IRON, IRONWORKS, AND IRONMONGERS.
Iron and its uses historically described should form no unimportant
part to the history of the Ironmongers’ Company, but as it is not our
intention now to give the thousand-and-one notes which would form a most
interesting and valuable compendium to the general account of the City
Guild, it is sufficient for us if we so condense our large store of
material and give such an epitome as will assist the reader to comprehend
the origin of the trade of which the company bears the name.
A well-known writer justly observes that no one should fail to consider
the origin, history, and value of iron; that our instruments of cutlery,
the tools of our mechanics, and the countless machines which we construct
by the infinitely varied applications of iron are derived from ore for
the most part coeval with or more ancient than the fuel by the aid of
which we reduce it to its metallic state, and apply it to innumerable
uses in the economy of human life. The use of iron is identified with the
time of erecting the Egyptian monuments, the oldest in the world, and a
very large number of the helmets dug up at Nineveh were made of iron, and
some of copper inlaid. Readers of history have only to turn to the pages
of Anderson, Fosbroke, Scrivenor, Layard, and others to learn that iron
has ever been a most useful and valuable article of commerce.
The Romans proved their constructive ingenuity by the manufacture of
those innumerable articles of iron which from time to time have been dug
up throughout England, particularly in those districts where woods and
forests at one time existed. In Gloucestershire the Forest of Dean for
centuries had the extensive furnaces about which so many battles were
fought in and out of Parliament, and in Sussex the sites of the ancient
ironworks in the Weald can be traced to this day, and will be found
described in Lower’s “Historical and Archæological Notices,” printed
in the second volume of the Sussex Collections. In the reign of the
Conqueror Gloucestershire possessed a large trade in the forging of iron
for the King’s navy, and in Edward I.’s time seventy-two furnaces were
kept employed. As we progressed, England discovered that the iron we
manufactured was wanted for home use, consequently Edward III. prohibited
its exportation.
In the accounts for carrying on the war in 1513 there is an item
mentioning “nailes and yeran worke,” and just thirty years later
(according to Holinshed) the first cast-iron cannon was made at Buxted,
in Sussex, by Rafe Hoge and Peter Bawde. Among the State Papers there
are a quantity relating to the casting of cannon not only in Sussex, but
in other counties. The Lamberhurst furnace was a large foundry, for the
woods of the Weald were plentiful, and here, at a cost of 11,202_l._,
were produced the 2,500 fine iron railings and seven iron gates, weighing
200 tons and 81 lbs., for the enclosure of Wren’s Cathedral of St.
Paul’s, London. It is worthy of note that as early as 1290 Master Henry
of Lewes received a payment for the ironwork of the monument of Henry
III. in Westminster Abbey. The parish of Mayfield was famous for its
iron; at the palace were preserved many relics, and among these the
hammer, anvil, and tongs of St. Dunstan. Lower says “they seem to refer
as much to the iron trade, so famous in these parts, as to the alleged
proficiency of the Saint in the craft of a blacksmith. The hammer and
tongs are of no great antiquity, but the hammer with its iron handle may
be considered a mediæval relic.” The old legend of St. Dunstan and his
successful encounter with “the Evil one” must form part of the history
of the blacksmiths, and will not be an uninteresting portion of their
“mystery.” In 1559 the value of iron and ironwork brought into the port
of London, “the excess of which is prejudicial to the realm,” is set
down in a State Paper to be 19,559_l._ In 1622 Thomas Covell and others
received a certificate permitting them to sell round iron shot at 11_l._
per ton.
In the reign of Elizabeth there are two most interesting notices in
manuscript. The first of the year 1574, the second of the Armada year
1588. Nowadays we are used to “company promoting,” but three centuries
ago there was as wild a scheme countenanced by Her Majesty’s Ministers
as ever was floated to-day. Strype, in his “Annals” (quoting the
original MSS.), says “a great project has been carrying on now for two
or three years of alchymy, William Medley being the great undertaker
to turn iron into copper. Sir Thomas Smith, Secretary of State, had by
some experiments made before him a great opinion of it,” so had the
great Lord Burleigh, the Earl of Leicester, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and
others, each of whom speculated, with the result that Her Majesty (for
certain royalties allowed her) granted them a patent in January, 1574,
incorporating them as the “Governor and Society of the New Art” ...
“for making copper and quicksilver by the way of transmutation with the
commodities growing of that mystery.” Twenty persons only were to form
the company; to “dig open and work for any mines, owers, and things
whatsoever.” Sundry sums of 100_l._ each were subscribed by Burleigh,
Smith & Co., but “the concern” did not prosper. The assay master at the
Tower mint was sent to “the works,” and so was Robert Denham, a relative,
by the way, of the Sir Wm. Denham who had been seven times Master of the
Ironmongers’ Company; but somehow or other we fail, as Strype failed with
all the papers before him, to learn “the wind up” of what was thought to
be “a most splendid investment.”
Now in 1588 there was the original certificate given by “John Colman,
of the Kanc, gent,” of “Chardges belonging to a furnace for making a
fowndry of iron for one whole weeke” at Canckwood (Cannock Wood?), co.
