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
Edward Ironside (Lord Mayor of London) Ironside became an alderman of Cordwainer ward on 18 October 1745. He was one of the members of the so called ‘Benn’s Club’ a group of Aldermen with Jacobite sysmpathies under the leadership of Alderman William Benn. He was Sheriff of London in the year 1748 to 1749. He became Lord Mayor of London on 9th November1753. At his inauguration, he was so ill with gout that he had to be carried in a magnificent Sedan Chair. Alderman Benn rode in the State Coach and performed the honours of the day in his place. Ironside’s health did not improve and