List of mayors of Birmingham explained

Post:	Lord Mayor
Body:	Birmingham
Insignia:	Coat of arms of Birmingham.svg
Insigniacaption:	Coat of arms of Birmingham
Incumbent:	Ken Wood, Conservative
Incumbentsince:	May 2024
Style:	Lord Mayor
Residence:	Birmingham
Leadership:	John Cotton, (Labour)
Party:	Labour
Member Of:	Birmingham City Council
Appointer:	Birmingham City Council
Office:	Lord Mayor Office
Termlength:	1 Year
Formation:	1838
Succession:	TBC
Deputy:	Chaman Lal
Website:	Mayor website

This is a list of the mayors and lord mayors of Birmingham in the West Midlands of England.Birmingham has had a mayor (and elected council) since 1838. The office was raised to the dignity of lord mayor when Queen Victoria issued letters patent on 3 June 1896.

By modern convention, the Lord Mayor stands for a year, and is installed into office at the Annual Meeting of the City Council. Lord Mayors are non-political and non-executive during their term of office and act as chair of the council. As the First Citizen of Birmingham, the Lord Mayor represents not only the city but also the people of Birmingham. The honour of being Lord Mayor is now usually alternated between the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat Groups. In normal circumstances the Lord Mayor becomes Deputy Lord Mayor for the following year.^[1]

Mayors of Birmingham

1838–1895

! style="background:#d3d3d3; width:5%;"	No. !	Mayor	Image	Tenure	Terms	Notes
1			1838–1839	1	Second son of Joshua Scholefield, one of Birmingham's first MPs when the town was enfranchised in 1832.
2			1839–1840	2	Councillor, alderman, mayor, justice of the peace and representative of Birmingham in Parliament.
3			1841	1	MP for Derby between 1857 - 65. Unitarian.
4			1842	1
5	Thomas Weston		1843	1	Unitarian
6			1844	1
7	Henry Smith		1845	1
8			1846	1
9			1847	1	Founder of the Birmingham & Midland Bank
10	Samuel Thornton		1848	1
11			1849–1850	2
12	Henry Smith		1851	1
13			1852	1
14			1853	1	Paper manufacturer, owner of James Baldwin & Sons, est. 1829. Unitarian.
15	John Palmer		1854	1	Unitarian
16			1855	1
17			1856–1858	3	Also Town Commissioner, Low Baliff, Town Councillor, Alderman
18	Thomas Lloyd		1859	1
19			1860	1
20			1861	1
21			1862	1	Corn merchant, brother of Joseph Sturge
22			1863	1
23			1864	1
24			1865	1
25			1866	1	Birmingham MP, was a major proponent of education for all children.
26			1866–1867	1	Elected on the resignation of Dixon
27	Henry Holland		1868	1
28			1869	1	Silver-plater. Northwood Street. Thomas Prime & Sons.
29			1870	1
30	John Sadler		1871	1
31			1872	1	Tobacco product manufacturer and retailer. Declared bankrupt in 1883. Unitarian.
32			1873–1876	3	Unitarian.
33			1876	1	Elected on the resignation of Chamberlain in June 1876. Second master of Guild of St George.
34	William Kenrick		1877	1
35			1878	1
36			1879–1880	2	Brother of Joseph Chamberlain
37			1881	1
38	William White		1882	1
39			1883	1	MP for Birmingham East in 1885/1886
40			1884–1886	3
41			1887	1
42			1888	1
43			1889–1890	2
44			1891–1892	2
45			1893	1
46			1894	1
47	James Smith		1895	2

Lord Mayors of Birmingham

19th century

! style="background:#d3d3d3; width:5%;"	No. !	Lord Mayor	Image	Tenure	Terms	Notes
1			1896	2
2			1897 - 1899	4	depicted in the gowns of the Pro-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham
3			1900	1

