Lord Mayor of Oxford

The Lord Mayor is the first Citizen of the City of Oxford. The first recorded Mayor of Oxford is Laurence Kepeharme, 1205-1209 and Mayors’ names stretch in an unbroken line until 1962 when the dignity of Lord Mayor was granted to Oxford by Queen Elizabeth II. For a full list of past Lord Mayors of Oxford, please visit Wikipedia.

Lord Mayor, Deputy Lord Mayor and Sheriff of Oxford

• The Lord Mayor of Oxford is Councillor Louise Upton
• The Deputy Lord Mayor is Councillor Mike Rowley
• The Sheriff of Oxford is Councillor Andrew Gant

Lord Mayor's duties

The Lord Mayor represents the Council at civic and ceremonial events. He/she spends a great deal of time promoting the City, the key initiatives of the Council and supporting a wide range of Oxford based voluntary and other organisations. 

The Lord Mayor generally carries out in excess of 300 engagements each year. These engagements cover a wide spectrum of events from high profile Royal visits and leading the City's annual Remembrance Sunday service, to small community group meetings and charity events. 

The Lord Mayor also chairs meetings of full council.

The post of Lord Mayor of Oxford is different to that of the Mayor of London in that it is a ceremonial post carrying no political power. The political head of the City Council is the Leader of the Council. 

How the Lord Mayor is chosen

The Lord Mayor must be a serving councillor and is chosen on length of service. The Lord Mayor is usually elected annually in May when all city councillors meet together at the Annual Meeting of Council. Their term of office is for one year, during which time he/she also continues their ward duties. Councillors can only serve as Lord Mayor once.

Due to the impact of the pandemic, the annual ceremony in May 2020 was cancelled. It was then agreed by full council that the terms of both the outgoing and incoming Lord Mayors would be extended to 18 months.

Mayoral Invitations

The Lord Mayor of Oxford is very keen to visit all aspects of the community during their term of office. If you have an event you would like the Lord Mayor to attend, please contact the Civic Office Holders' Executive Assistant or use the form below.

Send an invitation to the Lord Mayor

Unfortunately, due to demand, it is not possible for the Lord Mayor to attend every event to which he/she is invited. In these circumstances, it is generally possible for the Deputy Lord Mayor or the Sheriff of Oxford to attend instead.

Please note we require a minimum of four weeks notice of your event. Invitations received at short notice may not be considered. Thank you for your cooperation.

Lord Mayor's Engagements 

Civic Engagements Calendar

Make a Donation

Donations towards the Lord Mayor’s fundraising efforts are always welcomed and there are many ways you can pledge your support.

Text to Donate

Text the word LORDMAYOR followed by the amount you wish to give to 70085 e.g. ‘LORDMAYOR 10’ to donate £10.

Texts cost your donation amount plus one standard rate message and you’ll be opting in to hear more about our work and fundraising via telephone and SMS. If you’d like to donate but do not wish to receive marketing communications, text LORDMAYORNOINFO followed by your donation amount to 70085.

Donate via BACS

Donations can be made via bank transfer to Account Number 61173455, Sort Code 08-90-38.

Send us a Cheque

Cheques should be made payable to Lord Mayor of Oxford Charity Trust and can be posted to Civic Office, Town Hall, St Aldate’s, Oxford, OX1 1BX.

Thank you for your support.

Contact Us

If you would like to help the Lord Mayor of Oxford in this work or get involved in any of these charities or donate money to them please contact us.