Royal Leamington Spa has a long history of elected Mayor's which date from 1875 when the Town was incorporated as a Borough. Between 1875 and 1974, the Mayor was the Chaiman of the Borough Council of Royal Leamington Spa. At this time the Borough Council was an "all purpose" Authority responsible for delivering all the local government services undertaken by local authorities at that time, inlcuding education, social services, public health provision, planning control and management of local infrastructure such as highways, water supply etc.
In 1974 local government underwent a fundamental reorganisation and Royal Leamington Spa, like many other Towns and cities, saw the primary unit of local government abolished and its functions transferred to a new tier of local authority. In Leamington Spa this saw the abolition of the Borough Council and the transfer of some powers to Warwickshire County Council and others to a newly formed Warwick District Council comprising the area of Leamington and the former rural Districts of Warwick and Kenilworth. This broad split of responsibility continues to this day.
Beneath this layer of Principal local authorities was created new Parish and Town Councils. The Government was initially reluctant to create Town Councils for Towns with a large population, particularly where this would create a new Authority of significant size within a newly established District where there would be an imbalance in population between the Town and District Council areas. For this reason, Royal Leamington Spa was not made a civil Parish in 1974 in preference for its designation as a Charter Trustee Town. The powers of the Charter Trustees were to safeguard the institution of the elected office of Mayor and provide for appropriate civic support and maintenance of the Civic regalia. The Charter Trustees were able to levy a precept upon public funds to support this. Charter Trustees were appointed to this position by virtue of being elected to the District Council. The Mayor during this period was elected from among their number.
In 2002, afrer a long campaign to allow Leamington Spa to be designated as a Civil Parish and hence become a Town Council, the Government agreed to the formation of the Town Council of Royal Leamington Spa in succession to the Charter Trustees. The first elections of the Town Council took place in 2003 and since that time the Mayor has been elected to Office from among the Town Councillors.
A gallery of all the past Mayors of Royal Leamington Spa is being compiled and images will be added to this page on a regular basis.
Members of the public are welcome to obtain a copy of these images for their personal use. However the images are subject to copyright and therefore should not be reproduced without the Council's permission.
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Samuel Wackrill 1875- 76
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Thomas Muddeman - 1879-80
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Sidney Flavel - 1883-1885