List of lord mayors of Leicester

The position of Lord Mayor of Leicester is a mainly ceremonial post, being the title of the chairman of the Leicester City Council. The Mayor is elected annually by the members of the council.

This article is about the ceremonial office formerly styled "mayor of Leicester". Not to be confused with the executive office of Mayor of Leicester created in 2010.

The role of Lord Mayor is in many ways similar to that carried out by the Speaker of the House of Commons.

From the Middle Ages until 1928 the title was simply Mayor of Leicester. Until the 19th century, the mayors were usually elected annually by the Corporation of Leicester. Since the development of forms of local democracy, the mayors and Lord Mayors of the city have been elected indirectly from among elected councillors and aldermen, but since 1971 no unelected aldermen have been entitled to vote.

History

The first mayor of Leicester was the Norman knight "Peter fitz Roger" (Peter son of Roger) in 1251.^[1][2] The title was elevated to "Lord Mayor" by letters patent dated 10 July 1928.^[3] This was confirmed for the reorganised non-metropolitan district by letters patent dated 1 April 1974.^[4]

The first Asian Lord Mayor of Leicester, Gordhan Parmar, was elected in 1987.^[5] The first Black Lord Mayor, George Cole, was appointed in 2022.^[6][7]

After institution of a directly elected mayor in 2011 the Lord Mayor of Leicester still exists as a ceremonial role under Leicester City Council.^[8]

List of mayors

Mayors of Leicester include:^[9]

• 1499 William Wyggeston, MP for Leicester, 1504
• 1510 William Wyggeston
• 1521 Robert Harward, MP for Leicester, 1529
• 1541 Hugh Aston, MP for Leicester, 1554
• 1545 Robert Cotton, MP for Leicester, 1553
• 1576 John Stanford, MP for Leicester, 1572 and 1593
• 1592 John Stanford
• 1615 William Ive, MP for Leicester, 1624
• 1625 William Ive
• 1634 William Ive
• 1688 William Bentley
• 1732 Gabriel Newton
• 1741 John Cartwright
• 1759 Nicholas Throsby
• 1771 John Cartwright
• 1776 Joseph Johnson, Esq, succeeded by Samuel Jordan before Nov 1776
• 1777 Samuel Jordan, Esq,
• 1793 John Mansfield Snr, co-founder Oliver & Mansfield - Leicester Bank
• 1815 John Mansfield Jnr
• 1836 Thomas Paget, MP for Leicestershire, 1831
• 1837 Robert Brewin
• 1838 Thomas Stokes
• 1839 Joseph Whetstone
• 1840 John Biggs^[10] MP for Leicester 1855–62
• 1841 Thomas Stokes
• 1842 William Biggs, MP for Newport, Isle of Wight, 1852
• 1843 Richard Harris
• 1844 John Mellor
• 1845 Edward Weston
• 1846 Joseph Fielding
• 1847 John Biggs
• 1848 William Biggs
• 1849 Thomas Nunneley
• 1850 John Dove Harris, MP for Leicester, 1857 and 1865
• 1851 George Toller
• 1852 John Manning
• 1853 Samuel How
• 1854 Richard Harris junior
• 1855 John Biggs
• 1856 John Dove Harris
• 1856 Joseph Underwood
• 1857 Joseph Underwood
• 1859 William Biggs
• 1859 James Francis Hollings
• 1860 Edward Shipley Ellis^[11]
• 1861 Samuel Viccars
• 1862 George Toller
• 1863 George Baines
• 1864 Alfred Burgess
• 1865 Thomas William Hodges
• 1866 Thomas William Hodges
• 1867 Thomas William Hodges
• 1868 John Baines
• 1869 George Stevenson
• 1870 John Stafford

Leicester county borough (created 1889)

• 1889 Henry Lankester
• 1890 William Kempson
• 1891 Thomas Wright
• 1892 John Underwood
• 1893 Israel Hart
• 1894 George Green
• 1895 Edward Wood
• 1896 Joseph Herbert Marshall
• 1897 Arthur Wakerley
• 1898 George Clifton
• 1899 Thomas Windley

20th century

• 1900-01 Alderman Samuel Lennard
• 1901-02 Thomas Windley
• 1902-03 Alderman William Wilkins Vincent^[12]
• 1903-04 Albert Edwin Sawday
• 1904-05 Stephen Hilton
• 1905-06 Henry Bailey Bruce
• 1906-07 Edward Wood
• 1907-08 Thomas Smith
• 1908-09 Charles Lakin
• 1909-10 George Chitham
• 1910-11 William Wilkins Vincent
• 1911-12 Arthur Tollington
• 1912-13 James McCall
• 1913-14 John Russell Frears
• 1914–17 Jonathan North (three terms)
• 1918-19 Walter John Lovell
• 1919-20 Jabez Chaplin
• 1920-21 George Edward Hilton
• 1921-22 James Wedgwood Heath
• 1922-23 Amos Sherriff
• 1923-24 John Mantle Hubbard
• 1924-25 Herbert Simpson
• 1925-26 George Banton
• 1926-27 Thomas Watson Walker

List of lord mayors

Silver jubilee medal of George V and Queen Mary issued by the city of Leicester in 1935, in the name of Alderman E. Grimsley, JP, Lord Mayor

