THE APPRENTICES, THE HALL, AND THE IRISH ESTATE.
The London apprentice of the olden time was as different a personage to
the ’prentice lad of to-day as the streets of the City are now unlike the
thoroughfares of two or three centuries ago. The ancient Guild ordinances
relating to apprentices prove that they were considered a most important
part of the establishment of a citizen, and this is not to be wondered
at when we consider that not only the trade of his master, but the trade
of London, depended entirely upon the skilled artisan and craftsman’s
ability, without which all the money-bags of the merchant were of little
use. We could fill a volume with the history and anecdotes of the
apprentice, but must content ourselves by giving a brief summary only;
and the notes that we do give will show that our apprentices were not
unworthy of the City, notwithstanding they were never backward in crying
“Clubs! clubs!” and eager for the fray. In every festival, on the “high
days and holidays” of civic life, at the marching watch or a Lord Mayor’s
Show, at “going a Maying” to Shooters’ Hill, and archery practice in
Finsbury Fields, the apprentice was an expected visitant. As he existed
in the days of James I., Sir Walter Scott, in his “Fortunes of Nigel,”
conveys to us a presentable and true picture.
Since the year 1662, no sooner was a boy aged fourteen than a master
was found, and to him he was “bound” to serve, to follow his master’s
trade, and to learn it until the age of twenty-one, when, having proved
a good apprentice, he was admitted to the freedom of the Company to
which such master belonged. Sometimes his master in the meantime died,
and that necessitated his being “turned over” to another employer. If
the boy misbehaved himself, then the Company and the Chamberlain took
him in hand, and, if incorrigible, to Bridewell he was sent. It neither
benefited the Corporation, the Company, nor the master to take too severe
measures, and in recent years the cases have been few where correction
has been administered, although to our minds it should have been oftener;
and instances, too, have occurred where the master ought to have paid the
penalty as well.
[Illustration: ST. ELIZABETH.
ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST.
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST.
THE HEARSE-CLOTH, OR IRONMONGERS’ FUNERAL PALL. 1515.—PLATE II.
(See page 55.)]
The earliest enrolment of a City apprentice was in the reign of Edward
II., or five centuries and a half ago. There is a curious case recorded
in the Guildhall Letter-book II, folio 42, of the year 1376, when William
Grendone, _alias_ Credelle, a scrivener, was sent to Newgate and fined
for making a false indenture between William Ayllesham, a goldsmith, and
Nicholas, the son of William Flourman. The indenture was for nine years,
and the surety, instead of the father of the boy, was named as “the Cross
at the North Door.” This cross—Broken Cross, or the Stone Cross—was at
the north door of St. Paul’s, and, having been erected in the reign of
Henry III., remained there until 1390, and in those superstitious ages
any transaction there was, as a rule, considered binding. Each cross in
the City had certain stalls, or stands, or stations, and these from time
to time were let to persons who thus became Stationers, and in course of
time left these stations at the Cross, and took up their position in and
about Paternoster Row.
The Ironmongers’ ordinance for the year 1498 (confirmed by the Judges
February 16, 1581) specially mentions the apprentice, as we have shown in
our fourth chapter. The housing, the clothing, and the general welfare of
the boy were fully set down, even to the command that the master “shall
not suffre his (the apprentice’s) here to growe to long!” Again, “Every
maister is sworne at the Guyldehall to make his prentice free wᵗʰout any
cost or charge to the prentice”—a custom, we regret to say, long ago
forgotten; and a century and a half after the making of the ordinance it
was further ordered that any master putting in an appearance with the
boy at the hall “before he have orderly cutt and barbed his hayre to
the liking of the Mʳ and Wardens of the Company” was to be fined twenty
shillings. One of the best City ordinances was that preventing the early
marrying of artisans, in 1556—a custom which had produced “povertie,
penurie, and lacke of livyng.” The Act recites:—
That by reason of the over hastie marriges and over some
setting up of housholdes of and by the youth and young
folkes of the sayde citie wᶜʰ hath comonly used and yet do,
to marry themselves as sone as ever thay come oute of theyr
apprenticehode be thaye never so young and unskilful, yea
and often tymes many of them so poore that they scantly have
of theire proper goodeyes wherewith to buye theire marriage
apparel, and to furnish ther houses with implements and other
thinges necessary for the exercise of ther of ther occupacons
whereby they should be able to sustayne themselves and theire
family;
therefore, for the remedy it was ordered that all apprentices in future
should not be made free until the age of twenty-four, at which age his
apprenticeship is to expire, and any master violating the order to pay
a fine of 20_l._ It is a curious coincidence, too, that in the original
rules, dated September, 1557, for the government of “the House of
Bridewell,” which hospital the City had recently obtained from Edward
VI., there is a special ordinance relating to the oversight of “the Nail
House”:—
Now for the setting on work of the idle; it shall be very
requisite that with as much speed, and as conveniently as yᵉ
may, that yᵉ increase the number of apprentices being taught
in the said faculty and discharge the number of journeymen, to
the intent the same apprentices being themselves perfect and
absolute therein may train and teach such of our poor children
or other needy people as hereafter we shall call out of the
hateful life of idleness.
