Penelope Hunting graduated with an honours degree in history from the University of London, followed by a PhD in architectural history. She has written books on the history of London, the City livery companies and two historical biographies. Her History of the Royal Society of Medicine (2001) received an award from the Society of Authors. Her most recent book, Riot and Revolution, (2013) is a biography of the seventeenth-century Lord Mayor of London, Sir Robert Geffery. Dr Hunting is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, Chairman of the London Topographical Society and a trustee of the Heatherley School of Fine Art, Chelsea.