Mayors and Aldermen

Abstract

The one individual in local government whose office is known to most people is the Mayor. His position is also the most sought-after by Councillors and Aldermen. And once it has been attained it remains the high peak of a Councillor’s career, that part of his life about which he is most proud and most eager to talk. The mementoes of his period of office are carefully preserved; often the only press cuttings kept by a Councillor are those connected with his Mayoralty. Over sixty years the Mayor’s legal position has not changed but in practice his functions have. The Mayor of the 1890s had a quite different role to perform from the Mayor of the 1960s.