As already stated, the overseers, artmasters, taskmasters, workmasters,
or artificers, for the foremen of the Bridewell shops, where the boys
were taught clothworking, weaving, pinmaking, &c., were so called, had
under their charge sometimes 150, and as many as 250. Two of the hospital
minute entries tell us:—
1602, Oct. 21.—Richard Brookes, fustian weaver, engages to take
during seven years next ensuing 40 vagrant boyes and wenches of
this city as apprentices to keep in diett, apparell, washing
and wringing: the said R. Brookes to receive with every of the
said children at their coming clean apparell and 10_l._ yearly.
1604, February 20.—Francis Ackland, pinmaker, engages to take
40 vagrant boys as apprentices.
And in 1606 the minute-book reports the order that the names of all
proposed apprentices brought into the House of Bridewell shall be
registered, as also the master’s name. During the last century the
apprentices in the house gradually declined, for in 1708 there were 140,
in 1768 only 60, in 1789 only 36, and in 1791 only 26, illustrating
but too forcibly the change in the times. It is probably not generally
known that in the olden time the Bridewell boys upon the ringing of the
fire-bell by the beadle used to drop their tools and start off to the
fire, wherever it was situate in the metropolis. The result was:—
They were active, to be sure, and serviceable; but what were
the consequences to themselves? They were thrown among all
those profligates which a fire collects in the streets. They
got liquor, they got money, and frequently roamed about the
town all night without controul. The masters lost the benefit
of the next day’s labour; and not seldom boys were hurt, and
for a long time disabled from working. It is about 20 years
since this very pernicious practice was restrained.
By the above quotations, written in 1798, we have shown that Bridewell
was not only a House of Correction for City vagrants, but was from its
foundation a real workhouse and artisans’ workshop. Many ignorant and
misinformed persons have before now gone out of their way to abuse this
institution, and declare that it never was put to the use the royal
founder intended. We could multiply our proofs that Bridewell always was
a useful house until Government, more than a century ago, meddled with
the City management, and spoilt this and Christ’s Hospital as well.
Another ancient ordinance of the City is dated 1582, when every freeman
was charged to take such steps necessary to prevent, and not to suffer
under any circumstances, “servants, apprentices, journemen, or children,
to repare or goe to annye playes, peices or enterludes, either wiᵗʰn
the Citie or suburbs,” under the severe pains and penalties “at the
discretion of me and my brethren.” Exactly a century later, on August 9,
1682, some 2,000 apprentices of London, who had taken active steps in the
address to Charles II. for the support of the institution, were feasted
in Merchant Taylors’ Hall, the king specially sending them two fat bucks
for the occasion.
The following is a copy of an original apprenticeship indenture, dated
1676. It is printed on vellum, 7 by 4 inches in size, the names and date
being the only portions written:—
[Illustration: SHIELD OF THE IRONMONGERS’ ARMS]
THIS INDENTURE Witnesseth that Clement Aleyn, Sonn of Clement
Aleyn, of Welton, in the County of Northampton, Gentleman,
doth put himself Apprentice to Samuell Clerke, Citizen and
IRONMONGER of London, to learn his Art: and with him (after
the manner of an Apprentice) to serve from the day of the date
hereof unto the full end and term of Seaven Years from thence
next following to be fully complete and ended. During which
term the said Apprentice his said Master shall faithfully
serve, his secrets keep, his lawful commandments everywhere
gladly do. He shall do no damage to his said Master, nor see
to be done of others, but that he to his power shall let or
forthwith give warning to his said Master of the same. He
shall not waste the goods of his said Master, nor lend them
unlawfully to any. He shall not commit fornication nor contract
matrimony within the said term. He shall not play at Cards,
Dice, Tables, or any other unlawful Games, whereby his said
Master may have any loss with his own goods or others during
the said term without license of his said Master, he shall
neither buy nor sell. He shall not haunt Taverns or Playhouses,
nor absent himself from his said Master’s service day or night
unlawfully. But in all things as a faithful Apprentice he shall
behave himself towards his said Master and all his during the
said term. And the said Master his said Apprentice in the same
Art which he useth by the best means that he can, shall teach
and instruct, or cause to be taught and instructed, finding
unto his said Apprentice meat, drink, apparel, lodging, and
all other necessaries, according to the custom of the City of
London during the said term. And for the true performance of
all and every the said Covenants and Agreements either of the
said parties bindeth himself unto the other by these presents.
