The Office of Mayor of Winchester is the second oldest mayoralty in England, dating back to the period when Winchester was the capital of Wessex and England. The Mayor of Winchester thus stands second only to the Lord Mayor of the City of London in the order of precedence of civic heads.
Winchester is one of just five local authorities in England to have an official residence for its Mayor. Abbey House was built in about 1700 and sited in the Abbey Gardens just off The Broadway in Winchester. It was acquired by the City Council in 1889. The house stands on the site of a monastic establishment known as Nunnaminster and later as St Mary's Abbey, which was founded around AD900 by Alfred's Queen Ealhswith. The Abbey survived until the late 1530s when it was formally surrendered to the Crown as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
History The exact date of the conferment of full mayoral rights is not known, since the original charter cannot be traced. When London petitioned the King for a grant of mayoralty in 1190, Winchester was not cited as precedent (as were certain French cities), but by 1200 there was reference to the mayoralty as an existing office. It is, therefore, safe to say that the office dates back to the 1190s. The incumbent for 2020-21 is described as the town's 821st mayor.
The earliest Mayors sometimes held the office for several years in succession, but from the 13th century to the present day, the Mayor has been chosen annually. Until the 16th century, the Mayor-elect was required to travel to Westminster to receive the royal assent.
The office developed during the medieval period when Winchester remained an important administrative, commercial and ecclesiastical centre. Early mayors possessed considerably greater executive authority than their modern successors and were responsible for aspects of the administration and governance of the city. Until the 16th century, a new elected Mayor of Winchester was required to travel to Westminster to receive royal assent to the appointment.
The role of the Mayor changed significantly following the Municipal Corporations Acts 1835, which reformed municipal government in England and Wales and removed much of the executive authority historically exercised by the mayors. The office subsequently developed into the predominantly civic and ceremonial role it holds today.
By tradition, the Mayor of Winchester takes precedence immediately after the Lord Mayor of London among English civic heads.
Abbey House The official residence of the Mayor of Winchester is Abbey House, situated in Abbey Gardens near the Broadway in the city centre. Winchester is one of a small number of English cities which provides an official residence for its Mayor.
The present House was constructed around 1700. It occupies part of the site of the former nunnaminster, later known as St Mary's Abbey, which was founded around AD900 by Ealhswith, wife of Alfred the Great.
St Mary's Abbey survived for more than six centuries before being surrendered to the Crown during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the late 1530s. Many of its building were subsequently demolished. By the early 18th century, William Pescod, Recorder of Winchester, had constructed a substantial town house of the site, surrounded by formal gardens. The property subsequently passed through several owners. Winchester city Council purchased Abbey House and its gardens in 1889 for public purposes. The gardens were opened to the public and the house was made available for the use of the serving Mayor.
Abbey House underwent extensive refurbishment in 1982-83, with its interiors restored in the 18th-century style and furnished partly with objects and artworks from the city's collections.
Today, the building is used for civic, community and social functions and for receiving visitors to Winchester.
Mayors of Winchester 1403: Mark le Fayre Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas: CP 40/570; year: 1403 : http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT2/H4/CP40no570/bCP40no570dorses/IMG_1708.htm 1482–1483, 1490–1491, 1499–1500: John Stratford (mayor)Derek Keene, Survey of medieval Winchester. Oxford University Press, 28 Mar 1985Calendar of charters and documents relating to Selborne and its priory, preserved in the muniment room of Magdalen college, Oxford (Volume 2): 1483. 20 Aug. 1 Rich. III. 1772–1773: Sir Paulet St John, 1st Baronet 1786–: (Sir) William Hillman (Clerk of the Green Cloth) 1802–1803: George William Chard, Mus Doc (also Organist of Winchester Cathedral)Wikipedia “List of Musicians at English Cathedrals” 1808–1809: Sir Henry St John-Mildmay, 4th Baronet
There is a list of all Winchester's Mayors from 1587 to 1912 in the last few pages of Warren's 1913 Winchester directory.
There is also a list of all Winchester's Mayors from 1184 to 1799 in pages 266 to 270 of volume 2 of the 1798 first edition of Rev John Milner's history of Winchester. That list is not considered to be reliable for the period pre 1200.
