Sir William Laxton (c. 1500 – 27 July 1556) was a Lord Mayor of London during the reign of Henry VIII, and eight times Master of the Worshipful Company of Grocers.
[5] It is likely that one Richard Laxton, apprenticed to John Preste (Grocer and Merchant Adventurer)[6] in 1517, was also his brother, and there was a sister Joan who married Edward Cacher, of the Pewterers' Company.
[13] Therefore, the executions of Thomas Cromwell and of Dr Robert Barnes and his Lutheran companions, and the King's marriage to Catherine Howard, were all completed before Laxton took office.
At Easter 1541 the Mayor, Aldermen and Crafts, greeted the river procession of the King and Queen from Westminster between the Tower and London Bridge 'in barges goodlie behanged and sett with banners', and accompanied them to Greenwich.
[14] It is particularly recorded that Bowes and Laxton as Sheriffs attended Lord Dacre of the South at the Tower of London on 29 July 1541 and accompanied him on foot to Tyburn where he was to be hanged.
[21] According to heraldic Visitations Luddington, a London Grocer and Merchant Adventurer,[22] originated from the Adlingfleet area of south Yorkshire between Goole and Scunthorpe.
The Mayor and aldermen were required to make the first payments in a formal ceremony at Baynard Castle, and all did so apart from Richard Read, a newly elected alderman, who was immediately sent to the wars in Scotland, on pain of death, and was taken prisoner by the Scots three months later.
After Bishop Bonner's Chancellor had also interviewed her, Laxton put her in temporary custody, refusing to accept sureties, and telling Anne's cousin Brittayne that he would be glad to help her but could neither imprison or bail her without consent of the spiritual powers.
Of this John Bale remarked, 'The Mayor of London, which is the king's lieutenant, and representeth there his own person, standeth here like a dead idol, or like such a servant slave who can do nothing within his own city concerning their matters.'
The French navy blockaded the Pas de Calais and made attacks on the English coast, and the Mary Rose sank at Portsmouth.
[28] Intensive house-searches and curfews were imposed on all strangers living in London, and a nightly mounted watch was maintained by the aldermen, Laxton himself taking the first duty.
[29] Late in 1545 Sir John Aleyn died after 30 years' service as alderman, and Laxton transferred to the Lime Street ward vacated by his death.
[33] Following the death of William Lane in 1552[34] Anne Luddington remarried to the Grocer Thomas Lodge, who was formerly married to Mawdleyn, sister of Stephen Vaughan.
In the procession to St Mary Aldermary the body was borne in a hearse with five principals, the majesty and the valence gilt: the house, church and street were decked with black hangings and arms, and there were many penselles and escutcheons: a standard, four pennons and two banners: with a coat armour, helmet, targe and sword, and the crest of a tiger's head with a columbine slipped.
[42] Laxton planned this bequest during the last two or three years of his life, and its terms were negotiated with the Grocers' Company, who at first resisted involvement owing to difficulties with the tenure of the endowment lands.