The council traces its roots to the
Corporation of Leicester, and before then to the
Merchant Gild and the
Portmanmoot. The Portmanmoot consisted of 24
Jurats, elected from the
burgesses (members of the
Gild Merchant, or
freemen), along with two bailiffs, and a clerk. It appears to have existed before the
Norman Conquest in 1066. In 1209, the lead member of the Portmanmoot, the Alderman, became known as a mayor. The Gild Merchant and the Moot overlapped in membership and had probably become effectively merged in the 14th century. Membership of the Twenty-Four appears to have been by
co-option, chosen by themselves. Traditionally, the general populace attended some meetings of the Moot and Guild, but this was restricted to burgesses in 1467. Later, in 1489, this changed to a system where the Mayor and the Twenty-Four chose Forty-Eight burgesses to represent the others, and the Twenty-Four and the Forty-Eight would govern jointly. After doubts as to the ability of the Moot and Gild to hold property arose in the 16th century, the corporation was formed, replacing the Gild and Portmanmoot, in 1589. A second charter was granted in 1599, reconfirming this, to
The Mayor, Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Borough of Leicester. The 24 Jurats became known as the
Aldermen of the corporation, and the 48 other Burgesses as the
Common Council. The members of the Corporation chose the burgesses to send to the
House of Commons. Leicester was reformed to become a
municipal borough in 1836 under the
Municipal Corporations Act 1835, which standardised how most boroughs across the country were governed. The borough was then led by a corporate body formally called the "mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Leicester", which was generally known as the corporation or town council. The previous system of co-option for members of the council was replaced with elections by rate-payers. This led to a prolonged spell of
Liberal control of the council. When elected county councils were established in 1889, Leicester was considered large enough for its existing corporation to provide county-level services, and so it was made a
county borough, independent from
Leicestershire County Council. In 1919 Leicester was awarded
city status, after which the corporation was formally called the "mayor, aldermen and citizens of the city of Leicester", also known as the city council. In 1928 the council was given the right to appoint a
Lord Mayor. The city boundaries were enlarged on a number of occasions as the urban area grew, notably in 1935 and 1966. The corporation was replaced in 1974 under the
Local Government Act 1972, with the modern Leicester City Council, a
non-metropolitan district council. This was a lower tier district-level authority, with county-level services being provided to the city by Leicestershire County Council for the first time. Leicester kept the same boundaries (which had last been adjusted in 1969) at the time of the 1974 reforms. In 1997, Leicester City Council regained responsibility for county-level services from Leicestershire County Council as part of the
1990s UK local government reforms. The way this change was implemented was to create a new
non-metropolitan county of Leicester covering the same area as the existing district, but with no separate county council; instead the existing city council took on county functions, making it a unitary authority. This therefore had the effect of restoring the city council to the powers it had held when Leicester was a county borough prior to 1974. In 2011, following a referendum, the position of directly elected mayor was created to provide political leadership for the council. The directly elected mayor is called the City Mayor to distinguish the post from the continuing position of Lord Mayor. The Lord Mayor acts as a ceremonial figurehead for the city and chairs council meetings, with the position usually being held by a different councillor each year. ==Governance==