Lord Mayor of London been mandatory for election to the Lord Mayoralty. Two Sheriffs are selected annually by Common Hall, which meets on Midsummer's Day for this purpose. By an ordinance of 1435, the Lord Mayor must be chosen from amongst the Aldermen of the City of London. Those on the electoral roll of each of the City's 25 Wards select one Alderman, who formerly held office for life or until resignation. Now each Alderman must submit for re-election at least once in every six years. The Lord Mayor is then sworn in November, on the day before the Lord Mayor's Show ("see below").
William Laxton (Lord Mayor of London) Thomas Cromwell and of Dr Robert Barnes and his Lutheran companions, and the King's marriage to Catherine Howard, were all completed before Laxton took office. At Easter 1541 the Mayor, Aldermen and Crafts, greeted the river procession of the King and Queen from Westminster between the Tower and London Bridge 'in barges goodlie behanged and sett with banners', and accompanied them to Greenwich. It is particularly recorded that Bowes and Laxton as Sheriffs attended Lord Dacre of the South at the Tower of London on 29 July 1541 and accompanied him on foot to Tyburn where he was to be