Lord Mayors of London
Traditional pomp and pageantry will return to the streets of London when the annual Lord Mayor’s Show gets underway, with the new incumbent walking in the footsteps of his predecessors. Who were these Lord Mayors? Did they prove worthy of this high office? Are they still remembered?
Two centuries ago Washington Irvine hailed London’s Lord Mayor’s Show as the “”grandest of earthly pageants.””
It still is today, as it was in 1215.
Every November the reigning monarch rides in the George 111gilt carriage, drawn by red and gold liveried horses, through the cheering crowds of London.
Following proudly behind, the nation’s trades people hold high their ancient, beautifully crafted banners: bakers and butchers, fish merchants and fruit sellers, tailors and cobblers.
At Temple Bar, the entrance to the City of London, the Lord Mayor presents the Sovereign with the fifteenth century Pearl encrusted Sword of State, in honor of the monarch’s arrival in the City. The Sword is passed back on the return to Temple Bar. The Lord Mayor’s Show has been a much-loved tradition since the thirteenth century, but what of the Lord Mayors themselves? Many outrageous and even eccentric characters have taken up residence at the Mansion House, the Lord Mayor’s official residence, and none was more outrageous than John Wilkes. As Member of Parliament for Aylesbury, in Buckinghamshire, Wilkes was expelled from the House of Commons in 1764 and later jailed for publishing seditious libel. He was a member of the infamous Hell Fire Club, known for orgies in the ruins of Medmenham Abbey. Known as the outlaw, Wilkes was unpopular in Parliament, and was derided as a left wing radical, and a notorious rake, of inferior social position. But Wilkes’behavior endeared him to his constituents, who went to the ballot box four times to successfully return him as a member of parliament for Middlesex. The House of Commons though, was less enthralled at the arrival of this rabble-rouser in their illustrious midst, and year after year refused to allow him to take his seat in the House of Commons. But the politicians couldn’t win against the power of Wilkes’ people, and in 1769 they formed the Society for the Supporters of the Bill of Rights. This acted as a political lever for their hero and in 1774 John Wilkes was elected London’s Lord Mayor, and entered the House of Commons. Most Members of Parliament showed their abhorrence by boycotting the Mayoral banquet.
Wilkes, though, was soon surprising his critics with a flair for mixing politics with the grand social occasion. His soirees became the talk of London, with actresses and belted earls clambering for invitations.
Even George 111, once Wilkes’ sworn enemy, was forced to declare he had never known such a socially popular Lord Mayor.
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