John Fresshe of King Richard II's ill-fated poll tax within the city from December 1380. It was this tax which was to provoke the outbreak of the Peasants' Revolt in June the next year. Fresshe was one of three such men—along with fellow mercers, John Horn and Adam Karlille—to be sent by the then-mayor, William Walworth, to meet with the army assembled by rebel leader Wat Tyler at Blackheath in June 1381. Juliet Barker suggests that this was a pivotal meeting in the history of the revolt. The Mayor instructed Fresshe and his colleagues to negotiate with the rebels, and, if possible,
William Leighton (Lord Mayor of London) William Leighton (Lord Mayor of London) Sir William Leighton (1752 – 23 April 1826) was a British shipowner and merchant who served as the Lord Mayor of London in 1806. Leighton's family was from County Durham in the North East of England and he moved to London around 1779 following his father's death. Leighton worked as a coal merchant shipping coal from the port of Newcastle, and was based at Newcastle's Coal Exchange. Leighton was a prominent shipowner who owned , and , three of the ships of the First Fleet, which transported convicts to the British colony of New