William Walworth

William Walworth was Lord Mayor of London when the Peasants' Revolt broke out and he killed Wat Tyler in front of the king at Smithfield. He was a fishmonger, which in fourteenth-century London meant one of the wealthiest men in the country: the fishmongers held a monopoly on a staple food, and Walworth lent money to the crown on a scale that made him a political figure in his own right. He was mayor twice, in 1374 and again in 1380, and he was also a landlord of the Southwark stews, the licensed brothels, which the rebels burned. When the Kentish and Essex men reached London on 13 June 1381 the gates were opened from the inside, and Walworth's own attempt to hold the bridge failed for the same reason - much of the city was sympathetic. On 15 June he rode with Richard II to the second parley at Smithfield. What happened is described differently by every chronicler: Tyler behaved with familiarity towards the king, asked for a drink, or made a movement towards a dagger; Walworth struck him in the neck, and a squire finished him. Tyler was carried to St Bartholomew's hospital, dragged out again and beheaded. The king rode forward and told the crowd to follow him instead, and the revolt dissolved. Walworth was knighted on the field along with several aldermen, and led the reprisals in Kent afterwards. The story that the dagger on the City of London arms is his is a later invention; it is the sword of St Paul.

• Lived: 1330 CE – 1385 CE
• Nationality: English
• Roles: politician