Mayor Fletcher

As research progresses, more is becoming known about some of the early Mayors and Aldermen of Manly - Mayor William Fletcher, for example.

William Horner Fletcher was born in 1851 in Auckland, New Zealand, where his father, Rev Joseph Horner Fletcher was the headmaster of Wesley College. They were descendants of a close associate of John Wesley, William Horner.

The family moved to Brisbane, where William went to Ipswich Grammar School, and then to Sydney, where his father was Principal of Newington College. Joseph Fletcher was a pioneering devotee of rugby, and arranged for the first inter-school game of rugby in Australia, between Newington College and the King's School. William too was a keen sportsman, and played as 'quarter back' for the Waratah rugby club in the 1870s. He became the first secretary of the Southern Rugby Football Union in 1874. He was also secretary of the Sydney Amateur Athletic Club for a time. As a young man he was capable of strenuous feats - on one occasion he canoed alone from Penrith to Broken Bay, taking six days for the trip.

William became an accountant, and was admitted as a partner in the firm of David Fell and Co. In 1887 he married Miss Louise Moore, whose father Lewis Moore owned the large house Tramore in Darley Road, Manly. They set up home in the same street at Erlsdon, very near to Tramore.

He was elected to Manly Council and became Mayor in 1899 and 1900. His main concern while in office was to apply himself to the Council's accounts, to ensure that Manly Council did not require any form of Government subsidy over the period. He was also a founder and treasurer of Manly Cottage Hospital, and a considerable fund-raiser for the hospital.

On leaving Manly in 1919 he was presented with an illuminated testimonial from Manly Methodist Church. In retirement he lived at Neutral Bay, and served on the council of Newington College, Stanmore. He appears to have been one of the most likeable of Manly's Mayors. He died in 1931, aged 79, and a prize in his name was instituted at Newington College.

John MacRitchie