Tales of London

In a courtyard off Gresham Street in the City of London stands a structure that resembles an Abbey with a few brutalist extensions tacked on to the edges. This is Guildhall, parts of which date back to the 1400s. The site has been the seat of the City of London’s power for a millennium: since at least the time of King Edward the Confessor in the eleventh century, the City has enjoyed its ancient rights and privileges. While the government of the United States derives its power from the people, and Parliament is granted its power by the Crown, the City of London derives its power from 'Time Immemorial' - meaning that the City is so old, it just is. 'Time Immemorial' is a legal phrase defined as common law existing before the start of of Richard I's reign in 1189. The Magna Carta, signed by King John in 1215, guaranteed the “Liberties and free Customs” of the City – although in eight hundred years, nobody has actually defined what these liberties and customs are.

Running through the courtyard in front of Guildhall is a curved black line. This is the outline of Londinium’s Roman amphitheatre, the ruins of which were only discovered as recently as 1988 and which are now open to the general public. It’s even possible that the amphitheatre’s ruins were used as a proto Saxon town hall.

Guildhall is the meeting place of the Corporation of London - those unfamiliar with the City may be thinking that this sounds like some sort of private business. But it is in fact the City council, which has its own somewhat bizarre form of local government.

The City is divided into twenty-five ancient wards, electing a total of one hundred common councillors, the vast majority of whom stand as independents. But unlike any other council in the country, businesses are also allowed to vote. There are nine thousand voting residents, whereas businesses receive somewhere in the region of twenty-four thousand votes – almost three times as many. One Common Councillor claimed to know of only four residents living in her ward, and so surprisingly the business vote actually makes the process more democratic and less of a rotten borough.

Above the councillors you have the Court of Aldermen. There are twenty-five aldermen in total, one for each ward. The aldermen were once elected for life, but this has now been reduced to a six year term. The councillors and aldermen together make up the Court of Common Council.

Presiding over the Court of Common Council is the Lord Mayor of London. Greater London, with its thirty-two boroughs, has an elected mayor, currently Sadiq Khan of the Labour Party. But the City has its own separate Lord Mayor, and whereas the Mayor of London wears a suit and tie and rides around on a bicycle, the Lord Mayor wears a crimson velvet and ermine robe with a tricorne hat, and rides around in either a Rolls Royce or a golden horse drawn coach. And yet again, the process of elections for the Lord Mayor is completely different from anywhere else in the country.

The City of London has 110 livery companies, which are the descendants of the medieval guilds – the professional bodies who regulated their trades within the City. They are normally styled the Worshipful Company of Such & Such, and in seniority rank from the Mercers who were founded in 1394 to the Arts Scholars in 2014. Senior members of the livery companies are known as liverymen; it’s these liverymen who select two candidates, before the Court of Alderman elects the Lord Mayor from this shortlist.

The position of Lord Mayor has been in existence since Henry Fitz-Ailwin de Londonestone was elected in 1189, although until 1354 they were titled simply Mayor of London without the Lord. Pantomime fans amongst you will have heard of Dick Whittington and his cat, who served as Lord Mayor four times in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (Whittington, that is, not the cat). The Lord Mayor is elected for a single year, and his position is non-political: his job is to represent the City to the world, and accordingly he’s constantly found jetting about the globe attracting inward investment to London. But the job comes with no salary and few paid expenses, so to be Lord Mayor you really have to have deep pockets.

On the 29th September (or the closest weekday) each year a new Lord Mayor is elected by the Court of Aldermen. A month or so later, on the second Saturday in November, the Lord Mayor’s Show takes place. This is a huge parade of thousands of people from Guildhall to Mansion House on Walbrook, the Grade I listed official home of the Lord Mayor. The parade then passes St Paul’s Cathedral for a blessing from the Dean, and finally ends at the Royal Courts of Justice where the new Lord Mayor swears allegiance to the King.

And just in case you were thinking of running for Lord Mayor… Well, the qualifications are rather complicated, unsurprisingly. Here’s a handy video guide so that you can start preparing your campaign.

For more stories about the bizarre and quirky history of the capital, check out my other articles, or click here to subscribe to future updates!