Samuel Birch (Lord Mayor of London)

When young he devoted much of his leisure time to the cultivation of his mental powers and the improvement of his literary taste; he was a frequent attendant of a debating society which met in one of the large rooms formerly belonging to the King's Arms Tavern, Cornhill, and there, in the winter of 1778, he made his first essay in public speaking.

In politics he was a strenuous supporter of Pitt's administration, though he vigorously opposed the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts.

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 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.

[1] 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.