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
John Spencer (Lord Mayor of London) Bocking, which he had obtained from the Queen on 1 August 1599. Spencer left nothing to public purposes. In Canonbury, a residential square which was laid out in 1963, is named after Sir John Spencer. He, at the time, was Lord Mayor of London and had a country retreat at Canonbury in the early 17th Century. John Spencer Square had former residents include Labour Party Cabinet Minister Barbara Castle and her husband Ted Castle, journalist and GLC Alderman. By his wife, Alice Bromfield, Spencer had an only child, Elizabeth, who in 1598 was sought in marriage by William Compton, 2nd