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
Lord Mayor of London State Robes by means of black or white silk satin ribbons on the shoulders. As an Alderman of the City of London the Lord Mayor has a scarlet gown and a violet gown, which are identical to those worn by his or her fellow aldermen except that they are trained. The violet robe is worn at most formal meetings of the Corporation with the scarlet robe substituted on certain days or occasions as directed by the City Ceremonial Book. For State occasions when the monarch is present, the Lord Mayor wears a crimson velvet robe of state trimmed with an