(The following biographies were compiled from bits of information gleaned from newspaper articles, obituaries, local history books, websites, descendants and cemetery databases. If you have anything you can add, please send it to us.)

Chief Magistrates of Port Hope:

(Port Hope became the seventh incorporated town in Upper Canada on 06 Mar 1834. The Chief Magistrate was the President of the Board of Police, a position equivalent to that of a Mayor of today.)

* (1834-1837) Marcus Fayette Whitehead (1795-27 Apr 1875) is best remembered as being the first president of the Port Hope Board of Police (the predecessor of the Town Council). The son of Thomas Whitehead - first president of the Canada Wesleyan Methodist Conference - settled at Smith's Creek in 1818, beginning his Canadian career as clerk in the post office. When Port Hope was made a port of entry in 1819, he was appointed the first collector of customs, a position he held for more than fifty years. He was the husband of Sophia, eldest daughter of Thomas Ward's eight children.

* (1838) John Brown (c1790:Co. Cavan, Ireland-28 Jan 1842:Port Hope) arrived in Smith's Creek in 1818, along with his wife, Margaret, and two small daughters, Eliza and Rosanne, to make a new home in Upper Canada. By 1823, he was so well-established that he had built the first brick building in the village - at the foot of Walton Street - for his family. As a businessman involved in many fields, he owned a cut nail factory, a distillery, a general store, and, one mile north, a complex he called 'Brown Stone Mills', comprised of flouring mills, a saw mill, a blacksmith shop, a cooper shop, store houses, and a granary. In 1829, he was president of the Harbour Company, of which he was the principal owner.
As a supporter of the Reform Party, he was elected to the Upper Canada Legislature in 1830 and 1835 as a Member of Parliament for Durham County. On 07 Apr 1834, John sat on the first elected Board of Police of Port Hope, of which Marcus Whitehead was chosen president. At his death, he left his widow and four daughters: Eliza (w/o William Wallis), Rosanne (w/o James M. Andrews), Margaret (w/o Henry Howard Meredith) and Jane (w/o F.H. Burton).

* (1839) James Smith

* (1840-1841) Charles Hughes

* (1842) William Henderson

* (1843) John D. Smith

* (1844) William Furby (05 Sep 1799:Bridlington, Yorkshire, England-04 Apr 1881:Port Hope) left England in 1819, emigrating to the US, where he taught for some years in Vermont. In 1826, he came to Port Hope, where he resided for the rest of his life. His wife, Ann Manning, passed away in 1844 at the age of 39, leaving two sons - George Manning and William - and a daughter, Mrs. Judge Scott of Brampton. His journalistic career dates from 1832, when he began publication of the Telegraph and afterwards (c1842) the Port Hope Gazette and finally the Guide in 1850. In politics, he was a consistent Reformer, taking an active interest in the advancement of the party right up to the time of his death.

* (1845-1847) James Smith

* (1848) Nesbitt Kirchhoffer (1813:Clondrohid, Co. Cork, Ireland-29 Apr 1879:Port Hope) emigrated to Canada in 1835, settling in Port Hope, which was then a small hamlet named Smith's Creek. He shortly after entered the law office of F. Whitehead, where he studied for several years, and was called to the Canadian Bar in 1840 and subsequently appointed a Q.C. He was involved in the development of the Railway Company, established in the 1850s, was president of the Board of Police and a business partner of James Scott, another Port Hope mayor. Lieutenant Kirchhoffer served as a lieutenant in both the 1st Durham and, under Kingsmill, Queen's Own militia regiments.
In 1856, he and James Cockburn became part of a syndicate formed by David Campbell (who died in 1881 at 'Sidbrook', his Cobourg estate) to develop Campbellford - originally 'Campbell's ford', part of the 2200 acres granted in 1831 to David and his brother, Robert. It was incorporated as a village in 1876.
In the early 1870s, he ran for the Dominion Parliamentary seat for East Durham in 1872, but was unsuccessful. After his 1872 term as Mayor, he filled the position of Harbour Commissioner for several years. At his death, he left a wife, Julia (Read), with no family.

