The Mayor of Eastbourne officiated over the Eastbourne Borough of New Zealand, which was administered by the Eastbourne Borough Council. The office existed from 1906 until 1989, when Eastbourne Borough was amalgamated into the Hutt City Council as part of the 1989 local government reforms. There were fourteen holders of the office.
History Eastbourne was constituted as a borough in 1905 after the passing of the Eastbourne Borough Bill, 1905 which was sponsored by local Member of Parliament Thomas Wilford. At the 1906 elections the first election was held and Fred Bolton was elected Eastbourne's inaugural mayor. Bolton served until 1909 when he instead stood for Mayor of Wellington at that year's election, but was unsuccessful.
Eastbourne's Town Clerk, Cliff Bishop, was elected mayor in 1950. He served a record ten terms consecutively. He was popular, usually winning office unopposed, having only been challenged twice. When he retired in 1980 he was New Zealand's longest serving mayor. After Bishop retired councillor Elaine Jakobsson became the only woman elected mayor. Jakobsson retired after two terms and was succeeded by Charles Bagnall who was opposed to the proposed amalgamation of Eastbourne with Lower Hutt. He later changed his mind on amalgamation, seeing it as inevitable, and resigned after just over a year as mayor on 26 November 1987. The deputy mayor, Joy Baird, acted as mayor until a by-election was held in February 1988 which saw Ross Jamieson elected as mayor, defeating Baird and four other candidates.
As a result of the 1989 local government reforms Eastbourne Borough Council was amalgamated with Lower Hutt City, Petone Borough and Hutt County to form Hutt City Council. At the 1989 local elections Baird was elected to the Hutt City Council for the Harbour ward (which encompassed Eastbourne and Petone) while Jamieson was defeated also standing in the Harbour ward. However Jamieson was elected to the Eastbourne Community Board and was its inaugural chairman. Jamieson stood for Mayor of Lower Hutt several times in 1995 and again in 2007. He was unsuccessful in both attempts.
List of mayors Mayors of Eastbourne were:
Name Term Fred Bolton 1906–1909 John Barr 1909–1910 Herbert William Shortt 1910–1913 William John Organ 1913–1915 James Patrick Kelly 1915–1917 Phineas Levi 1917–1919 Francis Henry Mather 1919–1920(3) Herbert William Shortt a (7) Francis Henry Mather 1920–1924(3) Herbert William Shortt 1924–1925 Henry Morgan Jones 1925–1931 Sam Fisher 1931–1933 Wally Wise 1933–1950 Cliff Bishop 1950–1980 Elaine Jakobsson 1980–1986 Charles Bagnall 1986–1987 Joy Baird a 1987–1988 Ross Jamieson 1988–1989 a Indicates acting mayor
See also Mayoral elections in Eastbourne
Citations
References