In witness whereof the parties above named to these Indentures
interchangeably have put their hands and Seals the Three and
Twentieth day of Maye, Anno Dom. 1676, and in the xxviijth Year
of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King Charles the Second over
England, &c.
CLEMENT ALEYN.
Sealed and dd. in the pres. of Tho. Heatly, Clerke.
By the Act of Common Council, passed March, 1889, apprentices can now be
bound for four years instead of seven, and instead of the master being
compelled (as of old) to make the apprentice an indoor servant, he is to
pay wages sufficient to keep the boy in food, clothing, &c., elsewhere,
as may be arranged. This term of four years also entitles the apprentice
to his freedom if the bindings are to citizens, and effected by the
Chamberlain and the Companies. The Ironmongers so long ago as January,
1863, had (when desired) adopted the five years’ term, but then, while it
gave the boy the Company’s freedom, it did not confer that of the City.
Thus, at last, in this official four years’ term, we have arrived at a
most satisfactory settlement of a long and often heart-burning grievance.
The Ironmongers’ Hall, where the bindings take place and the Company’s
business transacted, is situated in Fenchurch Street, one house westward
of Billiter Street. The original ground upon which the premises stand
was purchased by nineteen ironmongers, members of the ancient Guild, in
October, 1457, and the original purchase deeds still exist to prove that
the site is the private property of the descendants of those nineteen
brethren of the Guild—if there is really any law extant that freehold
property belongs to the “root and branch” of a true-born Englishman. The
Hall is mentioned in 1479 as being in the parish of All Hallows Staining,
in the Ward of Aldgate. Between the parochial authorities and the Company
long existed a dispute upon the burning question of tithes, until some
twenty years ago it reached the crisis. A warrant was issued, and four
of the candelabra and two of the loving cups were “in a friendly way,”
in order to test the case, placed on a table in the Hall and momentarily
seized by the official, and as quickly restored upon the usual bonds
being given for the superior Court’s decision. A few years before—in
1862—some beautiful specimens of ornamental ironwork, which the company
had erected in the Corporation pew in the church as rests for the sword
and mace, suddenly disappeared, but upon question raised as suddenly
returned. There is a funny entry in the church-wardens’ accounts of this
parish for the year 1494: “Payd for a kylcherkyn of good ale, which was
drunkyn in the Yrynmongers’ Hall, all chargis born xij_s._ ij_d._” We
should like to know what brought about this merry-making 400 years ago.
Could it have been “a parochial settlement” of the dispute of 1479?
In Aggas’s map of the City, of the reign of Elizabeth, Ironmongers’
Hall is depicted as a range of buildings (among which was the clerk’s
residence). There was no entrance from Fenchurch Street, but only through
a long garden having entry from Leadenhall Street. That there was a
garden to the Hall is certain, because in the records, about the year
1540, there are numerous interesting entries similar to these:—
ffor a gardener ffor a daye and a hallffe ffor
cuttyng of vynes and dressing of rosses xij_d._
to a gardener for V dayes worke iij_s._ iiij_d._
ffor cutting of the knotts of yᵉ rosemarie in the
garden x_d._
The first Hall remained until 1585, when, being found “ruinous and
in greate decay,” it was rebuilt, and a kitchen erected. The cost
was large—something like 600_l._—but the ground covered was somewhat
extensive. Tapestry was ordered for the Hall in 1590, and in 1629 further
additions were made. In 1686 new sundials were erected, and in 1701 a new
wall was put up to prevent the persons in the tavern next door looking
across the Company’s garden into the private apartments of the Company.
In 1707 a mulberry tree was planted in the garden, and in 1719 some new
lime trees, so that the Ironmongers’ garden was quite a rural retreat,
and like the Drapers’ garden, which has only of late years been covered
over by bricks and mortar.
