Follow
From c. 1131–1889, by a charter of Henry I, the livery of the City of London were given the right to elect two sheriffs of "London and Middlesex" on a payment of £300 per annum to the Crown. This continued until 1889, when the Local Government Act 1888 came into force. A separate High Sheriff of Middlesex and High Sheriff of the County of London was thereafter appointed in the same manner as other English and Welsh counties.
Since 1385 when the Court of Common Council stipulated that every future Lord Mayor should "have previously been Sheriff so that he may be tried as to his governance and bounty before he attains to the Estate of Mayor", the shrieval year of an Aldermanic Sheriff is an obligatory trial run for would-be Lord Mayors of London.
In modern times the two Sheriffs are elected on Midsummer's Day every year in Guildhall by the City livery companies. Their duties include attending the Lord Mayor in carrying out his official duties, attending the sessions at the Central Criminal Court in the Old Bailey and presenting petitions from the City to Parliament at the Bar[1] of the House of Commons.
- List of Sheriffs of London
- About the High Sheriffs
- The High Sheriffs' Association of England and Wales - Greater London County History
this project is in HistoryLink
