Samuel Birch (Lord Mayor of London) the lord mayor, and on the reverse a representation of a wheatsheaf, with the legend, 'Free Importation, Peace and Plenty.' During his mayoralty the marble statue of George III by Chantrey, the inscription on which was written by Birch, was placed in the council chamber of Guildhall. Almost his last act as lord mayor was to lay the foundation-stone of the London Institution in Finsbury Circus (then called the Amphitheatre, Moorfields) on 4 November 1815. In 1836 Birch, who had for many years carried on his father's old business in Cornhill, disposed of it to Messrs. Ring & Brymer, the
Lord Mayor of London the Foreign Secretary addresses an audience of international dignitaries. The Lord Mayor sometimes takes part in major state occasions, for example in 2013, the then-Lord Mayor, Roger Gifford carried the Mourning Sword at Margaret Thatcher's Funeral, processing ahead of the Queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, into St Paul's Cathedral. The Lord Mayor performs numerous other functions, including serving as the Chief Magistrate of the City of London, Admiral of the Port of London, Rector of City, University of London, President of Gresham College, President of City of London Reserve Forces and Cadets Association, and Trustee of St Paul's