(1849) Robert Armour

Mayors (Chosen by Council):

* (1850) John Tucker Williams (1789:Penryn, Cornwall, England-09 Sep 1854:Penryn Homestead, Port Hope). It was in England where he began his military career, fighting under Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar. He fought in Canada as well, in the War of 1812, serving as a lieutenant on His Majesty's ships on the Lower Lakes until 1816. When the navies were dispersed in 1817, Commander Williams returned to England.
Returning to Canada in 1818, he rushed the building of his Penryn homestead on the west side of the south end of Victoria Street in order to marry Sarah, daughter of the early Port Hope settler, Thomas Ward. They had seven children, the most famous of whom was Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Trefusis Heneage Williams, the hero of Batoche.
In 1838, he raised a company of militia to fight in the Mackenzie Rebellion of Upper Canada. He became the first Union Parliament member for East Durham in 1840, serving until 1848. One of his first acts as an MPP was to introduce a bill, which became law, granting the first copyright in Canada for a published book. The first two books to receive the copyright were by Port Hope schoolteacher Alexander Davidson; a music book and the Upper Canada Spelling Book. In 1850, Commander Williams was elected by Council as the town's first mayor.

* (1851) James Smith was also a judge of Victoria County and an MPP. As president of the Railway Company in 1853, he was involved in the development of the railway line from Port Hope to Peterborough. In addition, he presided over the laying of the cornerstone of the Town Hall and Market Square.

* (1852) John Shuter Smith (died in Port Hope 18 Jan 1871, age 58) was a prominent lawyer in Toronto, Cobourg and Port Hope. As a member of the Board of Harbour Commissioners, he dealt with the repair of Port Hope's deteriorating harbour. Both he and James Smith were descendants of Elias Smith, the United Empire Loyalist patriarch of one of the town's most prominent families.

* (1853) John Tucker Williams

* (1854-1855) John Shuter Smith

* (1856-1857) James Scott was mayor during the visit of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) on 07 Sep 1860.

* (1858) Duncan McLeod

Mayors (Elected by the people):

* (1859) William Fraser (c1821:Inverness, Scotland-24 Jun 1894:Toronto) emigrated to Port Hope in 1846. He was the first mayor to be elected directly by the people. In 1889 he held a reception for Sir John A. Macdonald at 'Dunain' - the property on Lakeshore Road given to him, when he married Augusta Matilda, the eldest daughter of John Tucker Williams, as a wedding present by his father-in-law - when the Prime Minister came to unveil the statue of Lt.-Col. Arthur Trefusis Heneage Williams in front of the town hall.

* (1860) James Scott

* (1861-1865) Cornelius Quinlan (died 18 Aug 1883, age 62) was born in Ireland. He was the husband of Eliza Quay.

* (1866-1867) William Craig (27 Feb 1819:Yorkshire, England-29 May 1891:Port Hope) married Hannah Dixon in Newcastle-upon-Tyne before coming to Canada. He began a tannery business on Cavan Street (William Craig & Son) in 1852, operating it for thirty-nine years until his death on 29 May 1891, when his son took over the business. As well as mayor for two terms, his career included a number of years as a councillor, harbour commissioner, high school trustee and trustee of the harbour bonds. He was also charter president of the Port Hope Benevolent Society when it was formed in 1862, a prominent member of the Baptist Church - for which he provided the land - and an active supporter of the YMCA when it was first established on John Street. One of his lasting gifts as mayor was the stone fountain located behind the Town Hall and unveiled in 1878.

