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. As the summer approached the executions of the Countess of Salisbury and of Lord Leonard Gray took place at the Tower. Marriage In 1541–42, and in 1543–44, he was again Master of the Grocers' Company: and, having transferred as Alderman to the Langbourn ward in 1543, late in 1544 he was elected Lord Mayor. Before May 1539 he had married Joan Kirkeby, daughter of William Kirkeby and widow of Henry Loddington, who had died in 1531 leaving Joan with at least three children. According to heraldic Visitations Luddington, a London Grocer and Merchant Adventurer, originated from the Adlingfleet area of south Yorkshire between Goole and Scunthorpe. William Kirkeby, whom Luddington made an overseer of his will, is also said to have been of Yorkshire parentage. Laxton, who had no children of his own, accepted the Loddington children as stepson and stepdaughters, one of whom (Anne) married the wealthy Grocer William Lane (whose first wife had been sister of Peter Osborne). Mayoralty 1544–45 Laxton's mayoralty was an eventful one, during which the King asserted himself towards the Court of Aldermen. His Sheriffs were John Wilford and Andrew Judd. Soon after Christmas Henry demanded a national levy (a 'Benevolence') at 2 shillings in the pound to support his continuing wars in France and Scotland. 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. Soon afterwards Sir William Roche, for speaking to the Council's displeasure, was arrested in the presence of the Mayor and aldermen and sent to the Tower. On 8 February 1545 Laxton was presented to the King at Westminster and, after the King had thanked him for supporting his recent military successes, he bestowed upon him the honour of Knighthood. Laxton's part in the first inquisition of the Protestant martyr Anne Askew is told in her own words. Having been detained under the Six Articles Act for her association with Evangelicals, she went before an inquisition led by Christopher