Henry Rowe (Lord Mayor) Henry Rowe (Lord Mayor) Sir Henry Rowe (died 12 November 1612) was an English merchant who was Lord Mayor of London in 1607. Rowe was the son of Sir Thomas Rowe who was Lord Mayor from 1568 to 1569 and grandson of Sir John Gresham, Lord Mayor from 1547 to 1548. He was a city of London merchant and a member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers. On 22 July 1596, he was elected an alderman of the City of London for Coleman Street ward. He was auditor for the City in 1596 and was Sheriff of London from 1597
James Townsend (Lord Mayor of London) a co-founder. He turned from a friend of Wilkes's to one of his fiercest opponents. Townsend was elected Lord Mayor of London in 1772. Wilkes had come first in the polls but Sheriff Richard Oliver manipulated the voting process to prevent the election of Wilkes. This created political turmoil in the City and a mob incensed by Townsend's coup rioted outside Guildhall during the ball on Lord Mayor's Day. Townsend's arms were erased from the church of St Helen's Bishopsgate. John Wilkes was eventually elected Lord Mayor in 1774. In 1781, Townsend presented a petition for electoral reform from the