Lord Mayor's Show

THE LORD MAYOR’S SHOW

The Lord Mayor’s Show is always held on the second Saturday of November of each year. In 2009, Nick Anstee became the six hundred and eighty second Lord Mayor. The procession  was hit by strong gales and driving rain, an occasional hazard for the time of year.

The Lord Mayor’s Show has been a part of London life for seven hundred and eighty-four years. It is a great day out for half a million people, with many millions more watching on television across the globe. Below is a brief history and description of the event, with details and timings given at the end. The first recorded Lord Mayor of The City Of London Henry Fitz-Ailwyn, in 1189. The seeds of The Lord Mayor’s Show were sown in 1191, during the prolonged absence of King Richard I, when a procession took place as he fought at the crusades. Over twenty years later in 1215, King John granted the people of The City Of London the right to choose their own Lord Mayor. There was an important condition attached, that every year the new Lord Mayor should swear loyalty to the crown. To this day, it is the procession from The City Of London to the City Of Westminster to swear allegiance and the return journey, that forms the centrepiece of The Lord Mayor’s Show.

The Lord Mayor’s Show has approximately 6,500 participants with around seventy colourful floats and music from over twenty bands. There are hundreds of eye-catching costumes and more troops than are on parade for the Trooping Of The Colour.  Usually there is a thrilling fly past of military aircraft. The day ends with a splendid fireworks display from a barge on the Thames between Waterloo and Southwark Bridges.

The Lord Mayor’s Show has never been cancelled, with the procession marching on unscathed throughout the years of the Black Death, even during The Blitz of The Second World War and right through to the present day. With the advent of television in the twentieth century, The Lord Mayor’s Show was the first event ever to be broadcast live.

To this day Dick Whittington is, in the eyes of many, the most famous Lord Mayor of all, he held the office three times. His popularity is undiminished down the centuries, he was Lord Mayor in 1397, 1406 and 1419 and many Londoners would be hard pressed to name another Lord Mayor between then and now.

Originally, the journey was from The Mansion House to The Great Hall, inside The Palace Of Westminster where the oath of allegiance was sworn. Since 1883 the venue was changed to The Royal Courts Of Justice, still just inside the boundaries of The City Of Westminster. Over the years the occasion became more resplendent until the procession became known as ‘The Lord Mayor’s Show’.

The Lord Mayor always chooses the overall theme of the procession. The ‘great twelve livery companies’ participate in the procession by right, other livery companies participate by invitation and The Lord Mayor’s own livery company is always amongst them. The Lord Mayor usually invites pupils from his old school to participate and also any businesses he has been associated with through his earlier career. Certain army regiments attend by privilege and also have the right to march through The City Of London with fixed bayonets.

Certain streets of the route are unchanged over the centuries. If attending the spectacle, it is worth pausing to think that where you are standing, someone stood four hundred and fifty years ago, watching the novel and exotic sight of a camel on its way to parade beneath Queen Elizabeth The First.

In 1711, The Lord Mayor was knocked from his horse and broke his leg, all caused by a drunken flower girl and he gained the distinction of being last mayor to ride the route by horse. Thereafter they travelled by coach and in 1757 The State Coach was built in 1757. It is pulled by six horses, which, as a mark of respect, is two horses fewer than the eight horses that draw the monarch in The Gold Sate Coach. For most of the year it can be seen in The Museum Of London.

The term ‘float’, used when referring to carnivals and parades, derives from The Lord Mayor’s Show. The quickest route was often by boat and from 1422 until the mid nineteenth century, The Lord Mayor often travelled part of the journey in gilded barges. The decorative floats kept their name even when the occupants travelled on dry land and were transported by wheels.

The City Of London has had over eight hundred years of experience of civic government. The Lord Mayor is supported by aldermen, sheriffs, guildsmen and deputies. There are now one hundred and eight livery companies, which were established mostly between the twelfth and the sixteenth centuries. Today, The Lord Mayor is the head of The Corporation Of London, which is broadly speaking The City Of London’s local authority. Uniquely, it is a non-party political authority, whose responsibilities extend far beyond The City.

One of the main activities of The Corporation Of London is to support The City within the fields of international business and finance. The Lord Mayor’s job is crucial, travelling to the four compass points of the globe in an ambassadorial role, continually promoting the city along the way. Besides this, there is a year round daily schedule of civic and ceremonial duties. The City Of London is a vital contributor to the country’s coffers and The Lord Mayor is seen as both a symbol of stability and strength, representing and promoting its interests.

The Mansion House is the official residence of the Lord Mayor Of The City Of London. Built by George Dance The Senior in 1739, it is a Renaissance style edifice with an imposing Corinthian portico. Contained within the building is the vast Egyptian Hall, where banquets and feasts take place throughout the year, including the annual dinner at which the Chancellor Of The Exchequer makes a speech. The building contains a dungeon, with ten cells for men and one cell for women, called the ‘Birdcage’ where suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst was held. On the roof of the Mansion House flies The City Of London flag, consisting of the red cross of St George on a white background, with a dagger positioned in the top left hand corner. The Mansion House is occasionally open to the public.

The Lord Mayor’s Show usually begins with a Royal Air Force flypast at 11am, to mark the start of the Lord Mayor’s procession and the Lord Mayor begins his slow journey to The Royal Courts Of Justice. Grandstand seats can be booked for the spectacle. The return procession sets off from The Victoria Embankment to The Mansion House at around 1.10pm, arriving at 2.30pm. A fireworks display usually takes place at 5pm, but it is sometimes cancelled in extreme weather conditions.  The display is lit from barges on the river Thames, situated between Waterloo and Southwark bridges.

Further details can be found at: www.lordmayorsshow.org

Where to view video clips of Lord Mayor's Show  and video clips of London

London in motion has some of the best London Stock Footage and London Library Footage with moving clips of many of the above mentioned places to see, are available to browse through by simply visiting the ‘Lord Mayor's Show’ category of this website.  New additions of London video clips are being frequently uploaded and further categories will be appearing over the coming months.