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  • Updated 18 March 2020
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Deputy Mayor

A temporary Mayor of the Shire

A post among the Shire-hobbits for one who held the place of the Mayor of Michel Delving while the true Mayor was unable to perform their duties for some reason. The duties associated with the Mayoralty were light, and so the position of Deputy Mayor was not an onerous one, consisting primarily of officiating at banquets.

There are two Deputy Mayors recorded in the times following the War of the Ring:

Frodo Baggins Deputy for Will Whitfoot
November III 3019 to Mid-year's Day III 3020
(1419 to 1420 by the Shire-reckoning)
During the occupation of the Shire by Sharkey's Men, Mayor Will Whitfoot had been arrested and held in the Lockholes at Michel Delving. He was released after Sharkey's death, but needed time to recover from his imprisonment. Frodo Baggins therefore agreed to take over his duties for several months, though in practice his only official act was return the Shirriffs to their normal numbers and duties. He resigned the position at the Midsummer Free Fair of III 3020, when Will Whitfoot returned to the office of Mayor.
Tolman Cotton (junior) Deputy for Samwise Gamgee
IV 21 (1442 by the Shire-reckoning)
On the resignation of Will Whitfoot in IV 6 (SR 1427) Sam Gamgee was elected Mayor of the Shire in his place. Sam went on to serve seven terms as Mayor (a remarkable forty-nine years in total). In the fifteenth year of this long Mayoralty, Samwise rode south with his wife Rose and daughter Elanor, and stayed in Gondor for a year. During this year, Sam's duties were taken over by a Deputy, his brother-in-law Tolman Cotton.

Unlike the full office of Mayor, whose holder was elected once every seven years, there seems to have been no process for electing a Deputy. Rather, some suitable candidate would simply be appointed to the role. From what evidence we have, a Deputy would only hold the position briefly: the longest-serving Deputy on record was Tolman Cotton, who served in the post for just a single year while Mayor Samwise Gamgee was away from the Shire in IV 21.


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About this entry:

  • Updated 18 March 2020
  • Updates planned: 1

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