Joseph Totterdell

Sir Joseph Totterdell (4 August 1885 – 26 December 1959) was an Australian politician who was the Lord Mayor of Perth from 1945 to 1953. He was also a Liberal Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1950 to 1953, representing the seat of West Perth.

Totterdell was born in Marple, Cheshire, England. Apprenticed to a bricklayer after leaving school, he emigrated to Australia in 1903, eventually opening a building firm with his brothers. Totterdell was elected to the City of Perth council in 1931, and served as a councillor until 1945, when he was elected lord mayor.[1] At the 1950 state election, while still remaining lord mayor, he successfully contested the seat of West Perth for the Liberal Party, replacing a former leader of the party, Robert Ross McDonald. However, Totterdell would serve only a single term in parliament, as at the 1953 election he was defeated by the high-profile Labor candidate, Stan Heal (a former Australian rules footballer).[2] He retired as lord mayor at the end of the same year,[1] having been knighted in the 1953 New Year Honours.[3]