Mayor Weighing in Wycombe

Every town has its unique quirks and follies. 

I live about three miles from High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire - a town that was once the centre of British furniture making. It's where the Windsor chair and many other innovative designs were first produced. And, during the Second World War, the furniture makers (bodgers) adapted their skills to making the wooden frames for the fast Mosquito bomber aircraft. It was so associated with furniture that when Queen Victoria visited in 1877 the bodgers built a triumphal arch for her to drive under. They later repeated the feat in 1884 with an even more impressive arch in celebration of the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Most recently another, slightly more health and safety conscious, arch was built to mark the Millennium.

The traditional chair industry has now gone but it is commemorated in street names like Gomm Road and Parker Knoll Way and in the nickname of the local Wycombe Wanderers football club - The Chairboys. There's also a sculpture by Deborah Mills on the campus of the local university that's called 'Bodger's Stand' and is based on the form of a Windsor Chair.

However, another unique Wycombe tradition does remain and flourishes - weighing the mayor.

(Sadly the video is silent - Pathé News lost the sound recording that accompanied it.)

The tradition has its roots in the behaviour of one Mr Henry Shepard who, in 1678, was reported as being drunk and disorderly and who 'offered affronts to several gentlemen' while in office. It was decreed that the great Bell should be rung out in testimony of his misdemeanours. Consequently, the Mayor was 'tolled out' and a new mayor appointed. Also introduced was a 'weighing in' ceremony where, from now on, a new mayor would be weighed on a giant set of scales as they took office, and then weighed again after being tolled out. If there had been a weight gain in that year, the person was considered to have been eating and drinking too much at the taxpayers' expense. They were consequently jeered and booed and, once upon a time, pelted with rotten fruit and veg. These days, they pay a donation to a charity. 

The modern ceremony, which usually takes place on the third Saturday in May, begins with a mayor-making ceremony at the Mayor's Parlour in Victoria Road followed by a colourful procession to the Guildhall. Then the newly elected Mayor, the Charter Trustees, Honorary Burgesses and the outgoing Mayor are all publicly weighed. As their weight is recorded the Macebearer shouts out the weight, adding the words 'And some more!' if the Mayor has gained weight, or 'And no more' if there is a weight loss or it remains the same. If the words 'And no more!' are heard, the crowd cheers and claps. If no weight has been gained, or some lost then they must have been working hard for the good of the town.

Here are some photos of this year's ceremony with outgoing mayor Annie 'And no more!' Baughan and incoming mayor, Arif Hussain.