Thomas Skinner (Lord Mayor of London, 1596) he had been elected 28 September, master of the Clothworkers Company, 1584. Shortly after the month of November, 1588, Alderman Skinner was detained in custody for disobedience to an Order of the Queen-in-Council, and was suspected to be one of those that upon retirement out of the City of London, or some other cause, refused to contribute what was allotted him towards Her Majesty's loan from the City. In 1596 Queen Elizabeth interfered with the ordinary course of election of the Lord Mayor as will be seen by a "Letter (dated 1st Sept., 1596) from the Aldermen to Mr. Alderman
John Spencer (Lord Mayor of London) Bocking, which he had obtained from the Queen on 1 August 1599. Spencer left nothing to public purposes. In Canonbury, a residential square which was laid out in 1963, is named after Sir John Spencer. He, at the time, was Lord Mayor of London and had a country retreat at Canonbury in the early 17th Century. John Spencer Square had former residents include Labour Party Cabinet Minister Barbara Castle and her husband Ted Castle, journalist and GLC Alderman. By his wife, Alice Bromfield, Spencer had an only child, Elizabeth, who in 1598 was sought in marriage by William Compton, 2nd