* (1868) John Shuter Smith

* (1868-1871) Francis Beamish (11 Feb 1814:Skibbereen, Co. Cork, Ireland-18 Dec 1900:Port Hope), one of thirteen children of William (c1789-1857) and Nancy, emigrated with his family to Hamilton Township in June 1817. After attending the Church of England school, he studied medicine with his brother William Moore Beamish in the early 1830s. As there were no medical schools in Upper Canada, he studied in New York at Fairfield College and Bellevue Hospital. He quit the practice in 1839, coming to Port Hope, where he started a general store, which he carried on until he closed out in 1854.
In that year, he purchased a water-power from the Smith estate and began the erection of an extensive flour mill, followed in 1855 by a plaster mill. He also built or purchased eight sawmills in Hope Township (also at Lindsay and Lakefield), had lumber yards at Rochester, NY, and Syracuse, NY, and in 1868 induced some Americans to come over, for whom he erected a 2 1/2 story building at Garden Hill which was used as a hat factory. He also built the first steamboat which sailed the waters north of Lakefield and was involved in the merchantile marine of Lake Ontario, owning six schooners. He was Director of the Port Hope, Lindsay and Beaverton Railway, and an original shareholder of the Montreal Telegraph Company, being the first telegraoh line operated in Canada.
As Mayor, he had the honour of receiving Prince Arthur, later the Duke of Connaught, when he visited. Politically, in addition to being Mayor, he contested the Conservative seat for East Durham but was unsuccessful. In 1882 he retired to Manitoba, becoming one of the pioneers of the Elva district.
In early life, he married Eliza Jane, the eldest daughter of Major George Elliott who was a local district representative in the Parliament of Upper Canada. They had seven children before Eliza died ten days after the birth of their youngest son. He did not marry again.

* (1872) Nesbitt Kirchhoffer

* (1873-1876) John Wright (died 17 Oct 1891:Toronto, age 62) was an officer at the Port Hope Bicycle Club, which by 1887 had become an important part of the town's activities. He was the husband of Jane (d1879) and Elizabeth Budge.

* (1877-1878) William Craig

* (1879-1882) Peter Rice Randall (07 Jul 1822:near Cobourg-07 Feb 1906), a grandson of Highland Scott, Robert Randall, was the son of John P. Randall (born in the US, later an officer in the Royal Navy, emigrating to Northumberland County c1811) and the daughter of Israel Ferguson (a Vermont UE). The family moved to Port Hope in 1848, and his father married Elizabeth Webster of Hamilton Township on 12 May 1849. Peter R. presided over the visit of Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria, on 20 Sep 1879. He also presided over the civic excursion by A.T.H. Williams and Baron Adoph von Hugel down Rice Lake and the Trent River to Hastings.

* (1883-1884) Adolphe von Hugel (c1831:Heidelberg, Germany-20 Dec 1899:Montreal). Baron Von Hugel came to Canada as a wealthy man of a titled family, via Philadelphia and New York c1865, and soon afterward became identified as President of the Midland Railway, which connected at Port Hope with the Grand Trunk Railway. He made arrangements with bondholders in Europe for money to advance the improvement of the roadbed. He appears to have been a less-than-successful businessman, his lavish expenditure and too-generous management resulting in the railway being taken over by the Grand Trunk Railway. As a result, he spent his latter years in relative poverty.
Von Hugel was also chairman of the 'Committee of 40' which was set up to make the arrangements for Lt. Col. William's funeral. He was vice-president of the Port Hope Cricket Club, and he introduced the first typewriter to Port Hope in 1876.

* (1885) Henry Alfred Ward (20 Aug 1849:Port Hope-11 May 1934) was the grandson of Thomas Ward, another patriarch of one of Port Hope's most prominent families, and the son of George C. Ward and Harriet Amelia Brent. Henry was called to the Bar in 1872, beginning practice in Port Hope. He was a Conservative member of parliament for East Durham in 1885 and 1887, a county court judge, commanding officer of the Durham Regiment (46th Battalion) and a member of Port Hope's Bicyle Club. He married Annie Booth Goodwin of Savannah, Georgia, on 16 Jul 1895.

* (1886) John Pope Clemes (24 May 1847:Cornwall, England-24 Mar 1898:Toronto), the son of Charles Clemes, emigrated to Canada in 1856m marrying Anna E. Smith in Toronto c1876. He was a Quarter-master of the famous Midland Battalion and the first officer to return to Port Hope from the front at Batoche, where the Battalion fought against Louis Riel.

* (1887) Seth Soper Smith (1843-12 Oct 1922) was born in Port Hope. His wife was Theresa of Wisconsin.

