A former Battersea Mayor, the first Afro-Caribbean to hold any civic office in London, has been honoured in a set of special edition Royal Mail stamps.

The Royal Mail's 'Great Britons' stamps collection is a set of 10 1st Class stamps which includes people in sport, journalism, music, politics and the arts with significant anniversaries in 2013.

John Richard Archer was the first mayor of African-Caribbean descent in London and the second in Britain.

He features alongside former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and Gone with the Wind actress Vivien Leigh in the set released on Tuesday.

Born in Liverpool in 1863 as the son of a Barbados-born ship’s steward and an Irish mother, he moved to Battersea at the age of 27 and first entered politics when he was elected a councillor for Latchmere in 1906.

He was also the first president of the African Progress Union, in office from 1918 to 1921, and was the British delegate to the 1919 Pan-African Congress held in Paris.

Councillor Adrian Knowles, the mayor of Wandsworth, was presented with the stamp of John Archer.

He said: “I and the good people of Wandsworth are proud that John Archer has been honoured on these new set of Royal Mails stamps on the Centenary of his Mayoralty.”

Andrew Hammond, a Royal Mail spokesman, said: “We are delighted to be honouring some of the UK’s most distinguished figures in history through our latest Special Stamp collection.

"We hope the stamps will serve as a lasting tribute to their memory and once again encourage people to remember their significant contribution to our Great British way of life.”