September 1895). While Sheriff, he took a leading part in the scheme for the unification of London by the absorption of the City and the metropolitan districts into the London County Council (which had been created in 1889). In late September 1902 he was elected Lord Mayor of London for the coming year (serving from November 1902 to November 1903), and received the traditional Baronetcy in 1903. During his year as Lord Mayor, he paid official visits to several English cities. Accompanied by the sheriffs, he visited Newcastle upon Tyne in late November 1902, where his wife named a Shell petroleum steamer, they made a journey down the River Tyne, and visited the Elswick works. He was on the Commission for the Lieutenancy for City of London, a visiting justice of Holloway and Newgate prisons, and chairman of a City committee in connection with the Royal Commission on the Port of London (1900–02). He was also for three years a member of the Thames Conservancy board as the elected representative of the shipowners, and was a Justice of the peace for Kent. In 1907, Samuel's company combined with Royal Dutch Petroleum to create the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, a holding company for Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij, containing the production and refining assets, and Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company containing the transport and storage assets. Marcus served as a Director of the Alliance Marine Assurance Company. M. Samuel & Co., having transformed over the years to a merchant bank, merged in 1965 with Philip Hill, Higginson, Erlangers Ltd to create Hill Samuel, which is now a part of Lloyds TSB. In recognition of his contribution to the British cause in World War I, he was created 1st Baron Bearsted of Maidstone in the County of Kent in the 1921 Birthday Honours. In the 1925 Birthday Honours, he was elevated to 1st Viscount Bearsted. Lord Bearsted was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law (LLD) from the University of Sheffield during his lifetime. Personal life Samuel married in 1881 Fanny Elizabeth Benjamin, a daughter of Benjamin Benjamin, of Stranraer House, London. Lady Samuel was godmother to the steam tanker SS Silverlip during a visit to Newcastle in November 1902. Samuel went riding every morning at Hyde Park, London, and his country house was on a 500-acre estate in Kent, called The Mote. Titles Mr Marcus Samuel (1853–1898) Sir Marcus Samuel (1898–1903) Sir Marcus Samuel Bt. (1903–1921)