Canterbury was granted a City Charter in 1448 which gave it the right to have a mayor and a high sheriff. The city's web site records that
King Henry VI decreed that the City should be "of one Mayor and one commonalty, wholly corporate for ever". The first Mayor elected under Royal Charter was John Lynde. The responsibilities of Mayors have diminished over the years. They were once in charge of keeping the peace, serving as Chief Magistrate and presiding over the local lawcourt. This caused problems as the Mayor could be asked to chair sessions without experience or knowledge of law. The Justices of the Peace Act of 1968 decreed that Mayors were no longer entitled to sit as magistrates by virtue of their office alone.[1]
A complete chronological list of Bailiffs (1380–1447) and Mayors (1448-1800) is given in Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, vol. 12 (1801) pp. 603–611, available online from British History Online, page 63714.
Names not otherwise referenced in the listed below are taken from this source.
|
Contents
|
Please help to fill gaps in this list.
|
|
|
|
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)