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
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