The second Ironmongers’ Hall was not burnt in the great fire of 1666,
although it was surrounded by the destructive demon. A certain William
Christmas, shipwright, did some good service to the Company upon the
occasion, so that in March, 1667, he received a gratuity. In 1677 the
Corporation ordered all public buildings to keep leather buckets,
hand-squirts, &c., to be ready in case of fire, and the Ironmongers
provided themselves with thirty buckets, one engine, six pickaxes, three
ladders, and two squirts, the latter being of brass, 3 feet long and
9 inches diameter. To this day may be seen some, if not the, buckets,
hanging in the vestibule of the Hall. In 1699 the music-room was
repaired; in 1707 a lion and unicorn was put up in the court-room.
The third, and present, Ironmongers’ Hall was erected from the designs
of T. Holden, and at a cost of about 5,000_l._, about 1748. It was not
completed until 1750, when, on February 13 that year, a ball was given at
the opening, and a hogshead of port wine, half a chest of oranges, and
other good things were consumed at the feast. A full description of the
Hall and its interesting contents will be found in Malcolm’s “Londinium
Redivivum,” vol. ii. 1803, pp. 32-62. The Hall was repaired in 1817,
and in 1827 a light corridor connecting the grand staircase with the
drawing-room was erected, and two years later the four handsome columns
and pilasters were put up in the drawing-room. Just about a century after
the erection of the present Hall it underwent an entire redecoration, and
was reopened once more with a ball on June 8, 1847. The banqueting-room
is 70 feet long and 29 feet wide. A carved panelled dado, 8 feet high,
is carried round the room, having in the upper compartments the arms in
proper colours of the past masters from the recognised foundation in
1351. The windows, as seen from the street, are curious as presenting
seven different styles, and only equalled, we believe, by a house in
Berkeley Square, where, out of eleven windows, seven are of different
kinds. Mr. Nicholl gives a full description of the Hall and its contents
as existing in 1866 in his “Some Account,” pp. 421-467. The portraits
of eminent members hang on the walls of the banqueting-room and in the
court-room, two of the latest in the latter room being those of Mr. John
Nicholl, F.S.A., the Company’s historian, and Mr. S. Adams Beck, who for
nearly fifty years was the clerk and sincere friend of the Company, as
mentioned in our last chapter.
From Ironmongers’ Hall were conducted the last remains of many a notable
member or citizen in the olden time. The funeral pall or hearse cloth
used on these occasions was the gift of John Gyva, ironmonger, in 1515,
and Elizabeth, his wife. It is of crimson velvet and cloth of gold
tissue, and is described and illustrated at pages 454-7 of Mr. French’s
“Catalogue.” Notes of the sixteenth century funerals are given in “The
Diary of Henry Machyn” (Camden Society), 1848. In the “Diary of Samuel
Pepys” he tells us of the funeral from the Hall in November, 1662, of Sir
Richard Stayner, where “good rings” were distributed and the mourners had
“a four-horse coach,” in which he by mistake took a place.
There have been many meetings at the Hall, some of national and others of
great civic interest, especially in the making free and entertainments to
distinguished men like Lords Hood and Exmouth. In 1694 the Company let
the Hall for a lottery, which was called “the best and fairest chance at
last,” and five years later the whole of the old armour then standing
in and about the premises was sold to Mr. Thomas Saunders for eight
guineas, “the musketts 2_s._ 6_d._ apiece!” It is not generally known
that the national anthem of “God Save the King,” so repeatedly sung at
the old City feasts and all over the world, was the composition of Dr.
John Bull, who, with the children of the King’s Chapel, sung and played
it before James I. and Prince Henry at the Merchant Taylors’ Hall feast,
July 16, 1607. In Ironmongers’ Hall have dined Dr. Livingstone, Admiral
Dawes, and Sir Garnet Wolseley, the latter just before leaving England
for the Gold Coast. An interesting article, entitled “Banqueting with the
Ironmongers,” and giving a good picture of these modern entertainments,
appeared in the _City Press_, August 21, 1875. The Company’s plate is
not so extensive as that possessed by some of the City Guilds. The
collection will be found described by Mr. French in his “Catalogue,”
pp. 616-624. There are two mazer bowls (thirteenth to sixteenth century
drinking-vessels), of which only fifty are supposed to be extant, and
therefore curious and interesting. They are described by Mr. St. John
Hope in “Archæologia,” vol. 50, 1887, pp. 129-193. In the old views of
the exterior of the Hall are shown the houses on the east side adjoining
Billiter Street. These were pulled down and rebuilt some twenty years
ago. Finally, in bringing our description of the Hall to a close, we
cannot forbear mentioning a curious fact. In the first report of the City
Livery Companies’ Commission, 1884, p. 36, there is a list given of all
the existing halls of the City Guilds, thirty-four in number, and yet the
Ironmongers’ (one of the twelve) has been omitted!
