Smithfield, London by Charles of France at Paris a few years earlier, upon the arrival of his consort Isabel of Bavaria. Geoffrey Chaucer supervised preparations for the tournament as a clerk to the King. Along with Tyburn, Smithfield was for centuries the main site for the public execution of heretics and dissidents in London. The Scottish nobleman Sir William Wallace was executed in 1305 at West Smithfield. The market was the meeting place prior to the Peasants' Revolt and where the Revolt's leader, Wat Tyler, was slain by Sir William Walworth, Lord Mayor of London on 15 June 1381. Religious dissenters (Catholics
Samuel Birch (Lord Mayor of London) present proprietors. He retired from the court of aldermen in 1810, and died at his house, 107 Guildford Street, London, on 10 Dec. 1841, aged 84. His grandson, also named Samuel, would become an eminent Egyptologist at the British Museum. Samuel Birch (Lord Mayor of London) Samuel Birch (1757–1841) was Lord Mayor of London, England. Birch began his career as a pastrycook, and was known also as a dramatist. He was the son of Lucas Birch, who carried on the business of a pastrycook and confectioner at 16 Cornhill. This shop, though the upper portion of the house had been