Oxford History: Mayors & Lord Mayors

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MAYORS:

1205–1348
1348–1485
1485–1603
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1714–1835
1836–1962

LORD MAYORS:

1962–today

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From at least the Coronation of King Edward III in 1327 to that of King George IV in 1821, the Mayor of Oxford served as Assistant Butler at the feast that was held afterwards in Westminster Hall. Only two other mayors in England had similar roles: the Lord Mayor of London (who acted as the Chief Butler) and the Mayor of Winchester (who assisted the King’s cook).

The Mayor of Oxford's only role as Assistant Butler was to serve the sovereign with wine in a covered gilt cup, and for this modest service not only was he given three maple cups plus a gilt cup, but often received a knighthood.

When William IV was crowned in 1831, however, he dispensed with this feast, and thereafter the service of the Mayor of Oxford was no longer required, but he continued to be invited to attend the Coronation as a guest until Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation in 1953. This tradition was brought to an abrupt halt in 2023.

For the Proclamations at Oxford of new monarchs, which sometimes took place over a year before the Coronation, see separate page.)

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Before 1327

The honour accorded to the Mayor of Oxford of serving as Assistant Butler at Coronation feasts is thought to date from the end of the tenth or the beginning of the eleventh century. 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.

Michael Harris believes that the early mayors of Oxford were from a branch of the le Rous family that held the hereditary office of pincerna (chief butler) at ceremonial events: more information here.

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Coronations from 1327 to 1821

During this period the Coronation Feast took place in Westminster Hall (below).

The first Mayor of Oxford recorded as serving as Assistant Butler was at the Coronation of Edward III in 1327.

After Richard Whittington served as butler at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth I on 29 September 1558, he presented the city council with the following bill:

M^d that I Richard Whittyngton, Mayre of Oxford, made sute unto my lorde of Arundell [the Lord Mayor of London] for the office in the buttery the xj daye of January, 1558, for o^r liveryes and suche things as belonge to that office. Item, iij gownes and iiij cotes, one gowne for the Mayre, and two for ij Bayllies, and iiij cotes for foure men that he appoynted of the same Towne, besydes his servaunt and other that were w^th hym at the tyme.

Item, for vij aparnes for the officers that daye taps, there lay till Weddensday senygt after the first sute: vijs iiijd.

At the next Coronation (of King James I in 1603), the Mayor of Oxford Richard Browne was all geared up to serve as butler, and the plans were recorded in the Council Acts on 4 May 1603:

It is agreed that where by our charters Mr. Mayor and some other citizens are to serve the king’s Majestie in his buttrye at the feast of his Coronacion; These parties, viz. Mr. Alderman Goode, Mr. Alderman Bartholmewe, Mr. Thomas Harrys, Mr. Thomas Stone and Mr. William Dennington, baylliffs, and Mr. Henry Niccolls shall goe upp with Mr. Maior as citizens to serve in the place at the chardge of this cytie; and theis foure, viz. Mr. Alderman Levinz, Mr. Alderman Cossam, Mr. Harryson and Mr. Flaxney are appointed to have conference and consideracion of their chardges and allowance both for the expence of their goeing upp, tarring [sic, for “tarrying”] there and their returne and what guyfts and presents shalbe necessarily bestowed and uppon their accompt at their comming home to present the whole chardge to this howse.

In the event, however, the Oxford contingent was unable to attend, as James I issued a proclamation forbidding all persons except the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and twelve principal citizens of London to attend the ceremony for fear of spreading the plague.

Right: This silver-gilt Coronation Cup can be seen in Oxford's Town Hall. It was presented to Sampson White at the Coronation of King Charles II in 1661, and is inscribed: “Donum Regale Domini Nostri Caroli Secundi [D.G. Angliae etc] Regis Augustissimi Coronationis festo in Botelaria servienti Sampsoni White, Milito, Civitatis Oxonford Majori, subdito flagrante rebellione fidelissimo” [“A royal gift to Sampson White, Knight, Mayor of the City of Oxford, and most faithful of subjects when rebellion raged, for serving in the Butlery at the Coronation feast of our most venerable King, Lord Charles II, [by the Grace of God King of England etc.”].

Sampson White was knighted by the King at the ceremony. Margaret Toynbee, “The City of Oxford and the Restoration of 1660” Oxoniensia (1960) gives a full description of this Mayor's role in the Coronation of 23 April 1661.

In 1666 the city Keykeeper's account refers to this Coronation Cup, “Paid to Sir Sampson White, late Mayor, the Summe of £27 in full of soe much disbursed by him for this Cittie for fees and gratuities in the obteyning of his Majesties Royall Bowle given to the body of this Citie for his and their service at his Royal Coronacon, which Bowle is to be preserved amongst the Treasures of this Citie as a perpetual honour to this Citie from his Majestie.”

