Mock mayor

The election of a mock mayor is British folk tradition found in a number of communities throughout the British Isles. A mock mayor is an individual who is elected by a popular informal assembly of individuals as a parody of the official office of mayor in any given community.

The Mock Mayor by Robert William Buss (1804–1875). Brampton Museum, Newcastle-under-Lyme.^[1]

Examples

The mock mayor at the modern Golowan Festival in 2005

Examples may be found in:

Cornwall

• Helston (known as the Mayor of St Johns)^[2]
• Mylor
• Penzance, as part of the Golowan Festival
• Penryn^[3]
• Polperro
• St Germans

Elsewhere

• Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. (Known as the Mayor of Ock Street)^[4]
• Barton, Gloucestershire.^[5][6]
• Llansteffan, Wales.^[7]
• Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.^[8]
• Woodstock, Oxfordshire.^[9][10]

See also

• Cornwall portal

• Lord of Misrule