20th century

Lord Mayor	Tenure	Terms	Notes
	1901-02	1
	1902–04	2	Liberal Unionist^[2]
	1904-05	1	Died 13 April 1905; a great-grandfather of Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason.^[3]
Charles Gabriel Beale	1905	4
	1905-06	1
	1906–1908	2
	1908-09	1
	1909–1912	4	Knighted in 1916
	1912–1914	2
	1914–1915	4	Elected on the resignation of Martineau in September 1914
	1915–1917	2	March 1915 – December 1916 Son of Joseph Chamberlain and future Prime Minister
	1917–1919	3
William Adlington Cadbury	1919–1921	2	Second son of Richard Cadbury
Sir David Davis	1921–1923	2
Thomas Oswald Williams	1923–1924	1
Percival Bower	1924–1926	2
Alfred Henry James	1926–1928	2
Wilfred Byng Kenrick	1928–1929	1
Martin Lewis Lancaster	1929–1930	1
Walter Willis Saunders	1930–1931	1
Sir John Bedford Burman	1931–1932	1
Horace Edward Goodby	1932–1934	2
Samuel John Grey	1934–1936	2
Harold Roberts	1936–1937	1
Ernest Robert Canning	1937–1938	1
James Crump	1938–1939	1
Theodore Beal Pritchett	1939–1940	1
Sir Wilfred Martineau	1940–1941	1
Norman Tiptaft	1941–1942	1
Walter Samuel Lewis	1942–1943	1
Lionel George Helmore Alldridge	1943–1944	1
William Theophilus Wiggins-Davies	1944–1945	1
Alan Stewart Giles	1945–1946	1
Albert Frederick Bradbeer	1946–1947	1
John Charles Burman	1947–1949	2	Son of Sir John Bedford Burman
Hubert Humphreys	1949–1950	1
Alfred Paddon-Smith	1950–1951	1
Ralph Cyril Yates	1951–1952	1
William Tegfryn Bowen	1952–1953	1
George Henry Wilson Griffith	1953–1954	1
Joseph Reginald Balmer	1954–1955	1
Arthur Lummis Gibson	1955–1956	1
Ernest William Apps	1956–1957	1
John Joseph Grogan	1957–1958	1
Donald Johnstone	1958–1959	1
John Henry Lewis	1959–1960	1
Garnet Benjamin Boughton	1960–1961	1
Eric Edward Mole	1961–1962	1
Ernest Walter Horton	1962–1963	1
Louis Glass	1963–1964	1
Frank Leslie Price	1964–1965	1
George Corbyn Barrow	1965–1966	1
Harold Edward Tyler	1966–1967	1
James Stephen Meadows	1967–1968	1
Charles Valentine George Simpson	1968–1969	1
Neville Bosworth	1969–1970	1	Leader of Birmingham City Council from 1976 to 1980 and 1982 to 1984
Stanley Bleyer	1970–1971	1
Victor Ernest Turton	1971–1972	1
Frederick Thomas Duncan Hall	1972–1973	1
	1973–1974	1	The first woman to be Lord Mayor.
	1974–1975	1
Albert Leslie Samuel Jackson	1975–1976	1
Harold Powell	1976–1977	1
Freda Mary Cocks	1977–1978	1
Edward Frederick Hanson	1978–1979	1
George Canning	1979–1980	1
Joseph Morris Bailey	1980–1981	1
Kenneth Benjamin Barton	1981–1982	1
Peter Hollingworth	1982–1983	1
William John Hele Sowton	1983–1984	1
Reginald John Hales	1984–1985	1
Frank William Carter	1985–1986	1
Alan Denis Martineau	1986–1987	1
Frederick James Grattidge	1987–1988	1
Harold Charles Blumenthal	1988–1989	1
Frederick John Chapman	1989–1990	1
Sir Bernard Philip Zissman ^[4]	1990–1991	1
William Henry Turner	1991–1992	1
Peter James Philip Barwell	1992–1993	1
Paul Tilsley	1993–1994	1
Sir Richard Knowles	1994-1995	1	Leader of Birmingham City Council from 1984 to 1993.
David Roy	1995–1996	1
Marion Arnott-Job	1996–1997	1
Sybil Spence	1997–1998	1	The first Black Lord Mayor.
Susan Anderson	1998–1999	1
Ian McArdle	1999–2000	1
Theresa Stewart	2000–2001	1	Leader of Birmingham City Council from 1993 to 1999.

21st century

! style="background:#d3d3d3; width:5%;"	No. !	Lord Mayor	Image	Tenure	Terms	Notes
92	Jim Whorwood		20012002	1
93	Mahmood Hussain		20022003	1
94	John Alden		20032004	1
95	Mike Nangle		20042005	1
96	John Hood		20052006	1
97	Mike Sharpe		20062007	1
98	Randal Brew		20072008	1
99			20082009	1
100			20092010	1
101	Len Gregory		20102011	1
102	Anita Ward		20112012	1
103	John Lines		20122013	1
104	Mike Leddy		20132014	1
105	Shafique Shah		20142015	1
106			20152016	1
107	Carl Rice		20162017	1
108	Anne Underwood		20172018	1
109			20182019	1
110	Mohammed Azim		20192021	2	Served an extra year due to the COVID-19 pandemic
111	Muhammad Afzal		20212022	1	Sworn in 25 May 2021.^[5] He was chosen in 2020, but delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic^[6]
112	Maureen Cornish		20222023	1	Mayor making 24 May 2022.^[7]
113			20232024	1	The first Indian and Sikh descent mayor. Term started 23 May 2023^[8]
114	Ken Wood		20242025	1	Sworn in on the 21st May 2024.^[9]

Notes and References

Web site: Lord Mayor's Parlour . Birmingham City Council . 2009-12-22 . 2013-12-30 . 24 September 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150924170404/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=SystemAdmin%2FCFPageLayout&cid=1223236190191&packedargs=website%3D4&pagename=BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FCFWrapper&rendermode=live . dead .
Election of Mayors . 11 November 1902 . 12 . 36922.
Web site: Bill Mason . The British Entertainment History Project . 11 December 2021 . my grandfather was lord mayor of Birmingham .
Web site: Zissman. Bernard. Sir Bernard Zissman. 4 May 2011.
Web site: British-Pakistani Muhammad Afzal becomes Birmingham's new Lord Mayor. Geo News. 25 May 2021. 25 May 2021.
Web site: Next Birmingham Lord Mayor named - four years after huge controversy that scuppered his bid. Birmingham Mail. 15 January 2020. 25 May 2021.
Web site: Behind the scenes at today's mayor making ceremony, as Lord Mayor Cllr Maureen Cornish, is helped into her robes.. Twitter Lord Mayor of Bham. 24 May 2022. 24 May 2022.
Web site: New Birmingham lord mayor named for 2023 after secret ballot. Rhi Storer. Birmingham Mail. 15 January 2023. 8 February 2023.
Web site: Birmingham’s new Lord Mayor takes up office amid hope for city’s future. Alexander Brock. Birmingham Mail. 21 May 2024. 21 May 2024.