The ceremony in Westminster Hall for the five Coronations from James II (1685) to George II (1727) is described in great detail in An Account of the Ceremonies Observed in the Coronations of the Kings and Queens of England. It was written in 1760 so that people knew what to expect at the Coronation of George III the following year. After the anointing, crowning, and enthroning of the King and then his Queen and the Anthem and prayers led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the gathering would return to Westminster Hall for dinner. After the second course the Mayor of Oxford would perform his role:

Then the Lord of the Manor of Nether Bilsington in Kent presents unto his Majesty Three Maple Cups, by reason of the Tenure of the said Manor.
   After this his Majesty's Cupbearer conducts the Mayor of Oxford as Assistant (with other of the Burgesses of the said City) to the Lord-mayor and Citizens of London, in the Office of the Butlership, who presents to the King, on his Knee, a Bowl of Wine in a gilt Cup covered; and his Majesty bestows on him (the said Mayor of Oxford) the three Maple Cups, which he had received as above.

 

The last occasion when the Mayor of Oxford served as butler was Herbert Parsons at the coronation of George IV on 19 July 1821, reported in Jackson's Oxford Journal two days later:

The Mayor and Citizens of Oxford, who claimed, under Charter, to assist the Citizens of London in the Butlership, were—Herbert Parsons, Esq. Mayor; William Elias Taunton, Esq. Recorder; Richard Cox, Esq. Alderman; Thomas Fox Bricknell, Esq. Alderman; William Folker, Esq. Assistant; James Adams, Esq. Assistant; Robert Juggins, Esq. Bailiff; Charles Foster, Esq., Bailiff, Sir William Elias Taunton, Knight, Town Clerk. They were permitted as matter of favour not of right, to proceed to the Hall in the City's barges.

The newspaper then reports that Coronation ceremony in detail. It was followed by the dinner, which started at 6.10pm, and after dinner the Lord Mayor of London as Chief Butler of England, accompanied by twelve principal citizens of London acting as his assistants, presented the King with wine in a gold cup, and he returned the cup to the Lord Mayor as his fee. Then it was the Mayor of Oxford's turn:

Then the Lord of the Manor of Nether Bilsington presented his Majesty with three maple cups.
    The Mayor of Oxford, with the eight other Burgesses of that city, as Assistants to the Chief Butler of England in the office of Butler, were conducted to his Majesty, preceded by the King's Cup-bearer, and having presented to the King a bowl of Wine, received the three maple cups for his fee.

Parsons declined, however, the offer of a baronetcy that was pressed upon him.

* 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

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Early Oxford Mayors who were knighted despite not serving as butler

If a coronation was due to take place in the next mayoral year, competition for election would have been fierce. Thomas Hearne in his diary implies that Oliver Greenway made a special effort to be elected Mayor in 1727:

This Greenaway being a very great Whig, & having made some attempt to be Mayor this year, on purpose that he might be knighted at the Coronation, tho’ he could not succeed, it was done I suppose, for that reason by way of sneer upon the Tories, of wch kind is the Mayor.

Although Greenway failed in his attempt to be made Mayor, when George II was crowned on 4 October 1727 he was knighted anyway, despite only being one of the Mayor’s Assistants, causing Thomas Hearne to remark, “which thing of Knighting one of the Mayor of Oxford’s Attendants is perfectly new”.

Some other Mayors such as William Walker (1684/5), John Treacher II (1784/5) and Edward Hitchings (1811/12) were knighted simply because there was a royal visit to Oxford during their term of office.

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Since the Coronation of 1831

William IV in 1831 wanted a pared-down Coronation, dispensing with the feast in Westminster Hall, and later monarchs continued in this way, so henceforth the services of both the Lord Mayor of London and the Mayor of Oxford were no longer needed. The Mayors of Oxford were, however, invited to attend the Coronations from 1831 to 1953 as guests.

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Oxford Pageant of 1912

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 whensoever 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.

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See also:

• G. Rigaud, “Ceremonies performed by mayors of Oxf. at coronations”, Proceedings of the Oxford Architectural and Historical Society, N.S. iv.301–13
• William Cooke Taylor, Chapters on Coronations (London, 1838)
• Oxford University, City, & County Herald, 28 April 1838, p. 3a re attempt to end the mayor’s traditional service as royal butler
• Silver-gilt coronation cups in the Plate Room of the Town Hall. These were presented to mayors at the coronation banquets of Charles II and George IV and were acquired by the city in 1684 and 1946