The following is a list of every person to have held the office of Mayor of Winchester since 1900: 1900–1901: Alfred Bowker 1901–1902: Bertram D Cancellor 1902–1903: James A. Fort (Liberal Unionist) 1903–1904: George Ward 1904–1905: Frederick Seymour Morgan 1905–1906: Chaloner Shenton 1906–1907: Reginald Harris 1907–1908: William Forder 1908–1909: Frederick King 1909–1910: Harold Stratton 1910–1911: John Furley 1911–1912: Frederick Holdaway 1912–1913: Howard Elkington 1913–1914: Harry Sealey 1914–1919: Alfred Edmeades 1919–1921: Arthur Dyer 1921–1922: Stanley Clifton 1922–1924: Herbert Vacher 1924–1925: Henry Johnson 1925–1926: William Hayward 1926–1928: Frederick Manley 1928–1929: William Symes 1929–1930: Harry Collis 1930–1931: Walter Hamblin 1931–1932: William Lansdell 1932–1933: Hew Ross 1933–1934: Frank Newton 1934–1935: John Hodder 1935–1936: Arthur Edmonds 1936–1937: John Pinsent 1937–1938: William Richardson 1938–1945: Francis Griffiths 1945–1946: Charles Sankey 1946–1947: Cyril Bones 1947–1949: Doris Crompton 1949–1950: Cyril Taylor 1950–1951: Reginald Evans 1951–1952: Arthur Edmonds 1952–1953: Doris Edmeades 1953–1954: Reginald Dutton 1954–1955: Adelaide Charles (died in office and replaced by Doris Edmeades) 1955–1956: Barbara Gertrude Thackeray 1956–1957: Major Paul Henry Benson Woodhouse 1957–1958: Evelyn Mary Barnes 1958–1959: Fendall W Harvey Pratt 1959–1960: Margaret E L Lowden 1960–1961: Lt Colonel Donald Charles Spelman 1961–1962: Vera Neate 1962–1963: John Hutchins 1963–1964: Dorothy Richards 1964–1965: Stanley Steel 1965–1966: Cyril Bones 1966–1967: Barbara Carpenter Turner 1967–1968: D Jeffrey Smith 1968–1969: Stewart Green 1969–1970: S E Spicer 1970–1971: Stanley Steel 1971–1972: Alice Cleary 1972–1973: T David Sermon 1973–1974: Cyril Taylor 1974–1975: Barbara Carpenter Turner 1975–1976: Alan Cotterill 1976–1977: Gwendoline Shave 1977–1978: David Ball 1978–1979: John Flook 1979–1980: John Green 1980–1981: M Pamela Pitt 1981–1982: Ian Bidgood 1982–1983: Albert Austen 1983–1984: Frederick Peachey 1984–1985: John Broadway 1985–1986: Jean Freeman 1986–1987: Sue Gentry 1987–1988: Major D Covill 1988–1989: Commander B Hall 1989–1990: Frederick Allgood 1990–1991: Pamela Peskett 1991–1992: Capt Richard Bates 1992–1993: Wing Cdr John Nunn 1993–1994: Susan Glasspool 1994–1995: Raymond Pearce 1995–1996: Patricia Norris 1996–1997: Brian 'Brandy' Blunt 1997–1998: Norman Hibdige 1998–1999: George Fothergill 1999–2000: Allan Mitchell 2000–2001: Georgina Busher 2001–2002: Therese Evans 2002–2003: John Steel 2003–2004: Jean Hammerton 2004–2005: Cecily Sutton 2005–2006: Neil Baxter 2006–2007: Sue Nelmes 2007–2008: Chris Pines 2008–2009: Michael Read 2009–2010: Dominic Hiscock 2010–2011: Richard Izard 2011–2012: Barry Lipscomb 2012–2013: Frank Pearson 2013–2014: Ernest Jeffs 2014–2015: Eileen Berry 2015–2016: Angela Clear 2016–2017: Jane Rutter 2017–2018: David McLean 2018–2019: Frank Pearson 2019–2020: Eleanor Bell 2020–2021: Patrick Cunningham 2021–2022: Vivian Achwal 2022–2023: Derek Green 2023-2024: Angela Clear 2024-2025: Russell Gordon-Smith 2025-2026: Sudhakar Achwal
See also Local Government in the United Kingdom City of Winchester
References