A man elected mayor of Abingdon, even though he did not sit on the town council, has been selected as a candidate for a blue plaque -- used to mark the homes of historically important people.

Arthur Edwin Preston was the accountant for Abingdon Borough Council from 1887 until 1909 when he was chosen as mayor.

Town archivist Jackie Smith said election to the position was unique.

She said: "It is the only occasion to my knowledge that a person who was not an elected member of the council was voted into the office of mayor."

Town council clerk Nigel Warner said: "Until local government reorganisation in 1974, when Abingdon lost its borough status and moved from Berkshire into Oxfordshire, councillors were allowed to elect a person as mayor even if he or she was not an elected councillor. Today a mayor has to be an elected member of the council."

Usually a person must have been a person of national importance to qualify for a plaque from the Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board.

However, an exception can be made if a person is considered to have had a significant impact on the community.

The Joint Environmental Trust for Abingdon asked Mrs Smith and Abingdon historian Elizabeth Drury to suggest a name.

Mrs Smith said: "We did a lot of research and came up with Arthur Preston, who was a leading figure in the life of the town. He was an antiquarian who restored many of the old borough council's books."

Mr Preston, after whom Preston Road was named, was born in 1852 and died in 1942. He lived at Whitefield, a large house that belongs to Abingdon School in Park Crescent. He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1887 but never practised law.

He was an original member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in 1880.