The Mansion House 'Racket'
In 1754, the City of London decided to prosecute those Freemen who pleaded Nonconformity to avoid the expense of the office of Sheriff.
On the 11th of this month the new Lord Mayor begins his year in office and takes up residence in the Mansion House at the heart of the City of London. This is an appropriate moment, therefore, for considering the unusual and controversial origins of what is one of the most famous civic buildings in the world. Many readers will know that the Mansion House was completed in the middle of the eighteenth century to the design of George Dance the Elder. Few will appreciate that much of the cost of £75,000 was met by the fines paid to avoid service as Sheriff and that many of those obliged to 'fine off were Nonconformists.
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