Civic and Municipal Robes

The title of Mayor comes from Norman origin incorporating earlier Saxon officials such as reeves and ealdorman. The Mayor of London was first mentioned in 1191 and by the 17^th century the role had become one of great importance. He was the first citizen and therefore chief magistrate and chairman of the council and coroner and was therefore quite powerful.

Councillors were elected to represent townspeople, who then elected their mayor and aldermen. This arose form merchant and craft guilds of the towns as they were the most wealthy and powerful. The guilds were presided over by an alderman. These guilds became known as livery companies and each wore a distinctive uniform, the alderman got renamed as the warden and aldermen were restricted to a territorial administration.

The livery companies dress was quite sombre and usually included a houppelande, which is a full garment with long and loose sleeves worn over a gipon or doublet and hose. This houppelande became known as a gown and often had hanging sleeves. A hood was also worn and this soon became decorative and was worn over the shoulders. By the end of the 16^th century this gown had become rather standardised, with long hanging sleeves with slits for the arms with a fur trimming around the front.

During the 16^th century gowns became more standardised in colour. Scarlet, violet, crimson were popular but black prevailed. From the 17^th century onwards fur edging was common on the fronts, hems and hanging sleeves.

For a long time the Lord Mayor was chosen out of the12 great livery companies. These comprised of: Mercers, Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Goldsmiths, Skinners, Merchant Tailors, Haberdashers, Salters, Ironmongers, Vintners and Clothworkers. Anyone not in one of these companies that was elected would have to be ‘translated’ to one of the great companies.

From about the 15^th century it is clear that Mayors and their wives wore distinguishing dress and this dress was often exempt from provisions or laws regarding dress standards. However in some documents rules were laid down to Mayors and aldermen outlining days that they had to wear their gowns, which if they didn’t comply to they would face a fine of £10.

Scarlet was the most popular colour for gowns from early on with velvet tippets. Councillors had murrey gowns. In 1721 the mayor was to have a scarlet gown, the alderman black with scarlet velvet or fur facing and the councillors or capital burgesses black gowns faced with black velvet. Court dress is worn under the robe for civic occasions.

With the Municipal Reform Act of 1835 local elections were open to all rate payers as candidates and voters, where it was just the rich and elite before, and this meant councils became a lot more democratic. This resulted in a lot of the councils changing the robes to black or abolishing them completely. Later in the century however robes were generally put back into use. Also in Victorian times new cities and corporations were created, just like Bournemouth and the councils for these new places established mayors.