William Walworth

Sir William Walworth (died 1385) was an English nobleman and politician who was twice Lord Mayor of London (1374–75 and 1380–81). He is best known for killing Wat Tyler during the Peasants' Revolt in 1381. He was also the first commoner in England to be knighted.

Sir William Walworth
The death of Wat Tyler, by Jean Froissart
23rd and 29th Lord Mayor of London
In office 1374–1375
Preceded by	Adam de Bury
Succeeded by	John Warde
In office 1380–1381
Preceded by	John Hadle
Succeeded by	John Northampton
Personal details
Died	1385 (1386)

Political career

His family came from Durham. He was apprenticed to John Lovekyn, who was a member of the Fishmongers Guild, whom he succeeded as Alderman of Bridge ward in 1368. Walworth became Sheriff of London in 1370 and Lord Mayor of London in 1374. He was Member of Parliament for the City of London in 1371, 1376, 1377, and 1383, as one of the two aldermanic representatives of the city.^[1]

He is said to have suppressed usury in the city during his term of office as Lord Mayor. His name frequently figures as advancing loans to Edward III^[2] and Richard II. There was strong factionalism in the city of London during Walworth's time and faction of wealthy food merchants attracted complaints in the House of Commons for conspiring to inflate food prices,^[2] they were also generally opposed to the influence of the king's uncle John of Gaunt.^[3]

Peasants' Revolt

Left to right: Sir William Walworth (wielding sword), Wat Tyler, Richard II, and Sir John Cavendish (bearing decorated sword)

Walworth's most famous exploit was his encounter with Wat Tyler during the English peasants' revolt of 1381, in his second term of office as Lord Mayor. In June of that year, when Tyler and his followers entered south London, Walworth defended London Bridge against them. He was with Richard II when he met the insurgents at Smithfield,^[4] and killed the rebel leader with his baselard.^[5]

Walworth rode immediately back to London to raised the city bodyguard in the king's defence,^[6] for which service he was rewarded by knighthood and a pension. With four colleagues, he was knighted by Richard II following the death of Wat Tyler at Smithfield in June 1381, making Brembre one of the few Londoners to be so elevated in the 14th century.^[7] With Walworth were four other aldermen, Nicholas Brembre, John Philpot, Nicholas Twyford and Robert Launde. The only other Londoners knighted in the century were Richard de Refham around 1312 and Mayor John de Pulteney in 1337; after 1381, the next Londoner knighted was William Estfield nearly 60 years later, in 1439.^[8]

He subsequently served on two commissions to restore the peace in the county of Kent.

Death and legacy

Imaginative posthumous portrait of Walworth, 1784

He died in 1385, and was buried in the church of St. Michael, Crooked Lane, of which he was a considerable benefactor. Sir William Walworth was the most distinguished member of the Fishmongers Guild, and he invariably figured in the pageants prepared by them when one of their members attained the mayoralty. He became a favorite hero in popular tales, and appeared in Richard Johnson's Nine Worthies of London in 1592.^[4]

William Walworth is commemorated with a statue on Holborn Viaduct, near the boundary of the City of London.

His wife, Margaret, survived him; she died before 1413.^[9]

Coat of arms of Sir William Walworth

Escutcheon Gules, a bend raguly argent between two garbs or

See also

• List of Sheriffs of the City of London
• List of Lord Mayors of London
• City of London (elections to the Parliament of England)