayors Mayors of Lower Hutt have been:
Key
# Name Portrait Term of office 1 William Fitzherbert 1 February 1891 18 November 1898 2 Walter George Foster 18 November 1898 5 March 1900 3 Edmund Percy Bunny 5 March 1900 24 April 1901 4 Orton Stevens 24 April 1901 26 April 1905 5 Thomas William McDonald 26 April 1905 1 May 1907 6 Thomas Peterkin 1 May 1907 6 May 1909 (3) Edmund Percy Bunny 6 May 1909 7 May 1914 7 Henry Baldwin 7 May 1914 8 April 1918 8 Percy Rishworth 27 April 1918 21 December 1921 9 Will Strand 21 December 1921 16 May 1929 10 Alex Roberts 16 May 1929 13 May 1931 (9) Will Strand 13 May 1931 10 May 1933 11 Jack Andrews 10 May 1933 9 June 1947 12 Ernst Hay 9 June 1947 20 January 1949 13 William Gregory 14 March 1949 18 November 1950 14 Percy Dowse 18 November 1950 9 December 1970 15 John Kennedy-Good 21 December 1970 24 October 1986 16 Glen Evans 24 October 1986 31 October 1995 17 John Terris 31 October 1995 10 October 2004 18 David Ogden 10 October 2004 9 October 2010 19 Ray Wallace 9 October 2010 12 October 2019 20 Campbell Barry 12 October 2019 17 October 2025 21 Ken Laban 17 October 2025 present
List of deputy mayors Key
Name Term of officeMayor William Henry Russell 1908 1909 PeterkinVacant Henry Baldwin 1910 1911 BunnyVacant John Brassell BaldwinVacant Archibald John Hobbs 1925 1931 Strand Roberts John Mitchell 1931 1944 Andrews Ernst Hay 1944 1947 William Gregory 1947 1949 Hay Eric Rothwell 1949 1950 Gregory Harry Horlor 1950 1956 Dowse James McDonald 1956 1959 George Barker 1959 1962 Chen Werry 1962 1968 Dave Hadley 1968 1971Kennedy-Good John Seddon 1971 1974 Chen Werry 1974 1977 Ernie Barry 1977 1980 Mollie Ngan Kee 1980 1983 Teri Puketapu 1983 1989Evans Betty van Gaalen 1989 1995 Joan Monrad 1995 1998 Terris Pat Brosnan 1998 2001 Ray Wallace 2001 2004 Roger Styles 2004 2010 Ogden David Bassett 2010 2019 Wallace Tui Lewis 2019 2025 Barry Keri Brown 2025 present Laban
Notes
References