List of mayors of Coventry

The title Lord Mayor of Coventry was created on 3 June 1953 when the dignity was conferred on the city of Coventry, England by Letters Patent as part of the Coronation celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II. Prior to that Coventry had had a Mayor since it was granted its Charter of Incorporation by King Edward III in 1345.

The Lord Mayor is the Chairman of the City Council and has the casting vote. As Coventry's first citizen, they are the non-political, ceremonial head of the city.

Notable Mayors of Coventry

1546-7: John Harford
1583 Henry Breres (MP for Coventry, 1586 and 1601)
1587 Henry Sewall (MP for Coventry, 1621)
1606 Henry Sewall
1609 Sampson Hopkins (MP for Coventry, 1614 and 1621)
1631 William Jesson (MP for Coventry, 1640)
1633 Simon Norton (MP for Coventry, 1640)
1634 John Barker (MP for Coventry, 1640)
1655 Robert Beake (MP for Coventry, 1654–1660)
1834 George Eld (antiquary and editor of the Coventry Standard)
1835 H. Cadwallader Adams^[1]
1858 W. Wilmot^[2]
1861–1862 Thomas Soden^[3]
1889–1891 Alderman Charles John Hill^[4]^[5]
1891–1894 George Singer (founder of Singer Cycle Company)
1894–1903 Alderman Tomson (Liberal)^[6]
1911–1912 William Fitzthomas Wyley ^[7]^[8] (Colonel and Founder of Coventry and Warwickshire Society of Artists)^[9]^[10]
1913–1914 Siegfried Bettmann (founder of Triumph Cycle company)
1937 Alice Arnold – trade unionist; first female mayor^[11]
1941 Alfred Robert Grindlay (industrialist, founder of Grindlay Peerless Cycle Company and Mayor during the Coventry Blitz)

Lord Mayors of Coventry

Coventry's Lord Mayors have included:^[12]

1953: Hamblet Bertie Warner Cresswell
1954: John Fennell (First Lord Mayor)
1955: Thomas Henry Dewis
1956: William Isaac Thomson
1957: Pearl Marguerite Hyde
1958: Harold Henry Kemble Winslow
1959: William Henry Edwards
1960: Harry Stanley
1961: William Callow
1962: Arthur James Waugh, Snr
1963: Emily Allen Allen
1964: Thomas Henry Whiteman
1965: William Parfitt
1966: Edwin Moody Rogers
1967: Eric James Williams
1968: Leonard Lamb
1969: William Frederick Burdett
1970: Sidney John Cordery
1971: Tom Meffen
1972: Wilfred Spencer (died)
1973: Gerard William Sheridan
1974: John Dennis Berry
1975: Charles Ward
1976: Robert Frederick Loosley
1977: Ralph Clews
1978: Charles McKenzie Maxwell (died)
1978: Kenneth Bertram Benfield
1979: Harry Richards
1980: Tom McLatchie
1981: Philip Walter George Robinson
1982: Edgar William Weaver
1983: Joseph Thompson
1984: Walter Sidney Brandish
1985: William McKernan
1986: Winifred Eva Lakin
1987: Jeffrey Desmond White
1988: Arthur James Waugh, Jnr
1989: David John Cairns
1990: William Arthur Hardy
1991: David H. Edwards
1992: Samuel Donald Ewart
1993: Alex M. Boyd
1994: Nick Nolan
1995: Joseph Clifford
1996: Arthur J. (Stan) Hodson
1997: John Mutton
1998: Maggie Rosher
1999: Joan Wright
2000: Sheila Collins
2001: Dave Chater
2002: Ken Taylor
2003: Sucha Singh Bains
2004: John Victor Gazey (June)
2005: Ram Parkash Lakha
2006: Shabbir Ahmed
2007: Dave Batten
2008: Andy Matchet
2009: Jack Harrison
2010: Brian Kelsey
2011: Keiran Mulhall
2012: Tim Sawdon
2013: Gary Crookes
2014: Hazel Noonan ^[13]
2015: Michael Hammon
2016: Lindsley Harvard
2017: Tony Skipper
2018: John Blundell
2019: Linda Bigham
2020: Ann Lucas
2021: John McNicholas
2022: Kevin Maton^[14]

References

John Astley (1885), The Monumental Inscriptions in the Parish Church of S. Michael, Coventry, together with drawings of all the arms found therein, Wikidata Q98360469

^ Astley, p. 4.
^ Astley, p. 12.
^ Astley, p. 7.
^ Hill, Charles John (29 November 1889). "Mayor". Newspapers.com. Coventry Herald and Free Press. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
^ Hill, Charles John (6 February 1891). "Mayor". Newspapers.com. Coventry Herald and Free Press. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
^ "Election of Mayors". The Times. No. 36922. London. 11 November 1902. p. 12.
^ "The history of civic life: Previous Mayors and Lord Mayors". Coventry City Council. 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
^ "Historic Coventry – List of Mayors & Lord Mayors". www.historiccoventry.co.uk. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
^ "History". Coventry & Warwickshire Society of Artists. 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
^ Musing on Spines (1 May 2012). "Coventry and Warwickshire Society of Artists Celebrate Centenary Year". Creatabot. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
^ Wilcox-Lee, Naomi (3 April 2018). "Alice Arnold of Coventry 1881–1955". Sheroes of History.
^ "Coventry's Mayors". Retrieved 24 January 2014.
^ "Lord Mayor of Coventry". Coventry City Council. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
^ "Councillor with 35 years of experience in our city to be new Lord Mayor of Coventry". Coventry Telegraph. 17 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.