History of New York City (1665–1783) port British ships evacuated in 1783. The English had renamed the colony the Province of New York, after the king's brother James, Duke of York and on June 12, 1665, appointed Thomas Willett the first of the Mayors of New York. The city grew northward and remained the largest and most important city in the Province of New York, becoming the third largest in the British Empire after London and Philadelphia. The Dutch regained the colony briefly in 1673, then finally lost it permanently to the English in 1674 after the Third Anglo-Dutch War. Leisler's Rebellion, an uprising in which
Thomas Ashby (mayor) Thomas Ashby (mayor) Thomas William Mark Ashby (23 August 1895 – 26 September 1957) was a New Zealand local body administrator and Mayor of Auckland City from 1956 to 1957. Born 23 August 1895 in Auckland, Ashby was educated at Te Aroha High School, and at both Victoria and Auckland Universities. He was a solicitor, and served in the Army in the First World War. He was Auckland's Town Clerk (providing administration and advice to Auckland City Council) between 1944 and 1955 and was also secretary of the committee for the 1950 British Empire Games held at Auckland. In the