 A force of around 4,000 men from Honfleur, under the command of Pierre de Brézé, Marshal of France, came ashore to pillage the town, in the process murdering the mayor, John Drury.It thereafter became an established tradition, which survives to this day, that the Mayor of Sandwich wears a black robe in mourning for this ignoble deed.Sandwich later gained significantly from the skills brought to the town by many Flemish settlers, who were granted the right to settle by letters patent from Elizabeth I, dated 6 July 1561.