Sir John Perring, 1st Baronet

Sir John Perring, 1st Baronet (26 April 1765 – 30 January 1831), FSA, of Membland in the parish of Holbeton, Devon, was a Member of Parliament and served as Lord Mayor of London in 1803.

[8] John Silvester, the Recorder of London referenced the spectre of Napoleon Bonaparte and the burgeoning Napoleonic Wars in his announcement of Perring's appointment, stating that "At a time so awful as the present, when the country is threatened by an implacable and unprincipled enemy, it is of the last importance that the civic chair should be filled by a person in whom the greatest confidence can be placed".

[7] The ball held later that day at Guildhall was opened with a minuet danced by Perring's eldest daughter and the Spanish Ambassador.

[7] The Napoleonic wars and the threat of a French invasion had led to coastal batteries being built as fortifications along the south coast of England in the summer of 1803.

Perring was furious to find that a battery had been built on land that he owned at the mouth of the River Yealm in Devon, and wrote to the Secretary of War, Lord Hobart.