List of mayors of Manchester Facts for Kids

This page is about the Lord mayors of the City of Manchester, England. For mayors of Manchester, New Hampshire, see List of mayors of Manchester, New Hampshire. For the directly elected mayors of Greater Manchester, England, see Mayor of Greater Manchester.

This article is about the important role of the Lord Mayor in the city of Manchester, England. It's different from the Greater Manchester Mayor, who is elected by people across the wider Greater Manchester area.

The Lord Mayor of Manchester is a special person chosen by the city's councillors. This role is mostly about representing the city at events, supporting good causes, and leading meetings of the Manchester City Council. They also act as an ambassador for Manchester. The Lord Mayor serves for one year, and a new one is chosen each May. The current (126th) Lord Mayor is Paul Andrews from the Labour party, who started in May 2024.

History of Manchester's Mayors
Mayors of Manchester (1838–1893)
Lord Mayors of Manchester
See also

History of Manchester's Mayors

Manchester became an official city in 1838. At first, its leader was called the "Mayor." In 1853, Manchester was given "city status," which is a special title. Over the years, the city grew bigger as more areas joined it. These areas included places like Bradford, Rusholme, Blackley, and Didsbury.

A new town hall was opened in 1877. Then, in 1893, the mayors of Manchester were given an even grander title: Lord Mayor. Anthony Marshall was the last person to be called "Mayor" and the first to be called "Lord Mayor."

In 1984, the city council decided to make the Lord Mayor's role less formal and less expensive. They changed the title to "Chair of the Manchester City Council." This meant the person in charge no longer wore fancy robes or the traditional chain of office. They also didn't live in the special tax-funded apartment anymore; instead, this apartment was opened to the public. These changes weren't very popular with everyone. However, the title Lord Mayor was still often used by people outside the council. After a few years, the traditional robes and the title of Lord Mayor were brought back. Today, the Lord Mayor wears the traditional clothes and uses the original title again.

Mayors of Manchester (1838–1893)

This table shows some of the people who served as Mayor of Manchester before the title changed to Lord Mayor. There were 36 mayors in total during this period.

No.	Mayor	Started	Ended	Terms	Notes
1	Sir Thomas Potter	1838	1840	2	His son, Sir John Potter, also became mayor.
2	William Neild	1840	1842	2
3	James Kershaw	1842	1843	1
4	Alexander Kay	1843	1845	2
5	William Benjamin Watkins	1845	1846	1
34	Sir John Mark	1889	1891	2	First mayor of the County Borough.
35	Sir Bosdin Thomas Leech	1891	1892	1
36	Anthony Marshall	1892	1893	2	He was the last Mayor and then became the first Lord Mayor.

Lord Mayors of Manchester

19th Century Lord Mayors

This section lists some of the Lord Mayors from the 19th century.

No.	Lord Mayor	Started	Ended	Terms	Notes
1	Sir Anthony Marshall	1893	1894	2	He was knighted when the Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894.
2	Abraham Evans Lloyd	1894	1896	2
3	John Foulkes Roberts	1896	1897	1
4	Robert Gibson	1897	1898	1
5	Sir William Henry Vaudrey	1898	1899	1
6	Thomas Briggs	1899	1901	2	He was a director of the Royal Exchange in Manchester.

20th Century Lord Mayors

This table shows some of the Lord Mayors who served in the 20th century.

No.	Lord Mayor	Started	Ended	Terms	Notes
7	Sir James Hoy	1901	1902	1
8	John Royle	1902	1903	1	From the Liberal party.
9	Sir Thomas Thornhill Shann	1903	1905	2
10	James Herbert Thewlis	1905	1906	1
11	John Harrop	1906	1907	1
12	Sir Edward Holt	1907	1909	2
50	Dame Mary Latchford Kingsmill Jones	1947	1949	2	She was the first woman to hold this important position.
86	Harold Tucker	1984	1985	1	He was the last Conservative Lord Mayor of Manchester for a long time.
87	Kenneth Strath	1985	1986	1	He was the first "Chair of the Council" when the title changed temporarily.
89	Eileen Kelly	1987	1988	1	She was the last "Chair of the Council" before the title of Lord Mayor returned.
101	Tony Burns	1999	2000	1

21st Century Lord Mayors

This table shows some of the Lord Mayors who have served in the 21st century, including the most recent ones.

No.	Lord Mayor	Started	Ended	Notes
102	Hugh Barrett	2000	2001
103	John Smith	2001	2002
104	Roy Walters	2002	2003
105	Audrey Jones	2003	2004
106	Tom O'Callaghan	2004	2005
107	Mohammed Afzal Khan	2005	17 May 2006
108	James Ashley	17 May 2006	12 August 2006	He was a Liberal Democrat and sadly passed away while in office.
123	Tommy Judge	27 October 2020	18 May 2022
124	Donna Ludford	18 May 2022	17 May 2023
125	Yasmine Dar	17 May 2023	15 May 2024	She was the first Asian woman to become Lord Mayor.
126	Paul Andrews	15 May 2024	incumbent	He is the current Lord Mayor.

List of mayors of Manchester facts for kids

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