Samuel Birch (Lord Mayor of London) advocacy of the Protestant ascendency in Ireland. In 1811, he was appointed one of the sheriffs of London, and on 9 November 1814 Birch entered on his duties as lord mayor. Tory though he was, he opposed the Corn Bill of 1815, and presided at a meeting of the livery in common hall on 23 February 1815, when he made a vigorous attack upon the intended prohibition of the free importation of foreign corn. The course he took on this occasion is commemorated by a medal struck in his honour on the obverse side of which is the bust of
John Tate (Lord Mayor of London) John Tate (Lord Mayor of London) Sir John Tate (died 1515) was twice Lord Mayor of London and a Member of Parliament. He was born the son of Thomas Tate of Coventry and became a mercer of the City of London, initially apprenticed to his uncle, John Tate, a former (1473) Mayor of London. John Tate junior was made an Alderman of London in 1463, appointed Sheriff of London for 1485 and elected Lord Mayor for 1496-97 and 1514–15. He was twice elected, in 1504 and 1510, as a Member of Parliament for the City of London. He was knighted