List of mayors of Chennai

The Corporation of Madras, the second oldest in the British Empire and the first outside the United Kingdom, was inaugurated on 29 September 1688 based on a Charter issued by James II, King of England. As per the provisions of the charter, Nathaniel Higginson, a member of the Fort St George Council, was appointed first mayor of the city. Higginson resigned after six months and was succeeded by John Littleton. Interrupted between 1746 and 1753 by the brief French occupation of Madras, the post of mayor survived with minor amendments till 1798.

The mayoralty of Madras was amended by the Charter of George I of 1727, Charter II of 1753 and the Company's Charter of 1787. Elections to the office were held annually - from 1688 to 1726, the appointment was made on 29 September, from 1727 to 1753, on 20 December and from 1753 to 1798, on the first Tuesday of every December. From 1798 the Mayor and Aldermen sat in the Recorder's Court until 1801, when that Court was merged in the Supreme Court of Judicature. The post of mayor was revived only in 1933.

Between 1793 and 1856, municipal administration was in the control of Justices of Peace who also had judicial powers in the city. In 1856, the positions were abolished as per the Madras City Municipal Act XIV of 1856. The judges were replaced with three Municipal Commissioners from the civil service. The commissioners collected municipal taxes and enacted laws for the conservancy and improvement of the city. However, the system failed due to lack of financial accountability and the Municipal Corporation was revived in 1860 by the efforts of Sir Charles Trevelyan, Governor of Madras.

From 1886 onwards, a president was appointed to head the corporation and perform the duties of a mayor. The first president of the corporation was Lieutenant-Colonel G. M. J. Moore, who was then serving as military secretary to the governor of Madras. Presidents were generally appointed for a four-year term but this was reduced to one in 1910. Civil servant T. Raghavaiah was the first Indian to act as President of the Madras Corporation. The first to be appointed as full-time president was T. Vijayaraghavacharya in 1916. P. Theagaraya Chetty of the Justice Party, appointed in 1919, was the first to represent a political party.

#	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Term[nb 1]
1		G. M. J. Moore	1886	1902	1
2		S. D. Pears	1902	1906	1
3		E. S. Lloyd	1906	1910	1
4		N. MacMichael (acting)	1910	1910	1
5		P. L. Moore	1910	1911	1
6		T. Raghavaiah (acting)	1911	1911	1
7		P. L. Moore	1911	1913	2
8		A. Y. G. Campbell (acting)	1913	1913	1
9		P. L. Moore	1913	1914	3
10		E. S. Lloyd	1914	1914	2
11		J. C. Molony	1914	1916	1
12		T. Vijayaraghavacharya	1916	1916	1
13		J. C. Molony	1916	1917	2
14		H. H. Burkitt	1917	1918	1
15		J. C. Molony	1918	1919	3
16		Muhammad Bazullah	1919	1919	1
17		P. Theagaraya Chetty	1919	1923	1
18		V. Thirumalai Pillai	1923	1924	1
19		Mohammad Usman	1924	1925	1
20		O. Thanikachalam Chetti	1925	1925	1
21		Sami Venkatachalam Chetty	1925	1926	1
22		G. N. Chetty	1926	1928	1
23		Arcot Ramaswamy Mudaliar	1928	1930	1
24		P. T. Kumarasamy Chetty	1930	1931	1
25		T. S. Ramaswamy Iyer	1931	1932	1
26		M. A. Muthiah Chettiar	1932	1933	1

• S. Muthiah, ed. (2008). "Appendix 2". Madras, Chennai: A 400-year record of the first city of Modern India. Vol. 1. Palaniappa Brothers. p. 438.

• Official website