We shall conclude this chapter by noticing the Irish estate of the
Ironmongers’ Company, called “The Manor of Lizard,” about seven miles
from Coleraine, and skirting the river Bann, in the province of Ulster,
the total area of which is between 12,000 and 13,000 acres, occupied as
550 holdings, with a population of about 2,800 persons all told. The
net receipts from rents come to about 4,000_l._ a year. The estate is
scattered over five parishes, and until recent years has been a great
anxiety to the Company, who, having, like other Guilds, in former times
let their lands as a whole to certain responsible persons, receiving a
yearly rent, found out too late then that these persons, some of whom
were resident, grossly neglected the well-being of both the property and
the people. In 1766 the Company leased the estate to Josias du Pre, Esq.,
for sixty-one years and three lives. In 1813 he sold the remainder of his
lease to the Beresford family. The last life mentioned in the lease was
that of the Bishop of Meath, who died in his eighty-third year in 1840.
The Hon. the Irish Society reported that year:—“The present holders seem
only to have used the property for the purpose of making the most of
it during the term of their lease,” consequently when the Company took
possession they found it no easy matter to put the estate in that order
which they so long desired to do. Through their energetic agents they
have at last succeeded, after terribly uphill work, and we believe the
tenantry now find out the truth of the Irish Society’s report in 1838,
which stated, “This estate upon the death of the Bishop of Meath passes
into the hands of the Company, and we have no doubt that it will prove a
source of much happiness to the tenantry when they shall be placed under
the immediate superintendence of that body.”
The origin of the purchase of this estate arose through the rebellion in
Ireland, in the reign of Elizabeth, when the O’Neills and the O’Dohertys
were in the possession of the province of Ulster. In order to suppress
the revolt the army was sent over in 1566, and encamped in Derry County.
The lands were subsequently confiscated, and when James I. came to the
throne he found them such a source of trouble that he or his Ministers
devised the scheme of selling the whole property, being, as we have said,
confiscated from traitors to the Crown. The King also instituted the
order of Baronets to such persons who would pay towards the charges of
the reclamation of the waste lands and the new plantation, and peopling
with Protestants the North of Ireland, and that is why the red hand of
Ulster will be found in a baronet’s coat of arms. After much trouble
the City of London were offered the Irish estates, which the Companies
jointly purchased for 40,000_l._ This sum was subscribed by fifty-five
of the Guilds, being the twelve great and forty-three minor Companies.
The great ones were to manage for the lesser, the Ironmongers being
associated with the Brewers, Scriveners, Coopers, Pewterers, Barbers,
Surgeons, and Carpenters, paying 3,333_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ as their share,
calling their portion the Manor of Lizard, from the crest of their arms.
“This manor was created by the Irish Society in October, 1618, and was
conveyed to the Ironmongers’ on November 7 following, to the only use and
behoof of the said Company, their successors, and assigns for ever.” In
May, 1613, the Coopers’ Company’s share was taken over by the Corporation
of London, and the Irish Society of the City of London, incorporated by
royal charter March 29, 1613, was made a body corporate to carry out
the plantation of the City and County of Londonderry, which cost them
from first to last before completed nearly 100,000_l._ To this day the
citizens of London annually visit Ireland, the last visit in 1888 being
more than usually important, as the two-hundredth anniversary of the
memorable siege of Derry, now Londonderry, in 1688, about which so much
has been written and said. The following works may be consulted as giving
true details of the plantation scheme, one of, if not the wisest of, the
schemes of the first King James:—
“A Concise View of the Irish Society,” 1822.
“An Historical Narrative of the Irish Society,” 1865.
“An Historical Account of the Plantation in Ulster,” by the
Rev. Geo. Hill, 1877.
“Calendar of the Carew Manuscripts at Lambeth Palace,” 1873.
“Derriana: a History of the Siege, &c.” by the Rev. John
Graham, 1823.
“A True Account of the Siege, &c.” by the Rev. George Walker,
1689.
Had it not been for this George Walker and the heroic prentice lads of
Derry, the preservation of that city would never have been secured. (See
Lord Macaulay’s History.)
[Illustration: THE HEARSE-CLOTH, OR IRONMONGERS’ FUNERAL PALL. 1515.
PLATE III.
The Monstrance or Shrine at each end.
(See page 55.)]