Mayors in Coronation years

Royal Coronations and Oxford Mayors

The honour accorded to the Mayor of Oxford of serving as assistant butler at the coronation feast is thought to date from the end of the tenth or the beginning of the eleventh century. This task often led to a knighthood for the mayor in question, and emphasizes the importance of Oxford in medieval times: only London and Winchester had similar rights (with the Lord Mayors of London and the Mayor of Oxford assisting the chief butler (the Earl of Arundel since the time of Richard III), and the Mayor of Winchester assisting the King’s cook).

In the twelfth century a charter was granted by Henry II confirming the privileges possessed by the city of Oxford under his grandfather Henry I, including this right, and it was again confirmed by royal letter of Henry III in 1129, and by an inspeximus of Queen Elizabeth I.

The Mayor of London served the sovereign with wine in a gold cup, receiving the cup with its cover as his fee; the Mayor of Oxford recieved three maple cups, plus a gilt cup.

The first record of the Mayor of Oxford serving in this way is at the coronation of Edward III in 1327, and the last occasion was at the coronation of George IV in 1821, when Herbert Parsons refused a knighthood. Since that date the Mayor of Oxford has attended most coronations, accompanied by leading council members, but has not served in the butlery.

The sixth episode of the great Oxford Pageant of 1912 is entitled “Edward IV at Oxford, A.D. 1461:The King makes the Mayor his cup-bearer at coronations”. The Mayor is made to say:

So please it our gracious Lord, we do offer you in token of our gratitude the best cheer of our poor town, to be served to you by our own hands; and in my office as Chief Magistrate I do humbly crave the right to be your Majesty’s cup-bearer and with these unworthy hands to present the cup which your royal lips shall better.

King Edward IV drinks to Oxford, and then says:

And now, my worthy and well-beloved, the cup in which your King has pledged your town’s honour, should be in no man’s keeping rather than yours. Drink from it with me, and keep it for a talisman of your faith to your rightful lord, the Fourth Edward of the line of England. But first I do all men to wit that you, its Mayor, shall be our cup bearer when presently we shall be crowned at Westminster: and further, that whensover a King of England shall come to his crowning, then shall the Mayor of Oxenford be there, besides the Mayor of London, to bear him the cup at the banquet.

Below is a list of the men who were Mayors of Oxford in the coronation years from the fourteenth century to the present.

Name of Monarch	Date of Coronation	Mayor at time of Coronation with dates of term of office	Whether attended	Whether knighted
Edward III 1327–1377	1327: 29 January	John of Ducklington 29 Sep 1326 to 28 Sep 1327	Yes	[Already a knight]
Richard II 1377–1399	1377: 16 July	William Northern 29 Sep 1376 to 28 Sep 1377	?	[Yes]
Henry IV 1399–1413	1399: 13 October	Richard Garston or Mercer 29 Sep 1399 to 28 Sep 1400	?	[Yes]
Henry V 1413–1422	1413: 9 April	Edmund Kenyan 1412–1413, but he died in 1413 Sir John Gibbes (Mayor 1413/14) may have started his term early and attended the coronation, which could explain his knighthood	Yes	?
Henry VI 1422–1461	1429: 6 November	Thomas Coventry 29 Sep 1429 to 28 Sep 1430	Yes	?
Edward IV 1461–1483	1461: 28 June	John Clark 1460–1461	Yes	No
Edward V 1483	Murdered before his Coronation
Richard III 1483–1485	1483: 6 July	John Seman 29 Sep 1482 to 28 Sep 1483	Unlikely	No
Henry VII 1485–1509	1485: 30 October	John Edgecombe 29 Sep 1485 to 28 Sep 1486	Probably	[Yes]
Henry VIII 1509–1547	1509: 24 June	Richard Kent 29 Sep 1508 to 28 Sep 1509	?	No
Edward VI 1547–1553	1547: 20 February	Richard Gunter 29 Sep 1546 to 28 Sep 1547	?	No
Mary 1553–1558	1553: 1 October	Richard Atkinson 29 Sep 1553 to 28 Sep 1554	?	No
Elizabeth I 1558–1603	1559: 15 January	Richard Whittington 29 Sep 1558 to 28 Sep 1559	Yes	No
James I 1603–1625	1603: 25 July*	Richard Browne 29 Sep 1602 to 28 Sep 1604	Cancelled	No
Charles I 1625–1649	1626: 2 February**	Henry Bosworth 29 Sep 1625 to 28 Sep 1626	Uncertain	No
Commonwealth and protectorate, 1649–1660
Charles II 1660–1685	1661: 23 April	Sampson White 29 Sep 1660 to 28 Sep 1661	Yes	Yes
James II 1685–1689	1685: 23 April	William Walker 29 Sep 1684 to 28 Sep 1685	Yes	Knighted two months previously
William & Mary 1689–1702	1689: 11 April	Robert Harrison 29 Sep 1688 to 28 Sep 1689	Yes	Yes
Anne 1702–1714	1702: 23 April	William Claxon 29 Sep 1701 to 28 Sep 1702	Yes	Yes
George I 1614–1727	1714: 20 October	Daniel Webb 29 Sep 1714 to 28 Sep 1715	Yes	Yes
George II 1727–1760	1727: 11 October	John Boyce 29 Sep 1727 to 28 Sep 1728	Yes	Yes
George III 1760–1820	1761: 22 September***	Thomas Munday 29 Sep 1760 to 28 Sep 1761	Yes	Yes
George IV 1820–1830	1821: 19 July	Herbert Parsons 29 Sep 1820 to 28 Sep 1821	Yes	Refused
William IV 1830–1837	1831: 8 September****	Thomas Wyatt 29 Sep 1830 to 28 Sep 1831	No	No

* The Mayor of Oxford was all ready to go, but because of the plague the coronation was limited to just fourteen dignitaries of London and the Feast was cancelled.

** The Feast was postponed until May, possibly because of the plague again, and it is unclear whether it ever took place.

*** See online the Diary of William Thorp, Bailiff of the City of Oxford, relating to the Coronation of George III and Queen Charlotte, Sept. 22nd 1761

**** The services of the Lord Mayor of London, and thus also of the Mayor of Oxford, were dispensed with at this Coronation: see Jackson’s Oxford Journal for 3 September 1831 for an explanation.

Some Mayors, such as Edward Hitchings (1811/12), were knighted simply because there was a royal visit to Oxford during their term of office.

Since the accession of Queen Victoria, the Mayor of Oxford has often attended the Coronation, but the honour of serving in the office of butler has lapsed.

Name of Monarch	Date of Coronation	Mayor at time of Coronation with dates of term of office	Whether attended
Victoria 1837–1901	1838: 28 June	Charles Tawney 1 Nov 1837 to 31 Oct 1838	Probably
Edward VII 1901–1910	1902: 9 August	Walter Gray 1 Nov 1901 to 31 Oct 1902	Yes
George V 1910–1936	1911: 22 June	Sydney Francis Underhill 1 Nov 1910 to 31 Oct 1911	?
Edward VIII	Not crowned
George VI 1936–1952	1937: 12 May	Leonard Henry Alden May 1936 to April 1937	Attended with his sergeant
Elizabeth II	1953: 2 June	Alan Brock Brown May 1953 to April 1954	Attended with Lady Mayoress

Oxford History: Mayors & Lord Mayors

Royal Coronations and Oxford Mayors