Chronological list of aldermen: 1400-1500

Chronological List of Aldermen from 1401 to the Present time.

Continued from Vol. I.

The succession in each Ward is given in Volume I. (pages 1-224); the following list gives the chronological succession of persons. Hence, wheu one or more translations from one Ward to another took place in consequence of a single death or resignation, the new Alderman is regarded as taking the seat of the one who had died or resigned, not of the one to whose Ward he succeeded. Thus, Sir T. Crosby, the present (June, 1910) Alderman of Langbourn, is regarded as the successor of Sir Stuart Knill, at whose death Sir T. Crosby's predecessor in Langbourn (Sir J. Savory) was translated to Bridge Without, the Ward which Sir Stuart had represented in the Court of Aldermen.

When the full date is given it is that of election. Where the word "sworn" is appended in brackets, only the date of formal admission has been preserved; the words "and sworn" indicate that election and admission were on the same day. In the majority of elections after the fifteenth century and in some earlier ones, two dates are given, the earlier being that of election, the later that of admission.

The references to the original authorities for these dates (Repertories, Journals, Letter Books, Husting Rolls, etc.), are not repeated in the following pages: they will be found in the Ward Lists (Vol. I., pages 1-224).

The names of Mayors and Lord Mayors are printed in small capitals: those of persons elected Aldermen but (certainly or presumably) not admitted and sworn are in italics.

Those Aldermen (17 in all), before whose names "[Court]" is prefixed were originally chosen by the Court of Aldermen after the rejection of three successive nominations by the Wardmotes. There were also three instances of Aldermen being translated from one Ward to another under similar circumstances (see Vol. I., pages 242, 249).

With regard to the orthography of proper names, I would refer the reader to what I have said on pages xv., xvi. of the first volume, which will explain occasional, and indeed not infrequent, variations in the forms I have adopted in this list from those which have been used in the Ward Lists and other earlier portions of the present work.

The dates are given throughout according to the modern computation, i.e. New Style: consequently for the periods from January 1 to March 25, annually, till 1751, the years are later by one than in authorities in which the Old Style is either deliberately used, or (as is frequently the case) ignorantly copied. (fn. 1)

Those Aldermen to whom the letter (D) is prefixed are noticed in the Dictionary of Natural Biography, and in many cases these articles contain inaccuracies and are far from complete. In the notices of the names to which (D*) is prefixed, errors in the text of the original edition of the D.N.B. have been corrected and omissions supplied by the present writer, which corrections and additions are printed in the new issue; unless supplemented by reference to these, the original articles are either misleading or incomplete, and frequently both.

At the close of the 14th century (as recorded in Vol. I., p 404), the Court of Aldermen was composed of the following, in order of seniority:—

I should have adopted the former alternative as more probable, were it not that the facts and dates quoted above suggest a solution of another difficulty to which reference is made in Vol. I. (pp. 79, 230), with regard to the first election of Nicholas Wotton. As I have there noted, Wotton is recorded to have been present as Alderman on October 13, 1404, simultaneously with William Framlyngham, his predecessor in Broad Street Ward, the first Ward with which his name is definitely associated as Alderman in the records, and for which he was acting on December 1, 1404 [Husting Roll 133 (24)]. I had not, when Vol. I. was written, noted that there is a still earlier record of Wotton as an Alderman, under date March 24, 1404 (Letter Book I., fo. 27). If we assume that Wotton succeeded Heende in Walbrook Ward in 1403 or early in 1404, and was transferred to Broad Street in October or November, 1404, whereupon Heende (then Mayor) resumed his old position as Alderman of Walbrook, the difficulties vanish with regard to both of them, and that assumption, though purely inferential and unconfirmed by any direct record of the facts suggested, seems to possess the highest degree of probability short of absolute certainty, and I have therefore adopted it above.

[Wotton is found acting as Alderman of Broad Street on January 21 and May 31, 1405 [Husting Roll 133 (54) (71)] as well as at the dates given in Vol. I. (pp 79, 230)]