Stafford. According to this document, for one ton the furnace cost
110_s._ 10½_d._, and the forge 69_s._ 2_d._; total, 9_l._ 0_s._ 0½_d._
Seven years previous to this, the Act of Elizabeth, “Touching yron milles
neere unto the Cittie of London and the Ryver of Thames,” enacted that in
consequence of the great consumption of wood as fuel for these mills, no
woods within 22 miles of the City should be converted “to cole or other
fewell for the making of iron or iron mettell in any iron milles furnes
or hammer,” except the woods of the wealds of Surrey, Sussex, and Kent,
and the woods of Christopher Darrell, of Newdigate, Surrey, gent, and who
had already preserved his woods for his own ironworks.
Speaking of patents and Acts of Parliament recalls a note or two which
may as well be stated here. In 1676 Samuel Hutchinson, citizen and
ironmonger of London, had a patent granted to him for his invention, “a
newe way of melting downe leade oare into good and mallyable mettall with
minerall coales commly called sea coales and pitt coales, which hath byn
approved of by many prsons dealing in leade and other artists.” In 1766
John Purnell, of Froombridge, Gloucester, ironmaster, invented a new
machine for making ship-bolts and rods of iron and steel. Between these
dates there were several patents granted to ironmongers, but the patents
were for numerous inventions quite apart from the trade.
We have stated that the Ironmongers are known to have existed many years
previous to their incorporation in 1463. Now, according to the ancient
City records, called “Liber Horn,” compiled in the reign of Edward I.,
(and quoted by Stow and others), the “Feroners,” or dealers in iron,
about the year 1300 complained to the Mayor (Elias Russel) and the
aldermen “for that the smiths of the wealds and other merchants bringing
down irons of wheels for carts to the City of London they were much
shorter than was anciently, to the great loss and scandal of the whole
trade of ironmongers.” Whereupon an inquisition was taken, and three rods
of the just length of the strytes, and the length and breadth of the
gropes belonging to the wheels of carts were presented and sealed with
the City seal. One was deposited in the Chamber of London, Guildhall, and
the other two handed to John Dode and Robert Paddington, the ironmongers
of the market, and John Wymondham, ironmonger of the Bridge, who were
accordingly sworn to oversee for the benefit of the trade, and empowered
to seize all unjust and less-sized irons in future. This reference is
particularly interesting, for it not only proves the existence of “the
trade” at least one hundred and sixty years before the incorporation of
the Ironmongers, but gives us an insight into the way complaints were
redressed nearly six hundred years ago.
In Causton’s introduction to “Mildmay on City Elections,” we are
told that in a few years after the accession of Edward III. a silent
revolution had been accomplished—the gildated crafts by the enrolment
of the special freemen, householders of the wards each in his mystery,
had obtained an exclusively civic importance, paramount to the mixed
character of the inhabitants of the wards as civic divisions, and the
reconstruction of the City from a territorial to a trading classification
had become complete. Thus, in the twenty-fifth year of Edward III., 1351,
a precept was directed to the wardens of the City Guilds by the Mayor
(which precept formerly had been directed to the men of each ward),
and in this precept each of the thirty-three mysteries was directed to
select from their number four persons, who were to join the others of the
Companies in a consultation with the Mayor and Sheriffs on the business
of the City. The Ironmongers accordingly selected their two wardens
and two others to represent them, and from this date they claim their
existence as a Guild. In 1363 (37 Edward III.), when these Companies were
called upon for “an offering” to the King to enable him to carry on the
war in France, the then large sum of 452_l._ 16_s._ was contributed,
and the Ironmongers supplied 6_l._ 18_s._ 4_d._ It is worthy of note
that upon this occasion in precedency on the list it stood eleventh,
while to-day, some 500 years later, its precedency on the list of City
Companies is the tenth. Of this precedency, which was a serious question
in olden time, we shall have to say a few words later on in our history.
We have now to mention a most interesting circumstance, which has only
recently been discovered. Among the enrolled letters at Guildhall which
between 1350 and 1370 were sent from the Corporation to many persons,
and which Dr. Sharpe, the Records Clerk, so ably edited for the City
four years ago, there is one written in French, and dated the 18th of
October, the 38th Edward III. (1364), and directed to some persons whose
names have not been preserved, but then residents at Bury—probably Bury
St. Edmunds, in Suffolk—“desiring them to assist Thomas de Mildenhale,
citizen and ironmonger of London, to recover his runaway apprentice,
Andrew, the son of William Bruwere, who is understood to be staying
in the town of Bury, in such manner as they would wish their folk to
be treated in like case or weightier. The Lord have them ever in his
keeping.” We are not told, and are not likely to know now, whether this
runaway “merry” Andrew was brought back, and, if so, how the Chamberlain
received him. In subsequent days a runaway apprentice would have “little
ease” at the hands of the Guildhall caretaker of a citizen’s conscience.