* (1888) Peter Rice Randall

* (1889) Edward Peplow

* (1890-1893) Henry Hamilton Burnham (03 Nov 1842:Port Hope-27 Dec 1911:'Dunbarton Hall', Port Hope) was the son of Mark Burnham of the illustrious Burnham family of Cobourg and Port Hope, and Sophronia Gilchrist, both of Loyalist descendancy. Henry's brothers, Zacheus and Asa, were members of the first Legislative Council when that body sat alternatively in Quebec and Ontario. He was mayor when the notorious fire broke out at Trinity College School in Apr 1893. At the time of his death he was chairman of the Harbour Board and president of the Midland Loan and Savings Company, with head office in Port Hope. At one time, he, too, was a member of the Port Hope Bicycle Club. He was the husband of Agnes Johanna Amey.

* (1894-1895) Henry Alfred Ward

* (1896-1900) James Walker Quinlan (died 24 Apr 1905, age 58), son of Cornelius Quinlan, was born in Port Hope. Among his many accomplishments, he introduced electric lighting to Port Hope in 1886.

* (1901-1903) Henry White was the presiding mayor during the 1901 Old Boys' and Girls' Celebration, when Port Hope's sons and daughters returned to the area for a reunion.

* (1904) James Walker Quinlan

* (1905-1906) Thomas Butterfield Chalk (12 Apr 1859-19 Jul 1931:52 Bloomsgrove Ave., Port Hope) was the son of Robert Chalk, founder of the Chalk Carriage Works on Cavan Street, in business from 1842-1934, and Mary Cruse. Thomas carried on the business until his death. He was a strong Conservative and president of the East Durham Liberal-Conservative Association. He was also chairman of the public school board and a member of the Methodist Church. He was an avid sportsman and owned race horses. During his second term as mayor in 1925-'27, the streets of Port Hope were paved and sewers laid. In 1927, he was appointed to the government's Liquor Control Board. He was married to Florence Louisa Rosevear.

* (1907-1908) William H. Giddy

* (1910-1912) Robert Alexander Mulholland (16 Aug 1860:Alderville, Ontario-01 Oct 1927:London, England), son of Robert, after receiving his early education in Cobourg, came to Port Hope as a young man and entered into partnership with Peter Brown in the firm of Mulholland and Brown, hardware merchants whose establishment was in the Robertson building. He retired from the business around 1907, devoting himself largely to public affairs.
During his term as Mayor, the town's Lakeview Park and Memorial Park (which necessitated the removal of the ice rink) came into being, and he was given credit to the development of Pine Street from an impassable road. In addition to his five years as Mayor, he was for many years chairman of the Port Hope Harbour Commission, president of the Port Hope Gas Company and a director of the Midland Loan and Savings Company. During the war, he acted as treasurer of the Port Hope branch of the Patriotic Fund and was gazetted as Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of the 136th Battalion, which was organized at Port Hope.
In politics, he was a life-long Conservative. In 1918 he was called as a Senator of the Upper House, where he remained until his death. He left a widow, Mary Juliet (Craick), and two sons - Percy C.of Toronto and Arthur R. of Pasadena, California.

* (1913-1915) Hiram Thomas Bush (died 13 Mar 1927:Waterloo, Ontario, age 74) was born in Prescott, Ontario, and on coming to Port Hope from Detroit, Michigan, where he was manager of the Ideal Manufacturing Company, he established the Standard Ideal Company - later known as the Port Hope Sanitary Company. As an authority on clay products and chinaware, he commenced to organize the Bush English China Company Limited in Port Hope, but was unable to raise the necessary capital. He was President of the Port Hope Board of Trade for two years and at the time of his death was a member of the Harbour Board. He was also a prime factor in the early organization of the hospital. He was the husband of Pauline Lee (born in Texas; died in Port Hope 21 Apr 1947 at 81 years of age) and the father of one daughter, Virginia Lee Bush (Mrs. George Cruickshank) of Waterloo.

* (1916-1918) Robert Alexander Mulholland

* (1918-1920) Stanley Bastedo Burnham (1881-19 Apr 1928) was born in Port Hope. he was the husband of Annie Barbour.

* (1921-1923) Frederick Laurie Curtis (1875-02 Jul 1942) was the son of John Curtis and Sarah Ann Oke. He was the husband of Louise M. Jordan.

