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 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.
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.
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]
^Agnes Johnson Glimpses of ancient Leicester – Page 60 1891 "The first Mayor of Leicester, A.D. 1251.
^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 ..."
^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
^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)