Mayors to 1958

Page on the Mayors of Bridgwater under Construction

John Browne: 1855, 1861, 1862, 1864, 1865

Born c.1791 died 1859. Brick and Tile Manufacturer. Gives his name to Browne’s Pond in Hamp. Buried Wembdon Road Cemetery.

The lost portrait of Mayor John Browne, by W. Baker, seen in a larger photograph of the Town Hall in about 1950. ©Digital image 2019 Blake Museum. Note the Mayoral Chain had not yet been created, although he does stand next to the Borough Maces.

George Bryant Sully: 1869, 1870

Born 1831 died 1907.  Coal Merchant and Shipping Magnate. Lived in Crowpill House by the docks. Buried Wembdon Road Cemetery.

G. B. Sully by Frederick Brueton; collection of Bridgwater Town Council. Art UK. Note the chain did not exist in his time in office, so this portrait was made later.

Francis James Thompson: 1884

Born 1813, died 1897. Notable Quaker and Ironmonger. Read more in Sturge’s History. Buried Albert Street burial ground.

Picture appearing in Sturge’s memoir.
Francis James Thompson, by James Ricks;; Bridgwater Town Council; collection of Bridgwater Town Council. Art UK
Carte de visit by J.S. Brown.

Alfred Peace: 1885, 1887

Born 1845, died 1912. Coal Merchant and Haulier, with interests in many businesses in the town: prime mover behind bringing the Somerset and Dorset Railway Line to Bridgwater. In his time as mayor the gold chain was commissioned. Buried Wembdon Road Cemetery.

Alfred Peace 1845-1912. Taken from the Bridgwater Mercury and Peace’s Obitauary

John Henry Waddon: 1889

Born 1839, died 1915. Rope manufacturer and provisioned of ships. Buried Wembdon Road Cemetery.

F. Charles Foster: 1890, 1897

Born 1850, died 1929. Buried Wembdon Road Cemetery.

Charles Foster, by Frederick Brueton; collection of Bridgwater Town Council. Art UK
1881 Letter from his business as a Corn and Hay Merchant.
Death Notice Western Daily Press
14 October 1929.

Thomas Manchip: 1892

Born 1818, died 1905.

Thomas Manchip, by Frederick Brueton; collection of Bridgwater Town Council. Art UK
Above, West Somerset Free Press 11 February 1905. Right, Clifton Society, 9 February 1905

Henry W. Pollard: 1893, 1894, 1895, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1910, 1911

Born 1848, died 1922. Owner of a building company. Built the George Williams Memorial Hall, Cranleigh Gardens, Lyndale Avenue, Cotford Asylum, Knightstone Pavilion at Weston super Mare, St Michel’s Church Yeovil. Lived in St John’s House, Monmouth Street, and later Oakfield, Wembdon. Opened the Carnegie Library, laid the foundation stone of the court in Northgate.

William Thompson: 1900, 1901

Born 1837, died 1927.

Photograph 1913, taken from the Morganian.

Thomas William Manchip: 1902, 1903

Born 1850, died 1933.

Profile of Mayor and Mayoress Manchip published in The Mayors of England and Wales (with Portraits of Mayors and Mayoresses), 1902, Coronation Year, King Edward VII, edited by F.A. Barnes, published by W.T. Pike of Brighton in 1902.
W. Manchip, , by Frederick Brueton; collection of Bridgwater Town Council. Art UK
Death notice Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 22 April 1933.

Richard Own Sully: 1909, 1912

R.O. Sully (in chain) at the Proclamation of George V, 10 May 1910.

Seymore Berry: 1919, 1920, 1921

F.H. Allen: 1922

Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser
15 March 1941

W. H. J. Madding: 1923

At the unveiling of the town’s war memorial in King Square.

Harry Monro Brackenbury Ker: 1924

Born 1868, died 1933, buried in the Wembdon Road Cemetery.

Western Daily Press
31 August 1933

Walter Deacon: 1925, 1926, 1927

Postcard. Deacon gives his name to the street in Sydenham.

C Bryer: 1933, 1934

South Gloucestershire Gazette
18 February 1933