Although he never rose above the rank of common councillor, Thomas Girdler was quite evidently a man of considerable wealth and influence whose background would have enabled him to play a more prominent part in civic affairs had he so wished. His father, Robert Girdler, became sheriff of London in 1368 and subsequently held office as a collector of the wool subsidy there.
Girdler’s activities brought him into conflict with a number of his fellow Londoners: between January 1381 and March 1389, for example, he was named as defendant in six separate legal actions, one of which, alleging nuisance on his part, was begun by no less an adversary than Sir Nicholas Brembre. Margaret Girdler’s title to her inheritance in the two London parishes of St. Martin in the Vintry and St. Nicholas Cole Abbey proved particularly hard to defend. In February 1382 the prior of Bermondsey advanced his own claim to the property in the court of husting, and in the following year the Girdlers fought a second, unsuccessful, action at the possessory assizes, where they were found wrongfully to have withheld rents from a messuage and shop in these two parishes.
As a man of property and considerable social standing, Girdler inevitably became involved in the business affairs of others. Early on in his career, in 1376, he stood surety with his father for the prominent London citizen Adam Bury; and in May 1381 he performed a similar service for John Walcote, the wealthy draper. Two years later he assumed responsibility for the legacy left by Nicholas Kymbel to his young son, Robert, offering sureties of 100 marks to the chamberlain of London as a guarantee of his good faith.
Girdler had no first-hand experience of civic affairs until June 1384, when, as a newly elected member for Billingsgate Ward, he attended the meeting of the common council at which John of Northampon was unanimously blamed for the recent riots and unrest in London. Nine days later he was among ‘the best and wisest men of the City’ chosen by his fellow councillors to examine and revise the notorious ‘Jubilee Book’ of ordinances compiled while Northampton and his party had been in power. Despite their disagreements in the lawcourts, Girdler’s sympathies clearly lay with Northampton’s rival, Sir Nicholas Brembre, whose election as mayor he had attended in October 1384. In the following August he went with other civic dignitaries to Reading, where the young King’s advisors decided to commit Northampton for trial. Girdler also attended an emergency session of the common council on 22 Mar. 1385, undoubtedly supporting the general view that Northampton’s death alone could bring peace to the City. As an interim means of preventing future disturbances the same meeting elected a body of 12 aldermen and 12 commoners, including Girdler, to investigate general issues of law and order. Apart from his duties as an auditor of London (a post which he held for two consecutive years), Girdler was not otherwise much burdened with civic responsibilities. In October 1385 he was one of the surveyors chosen by the common council to report upon the value of vacant dwellings and plots of land outside Cripplegate, but save for his one return to Parliament this was the last time that his services were required by the community.
Since he claimed to be a freeman of the City of London by birth, it was not until July 1387, after an ordinance had been passed by the common council, that Girdler took the necessary oath in the presence of the chamberlain. He died before 19 May 1390, leaving a son, also named Thomas, who came of age in 1401 and took part in the elections for London to the Parliament of May 1413.