Visiting Hereford Mayor's Parlour

I have previously visited the Mayors Parlour in Hereford on an open day, where I learnt that the mayor had 4 different gowns that were in use. I was therefore very interested in seeing these when I started this project. I wrote to the mayor's secretary requesting their help and Roger Stoakes, the mayors ...., was kind enough to show me the gowns.

The Mayor's Parlour is housed in the Town Hall which was opened in 1904 after the Tudor Town Hall was demolished in 1862. The building is a very ornate example of late Victorian architecture designed by H.A. Cheers of Twickenham.

'The City of Hereford has one of the oldest Mayoralties in the country, with an unbroken line of Mayors stretching back to 1382 - more than 625 years. A list of Mayors and Bailiffs since 1382 can be viewed on the landing outside the Mayor's Parlour.
Hereford does not have a Lord Mayor but a 'Right Worshipful Mayor'. This title has its origins in the term a 'worthy', implying honour and dignity to the holder of an office. The title is quite rare, and the 'Right Worthship' has evolved into 'Right Worshipful', which is a great honour for the City. Most Mayors are only styled 'The  Worshipful the Mayor' (REFERENCE)

Mayor of Hereford Robe

Back view of robe

The main robe that is used by the Mayor of Hereford is the above example. It was made by Ede & Ravenscroft and is about 40 years old. It is interesting to see how the styles of the earlier robes that are stored in the museum has evolved into this example. The trimming is Murray velvet which runs over the shoulders and down the centre, around the hem and the sleeves. The velvet down the front is attached like a collar, only secured across the hem. The sleeves are the same as the 3rd example from the museum collection but with a thinner trim, similar to the Bournemouth example but without the hanging sleeves.

630th The Right Worshipful the Mayor of Hereford, Councillor Mrs Julie Woodward (2011-2012)
Mayor wearing the above robe. 

Roger explained that the red tape on the shoulders, which is used to hold the chains in place, shows that this is a robe for a Mayor that is currently in office or has been previously. When people say 'going through the chair' that means councillors that have been through office, so are either current Mayors or ex-Mayors. If a gown has black tape on the shoulders then that means they are a deputy.

This is a second robe, which is very similar though has a wider shaped collar of velvet on the back. The pleats are wider but gathered more closely to make quite a nice shape.

Junior Mayor's Robe 

In Hereford a Junior Mayor is chosen from a local school to be in office for a year. They are usually about 11 years old and so, as you can see, the gown has been shortened on the hem and the hanging sleeves that are similar to the robes from 1835 and 1850. The lace sleeves that are worn under the robe with white gloves have to be sewn in place for the Junior Mayors but otherwise the robes are the same.

Rebecca Johns, 5th Junior Mayor of Hereford being installed in the Council Chambers. 

I explained that I will be making a lightweight robe for the Mayor of Bournemouth and asked if they had made this robe lighter or if they had anything like this and Roger explained that the robes are worn so infrequently that this is not really necessary for Hereford. In Hereford the Mayor will only wear their full dress about 10 times a year on ceremonial occasions whereas other cities may wear theirs much more and therefore this would be necessary.

Detail of the cartridge pleats on the Junior Mayor's Robe. 

This gown  was constructed in a very similar way to the 2nd example from the museum. It had a number of cartridge pleats under the arms and the pleats on the back were padded out with canvas. 

With the gown a Mayor wears a jabot, the chains, gloves and a tricorne or bicorne hat. Women wear tricorne, Men wear bicornes. On the hats there is a gold flash that on the tricorne is worn to the right. This shows that they have 'gone through the chair' Other councillors wear black flash. The above hats were made by Ede and Ravenscroft. 

*One thing that Roger said about the robes from the Museum collection was that the maroon and navy robe wouldn't be a Mayors but a Councillors robe or possibly Aldermanic but they do not do Aldermen anymore. This is something I would like to look into further as I am not particularly clear to what an Alderman is in comparison to a Mayor. 

Town Clerk's Robe

This robe is for a Town Clerk and can be seen being worn in the photo of the Junior Mayor above. The long sleeves of this gown are similar to the Junior Mayor's robes with the T-shaped opening but are covered in tassles, which are also on the back hem. 

A Liveryman Jacket 

This is a Liveryman Jacket. The job of a liveryman is to escort the Mayor in special occasions and act as a 'symbolic bodyguard'. They bear swords or maces when escorting. Hereford has 8 Liverymen, which is quite a lot.

Sword and Maces on display in the Mayors Parlour.

In the Mayors Parlour there was a shelf of photo albums and Roger showed me this picture of Councillor Beaumont who was Mayor in 1965 - 1966. He remarked that this gown should never have been bought at the time and has not been able to be used since.

The fur on this gown is miniver fur with ermine spots which is the fur used for gowns of Peers of the Realm and therefore not appropriate for a Mayors Robe. 

The last garment that I saw was the cloak for the Town Crier. In Hereford the town crier is ceremonial whereas in some other cities they hire commercial town criers. This cloak is worn over top of the liveryman jacket with the top hat. The cloth was made by Brook Taverner and the cloak constructed in a firm in Much Wenlock which makes clerical costume. 

This visit has been really beneficial to me. It was great to see more styles of Mayoral gowns and the ways they were constructed. I also learnt quite a lot about the ceremony involved when being a mayor and the other roles that are involved.