* (1924) George A. Smith

* (1925-1927) Thomas Butterfield Chalk

* (1928-1929) Richard J. Edmunds (04 Jun 1858-16 Nov 1947), son of James Edmunds and Sarah Bamble, was the husband of Sarah L. Chinn and Rosa Chinn.

* (1930-1931) James F.F. Rosevear (1862-03 Aug 1943) was the husband of Edith Fike. He was a distant relative of John Rosevear, who served as an MP for East Durham in 1879.

* (1931-1934) Walter J. Crowhurst

* (1935-1939) George Bennett

* (1940) H.R. Stuart Ryan, as a councillor before becoming mayor, was instrumental in prodding the federal and provincial governments into doing something about Port Hope's flooding problems. As a result of his efforts, the Ganaraska Report was commissioned, which formed the basis of the foundation of conservation authorities across Ontario, of which the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority was among the first formed. An historian and writer, he was the author of Echoes from the Minute Books, a brief summary of interesting details of municipal activities from 1834-1849, when Port Hope was still a police village. He was professor emeritus of law at Queen's University in the 1980s.

* (1941-1942) Sherman Gifford (1880-1962) was a member of the Port Hope Hydro Electric Commission from 1954-1960. He was also a member of the Chidren's Aid Society Board. As a member of the Lions Club, he did a great deal toward the Lions Recreation Centre. He also had connections with the Citizens' Band, the Port Hope Male Chorus and the Presbyterian Church choir. He was the husband of Florence Grimison and father of Kenneth, Wallace and Alene Hewson.

* (1943-1945) Charles E. Stevenson

* (1946-1947) William E. Thompson

* (1948-1949) Roland W. Jex

* (1950-1959) Wilbur Norman Moore (1886-1960) held the longest term as mayor up until 1960. He presided over a period of great expansion in Port Hope and even took to the streets with Council when there were complaints about the dirt! He was the husband of Ethel Coral Simpson.

* (1960-1962) Michael Wladyka (01 Aug 1918:Oshawa-15 Aug 2002:Port Hope) was the son of Ilko (Alex) and Doris, who arrived in Oshawa in 1911 from Silesia. The family moved to Port Hope when Mike was a young boy. He married Mary Mucha c1940, prior to serving five years overseas with the Brockville Rifles (1941-'46).
He was a town Councillor (1955-'56), Deputy Reeve (1957-'59) and Mayor for thirteen of the years between 1960 and 1979. He was a founder of the Port Hope branch of the Ontario Architectural Conservancy.

* (1963-1964) James R. Carr (1889-1973)

* (1965-1966) Benson Lawrence Spicer (1919-1966)

* (1966)Robert Clinton Everson was born in Brantford, Ontario. Following his involvement in WWII as a Flying Officer with the RCAF, he settled in Port Hope where he operated Everson's Grocery at the corner of Bloomsgrove and Ontario streets for a number of years. He was a town Councillor for 1951-1960 and Reeve for 1961-1965 before becoming Mayor. During his short term of office, he was a solid participant in the development of Jocelyn Street and the town's forst sewage treatment plant.
At his death on 31 Dec 1983, he was buried in the family plot at Brantford's Farrington Burial Ground, leaving a widow, Yvonne Salsbury.

* (1967-1974) Michael Wladyka

* (1975-1976) Cyril A. Hewson (1913-12 Apr 1984

* (1977-1978) Michael Wladyka

* (1979-1988) William Wyatt

* (1988-1992) Donald Percy Chalmers (1922-17 Mar 1992)

* (1992-1994) Elizabeth A. Collins was first elected as a Councillor in 1988. She was acclaimed Reeve in 1991, and became Mayor at the time of Donald Chalmers' sudden death. She obtained the old Registry Office on Mill Street from the Province, to be used as housing for a local archives.

* (1994-2000) Ronald R. Smith (born 1952:Port Hope) played eleven games with the New York Islanders during the 1972-'73 National Hockey League season.
* (1997-2000) Richard G. Austin, Deputy-Mayor

* (2001-2006) Richard G. Austin
* (2001-2003) Aldo D'Agostino, Deputy-Mayor
* (2003-2006) Linda Thompson, Deputy-Mayor

* (2006-2010) Linda Thompson
* (2006-2010) Jeff Lees, Deputy-Mayor