Sir Richard Garston or Mercer (d. 1412)
Mayor of Oxford
1382/3, 1386/7, 1387/8, 1388/9, 1390/1,
1391/2, 1393/4,
1395/6, 1396/7, 1399/1400, and 1411/12
Richard Garston (or de Garston, or Le Mercer) was the apprentice of John of Barford, who himself was five times Mayor of Oxford.
Garston was a Bailiff on the council in 1374, and was chosen as one of the four Aldermen in 1377, 1380, 1384, 1385, and 1389.
Garston was elected Mayor eleven times, the first time for 1382/3 and the last time for 1411/12. He was also elected Member of Parliament for Oxford in 1390 and 1393.
The Coronation of Henry IV fell on 13 October 1399 during his penultimate term of office, and Garston attended the Coronation in the Oxford Mayor’s traditional role as butler and was duly knighted.
† Sir Richard Garston died in January 1412, and John Merston served as Mayor of Oxford for the rest of the year by command of the letters of the King (Henry IV).
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