We shall include in this second chapter of our history another most
interesting document which Mr. Riley found when making his extracts
from the Guildhall treasures a few years ago. It is nothing more or
less than the appraisement of the goods and chattels of Stephen le
Northerne, in the thirtieth year of Edward III. (1356), and gives us
a very curious picture of what an ironmonger’s shop contained at that
date. It would appear that the goods were in the house of one John
Leche, in the parish of St. Michael, Cornhill, on June 6 that year, and
that the appraisers were William Sunnyng, carpenter, Robert de Blithe,
“brasyere,” Robert Russe, “brasyere,” Henry Clement and Stephen Basham,
“lockyers” (locksmiths), and Adam Wayte, “upholder.” The total value
of the household goods and stock-in-trade came to the sum of 9_l._
14_s._ 2_d._, but even this amount was a large one in those days. Among
the articles enumerated and appraised we find five carpets, 7_s._;
five bankeres, (bench-covers), 12 quyshynes (cushions), and one dosere
(tapestry hanging), 3_s._ 9_d._; three tablecloths and one towel, 21_d._;
one surcoat, 8_s._; one aumbrey (portable cupboard) and chest, 18_d._;
one balance, called an “auncere” (weighing-machine), 12_d._; pair of iron
gauntlets and pair of bracers (for the arms), 6_d._; 20 lbs. pewter,
2_s._ 11_d._; two querne (or mill) stones, 18_d._; three brass pots,
two pitchers, a basin, seven brass plates, nine pieces of holdshrof,
19_s._ 11_d._; feather bed, three carpets, three sheets, 9_s._ 6_d._; two
balances, 6_s._; trivet and four iron slegges (sledge-hammers), 3_s._
6_d._; two plonchones (iron punches) and four cart-strokes (tires),
3_s._ 8_d._; pair of irons for Eucharist, five fire-forks, four heynges,
one tin pan, six latches for doors, four small goldsmiths’ anvils,
two kerfsheres (chaff-shears), 5_s._; eight pairs of kemstercombs
(wool-combers), and one boweshawe (bowshave), 11_d._; old iron and
balance, 6_s._ 8_d._; two iron spits and iron for bedsteads, 5_s._ 8_d._;
fifteen battle-axes, 7_s._; four hatches and nine pair of hinges, 6_s._;
two small andirons, twelve hatchets, five pickaxes, seven carpenters’
axes, three twybilles, three woodbilles, four masons’ axes (old), pair
of pincers, flesh-hook, &c., 10_s._ 4_d._; twelve dozen hinges, 5_s._;
ten pairs linch-pins, nine pairs of bar-hooks, 6_s._; iron grate, anvil,
&c., 2_s._ 3_d._; thirty-three pairs of okees (ornamental mouldings),
6_s._; twenty bolts and sockets, 6_s._; twelve pairs of Utt garnets,
eleven pairs of Ambry garnets, ten plate-locks, 8_s._ 6_d._; five
latches, iron chisel, 120 keys, twelve cart-clouts (axle-tree plates),
3_s._; pikestaff, 4_d._; sixty columns (axle trees) for wheels, three
barrels and two vats, 2_s._ 3_d._; pair of mustard querns (mills), 6_d._:
mincing-bowl and shoe-horn, 1_d._; bacinet, dagger, and buckler, 5_s._;
wooden bedstead, 2_s._; &c.
This inventory is very curious, and, as inventories of so early a date
are very rare, we could not resist the temptation of quoting one,
especially when it related to an ironmonger’s shop. Now, it appears
that the whole of these goods and chattels, together with one tenement,
three shops, and one alley, situated in the parish of St. Michael,
Cornhill, and valued at fourteen shillings yearly (rents in Cornhill
were reasonable in those days), were delivered over to Simon Palmer,
“pelterer,” and William Sunnyng, “carpenter,” by the Mayor and Aldermen,
to be holden in trust for the use of Alice, the daughter of John Leche
aforesaid, when she came of age. As the premises appear to have been
shortly afterwards burnt to the ground, the trustees had to rebuild, and
on folio 45 of the Corporation Letter Book G Mr. Riley found the cost of
such restoration.
In our first chapter we stated it was in 1377 that by enactment the
Common Council and other officials of the City were directed to be
elected from the mysteries instead of by the Wards, as theretofore. This
privilege, although only temporarily enjoyed as regarded the Council, yet
has continued, so far as the Liverymen being the elective body of the
City officials, down to the present time, notwithstanding that 500 years
have passed by since the passing of the Act; and, looking at the list of
names of the persons chosen and the many notable individuals, styled by
old Stow under the heading, “Honor of citizens and worthinesse of men
in the same,” there are few persons who carefully and without prejudice
study the facts but will agree with us that the Livery have never
neglected their duty, but have, as a rule, only elected those persons who
would do their duty to their country, to their Sovereign, and to their
brethren in the City. We sincerely trust that, whenever any elective
franchise is conferred upon the Londoners at large, they will execute
their trust with as good and unbiased a judgment. In our next chapter
we shall tell how the Ironmongers carried out their trust after their
foundation as a Guild and an Incorporated Company of the City of London.