Mayor of Lyttelton

The Lyttelton municipal council was established by a 10 December 1861 proclamation by the Superintendent of the Canterbury Province, William Sefton Moorhouse.

The nine representatives had their first meeting four days later and had the task of electing a chairman from their midst and after a contested vote, Dr William Donald, their local doctor, became the head of the council.

When Hargreaves was elected to parliament for the Lyttelton electorate and had to then leave for Wellington in June 1866, he resigned from the municipal council.

[9] This was changed to biennial elections "on the last Wednesday in April" with the Municipal Corporations Amendment Act, 1913.

On 24/25 October, the Lyttelton Fire destroyed two blocks along Norwich Quay, raising two-thirds of the town.

[14] At the 7 November council meeting, councillor Harry Allwright was unanimously voted for as the new mayor.

[18][19] The first election that was contested was held on 20 December 1876, when the incumbent, Rouse, beat former mayor Allwright by 225 to 166 votes.

[25] Allwright retired at the end of his 1882 term and the 29 November 1882 election was won by Webb, who beat Bryan Weyburne by 195 votes to 131.

[27] Webb retired after the 1884 term and the 26 November 1884 election was won by former mayor Chalmers, who beat William Reed by 112 votes to 87.

[32] The same candidates contested the 28 November 1888 mayoral election, with the incumbent again successful, having received 194 votes to Milsom's 136.

[33] Webb retired in 1889, and the election on 27 November was contested by Milsom and Captain Hugh McLellan, with Milson narrowly winning by 138 votes to 134.

[34] Milson and McLellan contested the mayoral election on 26 November 1890, with Milsom this time having a clear lead with 242 votes to 113.

[37] Thompson won the election the following year, held on 29 November 1893, against Nicholas Carl Schumacher and Captain McLellan.

Radcliffe tendered his resignation at the end of the normal term, which caused a by-election that was held on 14 December 1900.

There was considerable more interest in the election as it coincided with the 50th anniversary of Canterbury, with the First Four Ships having arrived from 16 December 1850 onwards.

[57] Cook retired in 1910 and at the 27 April election, J. R. Webb and Malcolm James Miller contested the position.

[59] In 1912, Miller was challenged by councillor William Thomas Lester at the 24 April mayoral election.

[61] In the election for the borough council, former mayor Colin Cook topped the poll by a comfortable margin but within minutes of giving his victory speech, he collapsed and died while the second councillor was talking.

[65] During a holiday in Dunedin in late December 1916, mayor Radcliffe suffered a paralytic stroke.

[70] There were widespread calls for Norton to stand for the mayoralty, but he explained that he had given councillor Foster an assurance that he would not oppose him for the 1917 mayoral election.

[74] At the 27 April 1921 mayoral election, Lester was challenged by councillor Norton (the 1917 deputy-mayor), but the incumbent retained the voter's support with 746 votes to 358.

[85] Sutton retired in 1944, and the 27 May mayoral election was fought by Lester and councillor Arthur Knight Dyne.

[93] He was succeeded by councillor Melvyn Ewell Foster who was the secretary of the Lyttelton Waterfront Workers Union.