A newly uncovered portrait of one of Sir Edward Elgar’s contemporaries in his mayoral finery is now hanging in Worcester’s Guildhall.
The finely framed portrait of the unforgettably named Hubert Aloysius Leicester, former Mayor of Worcester was discovered in the bowels of Worcester Museum.
Leicester – thought to have been the city’s first Roman Ctaholic mayor – wore the railway-chain links of mayoral office five times in all, between 1904-5 and from 1913-15.
His portrait was unveiled earlier this year by the outgoing city mayor David Tibbutt, who has since passed on the chain to Roger Berry.
Gathered for the unveiling were members of the Worcester Festival Choral Society, who heard that Councillor Tibbutt had discovered “quite by chance” the portrait in the museum’s stores.
Coun Tibbutt said: “He was a longstanding friend of Elgar and closely associated with the Festival Chorus. Elgar formed a wind quintet of which Leicester was leader. The group was known as ‘The Brothers Wind’ or ‘The Sunday Band’.”
Leicester, later Sir Hubert Leicester, was the prime mover of Elgar receiving the freedom of the city in 1905 and was, Coun Tibbutt said, “a man whom we should celebrate”.
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