The Lord Mayor of Leeds (until 1897 Mayor of Leeds) is a ceremonial post held by a member of Leeds City Council

Leeds City Council

Leeds City Council is the local authority for the City of Leeds metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England.-History:The city council was established in 1974, with the first elections being held in advance in 1973...

, elected annually by the council.

By charter from King Charles I

Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

 in 1626, the leader of the governing body of the borough of Leeds was an Alderman, the first holder being Sir John Savile

John Savile, 1st Baron Savile of Pontefract

John Savile, 1st Baron Savile of Pontefract was an English politician; M.P. for Lincoln, 1586: sheriff of Lincolnshire, 1590; knight of the shire for Yorkshire, 1597, 1614, 1624, and 1626; custos rotulorum of West Riding of Yorkshire; ejected from office in 1615, but reappointed in 1626...

. A second charter, in 1661 from King Charles II

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

, granted the title Mayor to Thomas Danby

Thomas Danby (mayor)

Thomas Danby of Farnley and Thorpe Perrow was the first Mayor of Leeds .He was born in 1631, the son of Sir Thomas Danby of Farnley Hall , and married Margaret Eure in 1659....

, after whom Thomas Danby College was named. In 1893 the borough of Leeds became a city, and in 1897 Queen Victoria conferred the title of Lord Mayor on James Kitson

James Kitson, 1st Baron Airedale

James Kitson, 1st Baron Airedale PC, DSc , known as Sir James Kitson, Bt, between 1886 and 1907, was a British peer and Liberal Party politician....

.

The Lord Mayor for 2011–2012 is Councillor Reverend Alan Taylor.

Notable former Mayors include Benjamin Gott

Benjamin Gott

Benjamin Gott was one of the leading figures in the industrial revolution, in the field of textiles. His factory at Armley Mills, Armley, Leeds, was once the largest factory in the world and is now home to the Armley Mills Industrial Museum.Gott was born in Calverley, Pudsey in West Yorkshire,...

 (1799), George Goodman

George Goodman (MP)

Sir George Goodman MP was an English wool-stapler, a magistrate for the borough and county of Leeds, as well as a Liberal politician...

 (1836), and Henry Rowland Marsden

Henry Rowland Marsden

Henry Rowland Marsden was a philanthropist and Mayor of Leeds for 1873 to 1875, said to be the most popular Victorian mayor of Leeds....

(1873).