Corporation and Council

Re-opening of the Dome in September 1935, 14 September 1935: The Mayor of Brighton, Sidney Gibson, and other dignitaries after unveiling a plaque to commemorate the re-opening of the Dome on 14 September 1935.

Image reproduced with kind permission from Brighton and Hove in Pictures by Brighton and Hove City Council

Laying Foundation Stone at Brighton Football Club , 1970: The Mayor of Brighton, Frank Masefield-Baker, laying the foundation stone of a new building for Brighton Football Club on 4 March 1970. Brighton Football Club are a rugby team, now based at Waterhall.

Image reproduced with kind permission from Brighton and Hove in Pictures by Brighton and Hove City Council

Mayors from 1900 until 1990

Reproduced with permission from the Encyclopaedia of Brighton by Tim Carder, 1990

Please note that this text is an extract from a reference work written in 1990.  As a result, some of the content may not reflect recent research, changes and events.

Since 1854 Brighton has been a chartered borough with a council chaired by a mayor, who, in the absence of royalty or the lord lieutenant, is also the sovreign's representative in the town. Brighton's first mayor was Lieutenant-Colonel John Fawcett who was elected at the first council meeting on 7 June 1854. The only person to have been mayor four times was John Brigden, in 1863, 1864, 1873 and 1874, but John Cordy Burrows was the first to be mayor both twice and three times. The first woman to become mayor was Miss Margaret Hardy in 1933.
A complete list of Brighton's mayors is given below; many names will be familiar with streets, roads, parks and flats named after them. Note that the dates shown refer to the year in which the mayors took office.

1900       "                  "
1901       "                  "
1902       John Buckwell
1903       Emile Marx
1904       Frederick Blaker
1905       James Colbourne
1906       Henry Gervis
1907       John Robert
1908       "                  "
1909       Edward Geere
1910       Charles Thomas-Stanford
1911       "                  "
1912       "                  "
1913       John Otter
1914       "                  "
1915       "                  "
1916       Herbert Carden
1917       "                  "
1918       "                  "
1919       William Wellman
1920       Bertram Southall
1921       Edward Pankhurst
1922       "                  "
1923       Hugh Milner Black
1924       Charles Teasdale
1925       John Thompson
1926       Richard Major
1927       Charles Kingston
1928       Herbert Galliers
1929       Horace Aldrich
1930       Sidney Thompson
1931       Thomas Braybon
1932       Frank Beal
1933       Miss Margaret Hardy
1934       Sidney Gibson
1935       Edward Deane
1936       John Routley
1937       Herbert Hone
1938       John Nanson
1939       "                  "
1940       "                  "
1941       Martin Huggett
1942       Bernard Dutton Briant
1943       "                  "
1944       Arthur Nicholls
1945       Walter Clout
1946       Thomas Morris
1947       Percy Friend-James
1948       "                  "
1949       Ernest Marsh
1950       Samuel Davey
1951       Eric Simms
1952       Miss Dorothy Stringer
1953       John Hay
1954       Walter Dudeney
1955       Jasper Leek
1956       Lewis Cohen
1957       Charles Tyson
1958       Alfred Sadler
1959       Ernest Kippin
1960       Alan Johnson
1961       George Baldwin
1962       William Button
1963       Stanley Deason
1964       Walter Clout
1965       Dudley Baker
1966       Mrs Dorothea Watson-Miller
1967       Ronald Bates
1968       Thomas Taylor
1969       Frank Masefield-Baker
1970       Herbert Nettleton
1971       Stanley Theobald
1972       Gordon Packham
1973       George Lucraft
1974       Danny Sheldon
1975       William Clarke
1976       Peter Best
1977       Mrs Hilary Somerville
1978       Alfred Feld
1979       Dennis Hobden
1980       John Leach
1981       Joseph Wakefield
1982       Geoffrey Theobald
1983       Charles Jermy
1984       John Blackman
1985       Robert Cristofoli
1986       Mrs Jackie Lythell
1987       Ray Blackwood
1988       Ms Pat Hawkes
1989       Brian Fitch
1990       Mrs Christine Simpson

Any numerical cross-references in the text above refer to resources in the Sources and Bibliography section of the Encyclopaedia of Brighton by Tim Carder.