William McArthur (Lord Mayor of London) William McArthur (Lord Mayor of London) Sir William McArthur, (6 July 1809 – 16 November 1887) was an Irish businessman and Lord Mayor of London, and a Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1885. McArthur was born at Malin, County Donegal, the son of Rev. John McArthur, a Methodist minister in Londonderry. In 1821 he was apprenticed to a woollen draper in Enniskillen. He moved to Lurgan in 1825 where he was a merchant and in 1831 established a drapery business in Derry initially in a partnership, but later on his own. In
Sheriffs of the City of London the Lord Mayor's use, with the Sword of the City hanging behind the bench. It is an invariable custom that the Lord Mayor of London must previously have served as a Sheriff. By a "custom of immemorial usage in the City", the two Sheriffs are elected at the Midsummer Common Hall by the Liverymen by acclamation, unless a ballot is demanded from the floor, which takes place within fourteen days. The returning officers at the Common Hall are the Recorder of London (senior Judge of the 'Old Bailey') and the outgoing Sheriffs. , the current Sheriffs are Alderman Peter Kenneth