The annual election of a new Lord Mayor has continued to the present day. More than seven hundred men and one woman have held this important post since the reign of Richard I.

The insistence of the City on its independence naturally brought it into conflict with the Crown on a number of occasions. This was especially the case during the Baronial revolts of the thirteenth century throughout the reigns of Henry III and Edward I. The City supported Simon de Montfort against Henry III and fought with him at the Battle of Lewes in 1264. A year later, however, Henry and the Prince Edward defeated and killed de Montfort at Evesham and the City then discovered what it was to be on the losing side!

The Mayor, Thomas Fitz Thomas was deposed and confined at Windsor for a number of years. Sixty of his most prominent supporters in the City were reduced to beggary and the City itself was fined 20,000 Marks. Henry appointed Hugh Fitz Otho, Constable of the tower of London as custos [Warden] and for the next five years there was no mayoral election. Wardens were intermittently appointed down to the reign of Henry VIII whenever the sovereign found it necessary or expedient to assert his authority over the City. The Wardens, however, effectively carried out the duties of the Mayor, albeit in the king's interests, and are normally included in the Mayoral lists. The title "Lord Mayor" is customary, not official. It first appeared as the Latin dominus major in the thirteenth century and as the English Lord Mair in 1414. By the sixteenth century the prefix Right Honourable had come into common use.

The most famous of London's mayors is, of course, Dick Whittington. He served in the office three times and was deeply involved in the City's financial dealings with Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V. He was also a noted philanthropist and was responsible for the erection of almshouses and public toilets. Apart from the fact that he married Alice FitzWarin very little else is actually known about the historical figure. The Dick Whittington of folklore and Pantomine first made his appearance in a seventeenth century Ballad.

The Lord Mayor's Show
At Michaelmas (September 29) the election of Lord Mayor is held in the Great Hall of Guildhall. The assembly, known as Common Hall, consists of all liverymen of at least one year's standing together with certain high officers of the City. All aldermen who have served the office of sheriff and who have not already been Lord Mayor are eligible for election and from these two candidates are chosen. They are presented to the Court of Aldermen and one is chosen as the Lord Mayor for the next mayoral year. The new Lord Mayor is sworn in, by the Town Clerk, at the Guildhall on the Friday before the second Saturday in November. The ceremony is known as "the Silent Change" because the symbolic transfer of the various instruments of authority – the sword, mace and purse etc. – from the previous to the new Lord Mayor is carried out in complete silence by the officers concerned. The next day, the Lord Mayor's Day, he processes to the Royal Courts of Justice where he makes the statutory declaration, required by the Charter of 1215, to the Judges of the Queen's Bench.

The Lord Mayor's Show
The procession from the Guildhall to the Royal Courts on the Saturday is popularly known as the Lord Mayor's show. At first, each newly elected mayor, accompanied by the sheriffs, aldermen and leading guildsmen, rode on horseback from the City to the king's palace at Westminster. This was also the usual seat of royal courts of justice in the mediaeval period. During the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries the election took place on the 28th of October, the feast of St Simon and St Jude, on the following day the Mayor went to Westminster to seek the king's approval. If the king and his justices were not in London the mayor presented himself to the Constable of the Tower of London or his Lieutenant. In 1346 the election day was changed to October 13th but the visit to Westminster continued to take place on October 29th until 1752. In this year the Gregorian Calendar was adopted in Britain and eleven days were lost between September 2 and 14. In consequence, the procession was moved to November 9th.

The first mention of minstrels in the procession is for that of 1401. From 1422 until 1856, the mayor and his retinue travelled by water in a spectacular show of liveries and gilded barges. In 1452, Sir John Norman provided for a magnificent barge with silver oars to take him to Westminster. During the 16th and 17th centuries pageants were a popular feature of the processions and were composed by the City poets, among whom were Thomas Dekker and John Taylor. William Smith, a haberdasher has left us a description of the procession in his Breffe Description of the Royall Citie of London, published in 1575.

"The day of St Simon and St Jude the Mayor enters into his state and office. The next day he goes by water to Westminster in most triumphant-like manner. Next before him goeth the barge of the liver of his own company, decked with their proper arms; and then the Bachelors barge and so all the companies in order every one having their own proper barge with the arms of their company. And so passing along the Thames he landeth at Westminster, where he taketh his oath in the Exchequer before the judge there: which done he returneth by water as aforesaid and landeth at St Paul's Wharf where he and the rest of the Aldermen take their horses and in great pomp pass through Cheapside."