The first recorded Mayor of London was Henry Fitz-Ailwyn 1189.
Since then, some 700 men and one woman have over the centuries held
the position of head of the City of London. Lord Mayors are elected
for one-year terms; today by custom, they do not serve more than
once. Numerous individuals have served multiple terms in office,
but the last to do so was Robert Fowler (1883 and 1885).
The title 'Lord Mayor' is of great age. In the Latin of the
thirteenth century 'dominus major' is found, and in English 'Lord
Mair' in 1414. By the sixteenth century the prefix 'Right
Honourable' was in use.
Through history, though many have considered it an honour to
become Lord Mayor or take other civic office as Alderman or
Sheriff, others fought to avoid it because of the expense of these
unpaid positions: and many preferred to pay fines rather than take
office. Some unfortunate Lord Mayors even ended up in debtors'
prisons. Some distinguished themselves greatly, such
as Dick Whittington and William Hardel, who played a part
in Magna Carta; others were less fortunate, like the hapless Sir
Thomas Bludworth, Mayor during the Great Fire of London.
Magna Carta
The right of London's citizens to elect their own Mayor dates
from the Charter granted by King John to the City in 1215, and in
the same year Magna Carta specified that the City would retain all
its ancient liberties: "That the City of London shall have all its
ancient liberties by land as well as by water.β Mayor William
Hardel was on the committee of 25 barons appointed to see that the
Charter provisions were carried out. He was also the only commoner
involved.
Dick Whittington
The most famous Lord Mayor of former times was Richard
Whittington, who held office in 1397, 1398, 1406 and 1419. Contrary
to popular belief, Dick Whittington was not a poor, ill-treated
orphan who managed against all the odds to work his way up to Lord
Mayor. Coming from a wealthy family, Richard Whittington had a
successful business and civic career before he became Lord Mayor.
As for the black cat which supposedly helped him found his fortune
by ridding the King of the Barbary Coast of a plague of rats,
no-one is quite sure how this part of the myth grew up. He was a
liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Mercers (dealers in costly
fabrics such as silk and linen), wool merchant and royal financier.
Whittington was also a tremendous philanthropist and set a standard
for the well-to-do of the City ever since. It was the custom of the
day that wealthy men would leave around a third of their money to
their wife, a third to their children and a third to charity. When
Whittington died childless, he left everything to charity, endowing
and building a number of almshouses, libraries, civic buildings and
public amenities that continue to serve London today.
Peasants' Revolt
In 1380 the King introduced a new Poll Tax, to the dismay of many
of his subjects who thought the new tax too heavy and unfair.
Rebels gathered on the northern parts of the City and Blackheath to
march on London, in what became known as the Peasant's Revolt.
While the 14-year old King Richard II, Mayor William Walworth (a
fishmonger) and Chief Officers were holed up into the Tower, some
supporters let the rebels into the City and scenes of murder and
pillage ensued. The King, Mayor and supporters rode out to Mile End
where he made several concessions. The next day the King met the
remaining rebels in Smithfield, with William Walworth at his side.
Walworth was watching for a possible attack, and single-handed he
rushed upon Wat (Walter) Tyler and 'first wounded him in the neck
with his sword, and then hurled him from his horse mortally pierced
in the breast." It was a coup which astonished the other rebels,
who, their leader lost, gave up and agreed to follow King Richard
II. Walworth and others in the City were knighted and today
Walworth's dagger is kept in honour at Fishmonger's Hall.
Virginia and Ulster
The City of London and the Lord Mayors of London took part in the
empire-building of the 17th century. From 1609, they helped
establish a colony across the Atlantic in Virginia: the Lord Mayor
Sir Humphrey Weld, a Grocer, sent seven ships and other Livery
companies followed suit. Under pressure from King James I, the City
and several Livery companies funded settlements in Northern
Ireland, Ulster, in the 1610s. The companies built up Derry
which was fortified and renamed Londonderry, and lands were
parcelled out to companies who undertook to develop them. For
more visit the Irish Society's website.
The Great Fire of London
Sir Thomas Bludworth was Mayor in 1665-6, and had "the severest
year any man had" in this office. His year was blighted by the
Plague of 1665, which was still killing thousands every week, and
then by the Great Fire of London in 1666. Bludworth, who had been
an apprentice vintner and then a successful merchant, a member of
the Levant and Africa companies, sadly underestimated the severity
of the fire and failed to create a firewall. Pepys writes in his
diary that when the Fire broke out on 3rd September, Bludworth
said, "pish, a woman might piss it out." Later, he was to lose his
cool entirely: βAt last met my Lord Mayor in Canning Street, like a
man spent, with a handkerchief around his neck. To the King's
message, he cried like a fainting woman, "Lord, what can I do? I am
spent. People will not obey me. I have been pull(ing) down houses.
But the fire overtakes us faster than we can do it.β Bludworth's
own house in Gracechruch Street was destroyed.
Other notable Lord Mayors
An interesting 18th century Mayor was John Wilkes (1774), the 18th
century radical, journalist and politician. In his political life,
Wilkes fought for the right of voters to determine their
representatives, was instrumental in allowing printers to publish
records of parliamentary debates, and introduced the first Bill for
parliamentary reform in the British Parliament. However, his
popularity with the voting public evaporated after the Gordon Riots
in 1780, (anti-Catholic riots) when Wilkes was in charge of the
soldiers defending the Bank of England from the rioters. Under his
orders the troops fired into the crowds, and several hundred were
killed or wounded.
The first Lord Mayor from a different faith was probably
David Salomons. Salomons was a Jewish reformer who set out to
ensure that practising Jews could hold public office: he was
elected Sheriff in 1835 and the Government changed the law so that
he did not have to take a Christian oath on taking up his office.
He won the election to be an Alderman in the City of London in
1835 - but the election was declared null and
void. Ten years later the Government changed the law. Salomons
was elected Alderman to Cordwainers Ward in 1847 and was finally
elected Lord Mayor in 1855. David Salomons was later to become
the second Jewish MP after Lionel de Rothschild, who had won a seat
as early as 1847 but like Salomons not able to
take his office up; finally Rothschild was able to
take his seat in parliament in 1858 and Salomons followed
shortly after, elected in 1859 to be MP for
Greenwich.
The second Jewish Lord Mayor was Benjamin Phillips, a
spectacle maker, who became Lord Mayor in 1865. Phillips was an
impressive linguist and orator, and a progressive who supported the
second Reform Bill in parliament in 1867.
First woman Lord Mayor
The first and so far the only woman Lord Mayor was Dame Mary
Donaldson in 1983-4. Donaldson was a nurse, who later took an
interest in the City. She was elected to the Court of Common
Council in 1966, became the first female alderman in 1975, and the
first female Sheriff in 1981.
Click here for more about the
Ceremonial offices of the mayoralty.
References
Sources of information on Lord Mayors in the City of London
Records Office and elsewhere
Download the Sources on Lord
Mayors (11kb)
Download a list of all Lord Mayors
(159kb)