William Walworth group conspired to keep food prices up, lent money to the king at inflated interest, and through personal and financial influence persuaded the king to issue edicts profitable to themselves. His most famous exploit was his encounter with Wat Tyler during the English peasants' revolt of 1381, in his second term of office as Lord Mayor. In June of that year, when Tyler and his followers entered south London, Walworth defended London Bridge against them. He was with Richard II when he met the insurgents at Smithfield, and killed the rebel leader with his baselard. The circumstances of the killing
Stephen Foster (Lord Mayor of London) William Rowley's (15861626) play "A New Wonder, a Woman Never Vexed", based on their lives. Stephen Foster (Lord Mayor of London) Sir Stephen Foster (fl. 1454) was a fishmonger and later Lord Mayor of London. He was the son of Robert Foster of London, a stockfish merchant. Elected Sheriff of London in 1444, he became Lord Mayor of London in 1454, and served as the city's Member of Parliament in King Henry VI's 13th parliament. According to historian John Strype, Foster married a widow named Agnes, who enlarged Ludgate prison (where Foster had at one time been imprisoned for debt)