• James Thomas (1927–1928)
• Harry Hand (1928–1929)
• William Hincks (1929–1930)
• Harry Carver (1930–1931)
• Walter Wilford (1931–1932)
• Arthur Hawkes (1932–1933)
• William Billings (1933–1934)
• Ernest Grimsley (1934–1935)
• Richard Hallam (1935–1936)
• Arthur Swain (1936–1937)
• Frank Acton (1937–1938)
• Thomas Gooding (1938–1939)
• George Parbury (1939–1940)
• William Joseph Cort (1940–1941)
• Elizabeth Rowley Frisby (1941–1942)
• Sydney Taylor (1942–1943)
• Charles Edward Gillot (1943–1944)
• John Minto (1944–1945)
• Charles Edward Worthington, (1945–1946)
• William Henry Smith (1946–1947)
• John Newton Frears (1947–1949)
• John William Wale (1949–1950)
• Frederick Ernest Oliver (1950–1951)
• Aderman Thomas Rowland Hill (1951–1952)
• Geoffrey Morris Barnett (1952–1953)
• Charles Robert Keene (1953–1954)
• Cecil Herbert Harris (1954–1955)
• Samuel Cooper (1955–1956)
• Alfred Harkyard (1956–1957)
• Frederick John Jackson (1957–1958)
• Sidney Brown (1958–1959)
• Bertram Powell (1959–1960)
• Dorothy Russell (1960–1961)
• May Goodwin (1961–1962)
• Harold Heard (1962–1963)
• Constance Elizabeth Jackson (1963–1964)
• Archibald Henry William Kimberlin (1964–1965)
• Sidney William Bridges (1965–1966)
• Mrs Monica Mary Trotter (1966–1967)
• Sir Mark Henig (1967–1968)
• Kenneth William Bowder (1968–1969)
• Edward Marston (1969–1970)
• George Baldwin (1970–1971)
• Percy Watts (1971–1972)
• Herbert Stanley Tomlinson (1972–1973)
• Clarence Arnold Wakefield (1973–1974)

Leicester non-metropolitan district

• Mrs Anne Irene Pollard (1974–1975)
• Mrs Lily Roma Marriott, JP (1975–1976)
• Bernard Toft (1976–1977)
• Albert Turner Baker (1977–1978)
• Albert Sylvester Watson (1978–1979)
• William Henry Scotton (1979–1980)
• Herbert Henry Sowden (1980–1981)
• Archibald Berridge (1981–1982)
• William Page (1982–1983)
• George Billington (1983–1984)
• Michael Cufflin (1984–1985)
• Mrs Janet Setchfield (1985–1986)
• Sydney St. John Phipps (1986–1987)
• Gordhan Parmar (1987–1988)
• Guy Collis (1988–1989)
• David Anthony Taylor (1989–1990)
• Peter Kimberlin (1990–1991)
• Colin Grundy (1991–1992)
• Robert Wigglesworth (1992–1993)
• Henry Dunphy (1993–1994)
• Margaret Bell (1994–1995)
• Michael Johnson (1995–1996)
• Culdipp Bhatti (1996–1997)
• Raymond Flint (1997–1998)
• John Mugglestone (1998–1999)
• Phil Swift (1999–2000)
• Mrs Barbara Chambers (2000–2001)
• John Allen (2001–2002)
• Maggie Bodell-Stagg (2002–2003)
• Ramnik Kavia (2003–2004)
• Piara Singh Clair (2004–2005)
• Mary Draycott (2005–2006)
• Paul Westley (2006–2007)
• Gary G Hunt (2007–2008)
• Manjula Sood (2008–2009)
• Roger Blackmore (2009–2010)
• Colin Hall (2010–2011)
• Robert Wann (2011–2012)
• Abdul Osman (2012–2013)
• Mustafa Kamal (2013–2014)
• John Thomas (2014–2015)
• Ted Cassidy (2015–2016)
• Stephen Corrall (2016–2017)
• Rashmikant Joshi (2017–2018)
• Ross Grant (2018–2019)^[13]
• Annette Byrne (2019–2021)
• Deepak Bajaj (2021–2022)
• George Cole (2022–2023)
• Susan Barton (2023-2024)
• Bhupendra Dave (2024-)

References

1. Agnes Johnson Glimpses of ancient Leicester – Page 60 1891 "The first Mayor of Leicester, A.D. 1251.
2. The history of the boroughs and municipal corporations of the ... – Page 229 Henry Alworth Merewether, Archibald John Stephens – 1835 "The mayor of Leicester and his brethren, having, with the consent of the commonalty, by the last ordinance, placed the town under the government of the aldermen, appear, in the 4th year of the reign of King Henry VII., to have adopted 1488. a ..."
3. "No. 33405". The London Gazette. 20 June 1928. p. 4898.
4. "No. 46255". The London Gazette. 4 April 1974. p. 4400.
5. What participation by foreign residents in public life at local ... – Page 91 Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe – 2000 "In 1981 serious riots broke out in the city that were dubbed "race riots" in Highfields and the City centre. ... In 1987 the first Asian Mayor of Leicester was elected, Councillor Gordhan Parmar and the first Asian Member of Parliament, Keith Vaz
6. Noble, Samantha (19 May 2022). "Leicester's first black lord mayor to take on role". BBC News. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
7. "City welcomes its first African Caribbean Lord Mayor". Leicester City Council. 19 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
8. BBC Leicester's elected mayor reports lord mayor over parking August 2011
9. Stone, S. (1871). Roll of Mayors: A List of the Mayors, Magistrates, Aldermen, and Councillors, of the Borough of Leicester, since the passing of the Municipal Corporations Reform Act. Leicester.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
10. "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. pp. ref:odnb/58341. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/58341. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
11. "Edward Shipley Ellis, Chairman, Midland Railway, 1863, JP and Mayor of Leicester".
12. "Election of Mayors". The Times. No. 36922. London. 11 November 1902. p. 12.
13. "Leicester City Council".