Worship at the Abbey

Civic Service with the new Lord Mayor of Westminster

05 July 2009 at 11:00 am

Westminster Abbey welcomes the new Lord Mayor of Westminster and  Deputy High Steward of the Abbey, Councillor Duncan Sandys and City of Westminster councillors to the annual Civic Service on Sunday 5 July at 11am.

The Civic Service is held annually to mark the historic links between Westminster Abbey and Westminster City Council.

During the service attendees can make donations to the Abbey and the Lord Mayor’s Charity, St Andrew’s Club in Westminster, which is the oldest youth club in the world. The Dean of Westminster is Vice-President of St Andrew’s Club.

Tickets for the service are available by sending a self-addressed envelope to
Matthew Arnoldi, Room 5, The Chapter Office, Westminster Abbey, 20 Dean’s Yard, London, SW1P 3PA.

All are welcome to attend the service. Doors open at 10am.

THE CITY OF WESTMINSTER

Westminster first achieved the status of a city in 1540 when it became for only ten years a bishopric.  Its first recorded civic administration dates from 1585 in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I when an Act authorised the establishment of a Court of Burgesses ‘for the good government of the City of Westminster’.

While Queen Elizabeth I was creating mayors elsewhere in England, she was concerned that a mayor in Westminster might challenge the authority of the monarch in her own capital city, and therefore she appointed instead, as chairman of her newly created Court of Burgesses, the High Steward of Westminster Abbey.  The first High Steward to chair the new Court of Burgesses was the Queen’s First Minister, William Cecil, Lord Burleigh.

The Court of Burgesses was an administrative body, comprising twelve Burgesses appointed by the Dean, one for each ward, which dealt with public health and morality, planning permissions, the prevention and punishment of crime, and the regulation of weights and measures.

However, when the London Government Act of 1899 created twenty-eight Metropolitan Borough Councils, each having an elected Mayor, Aldermen, and Councillors, the authority of the Dean and the High Steward in secular affairs ceased.

The last High Steward who was also effectively Mayor was Lord Salisbury, who was then also Prime Minister.  The Duke of Norfolk was the first Mayor of Westminster.  On 29 October 1900 a Royal Charter confirmed the status of Westminster as a city.

Since 1935, the High Steward (the Abbey’s senior Lay Officer) has each year appointed the current Mayor of Westminster as Deputy High Steward of Westminster.

The new City of Westminster incorporating the Boroughs of Paddington and St Marylebone was constituted by Royal Charter on 1 April 1965.  The following year, the Queen granted the First Citizen the style and dignity of Lord Mayor.

To recognise these links between Westminster Abbey and Westminster City Council, the Dean and Chapter welcomes annually the new Lord Mayor of Westminster, the Deputy High Steward, in State to the Civic Service.