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
William Leighton (Lord Mayor of London) south Wales. Leighton also owned several ships that were sent as military transports to the British Province of Quebec with contracts from the British Navy. Because of his maritime interests, Leighton served on various shipping committees. Leighton was a member of the Livery company of the Worshipful Company of Wheelwrights. He was created an alderman in the City of London's Billingsgate ward in 1799, before his resignation as an alderman in 1821. He was subsequently elected one of the Sheriffs of the City of London in 1803. In 1806, Leighton was proclaimed Lord Mayor of London, and knighted on 1