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DULCE EST DESIPERE IN LOCO.
_Horace. Odes, iv, 12._
DULCE—_Delightful_, says the Poet,
EST—_is it_, and right well we know it,
DESIPERE—_to play the fool_
IN LOCO—_when we’re out of school_.
W. M. T.
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Introductory Note.
THIS historical sketch of the Skinners’ Company of London, to which I
was apprenticed some forty years ago, and which I have since had the
exceptional honour of serving through seven Wardenships and two
Masterships (1886–7 and 1894–5) is an expansion of a Paper read before
Ye Sette of Odd Volumes at Limmer’s Hotel, on the 25th November, 1902.
Who that reads can feel surprise that such a Company, with such a
past—and such a present—commands and receives the loyal and enthusiastic
devotion of all its members.
Five-and-twenty years ago disparaging criticisms of the ancient Livery
Companies of the City of London were not uncommon. It had become a habit
with writers of a certain class to describe the members of the Companies
as illiterate people battening on public money, employing themselves in
what was often spoken of as “gorging and guzzling” at the expense of
their trusts, incapable of sitting down to a meal without the incentive
of £5 notes secreted under their plates; and whose business, when any
was done, largely consisted in granting beneficial leases of their trust
estates to one another. All ignorant and malignant fiction.
Whether anyone ever believed these stories it is difficult to say. At
the present time, at all events, there can be few, if any, who can
continue to do so. In point of fact, the members of the Companies are
very much like other people, educated in the same ways, and actuated by
the same motives, but with a strong sense of their responsibility for
the maintenance by their Companies of the high position which they
gained, centuries gone by. The funds of which the Companies dispose are
either their trust funds—as to the dealings with which the Charity
Commissioners can speak—or their corporate funds, which are governed by
their own pleasure. No £5 notes are hidden under plates; no beneficial
leases of a Company’s property are granted to its members. The
employment of a member of the Court of the Skinners’ Company to work for
the Company for remuneration, whether professionally, commercially, or
otherwise, is strictly prohibited. It is no doubt true that portions of
the Companies’ own incomes are spent on entertainments, in accordance
with the practice which has prevailed ever since the Companies existed
at all; but I do not think that here, at all events, or in any other
place where good fellowship prevails, any complaint will be made of
this. Moreover, as the money spent is the Companies’ own, criticism
would appear to be irrelevant. The entire income of the Companies, after
payment of their expenses, including the cost of the entertainments,
&c., is allocated to objects of public utility, selected by the owners.
The former misconceived attacks were very wounding to the members of the
Companies, whose feelings of personal honour and of affection towards
their Company were sorely outraged by them. For my own part, when I
compare my Company, my School, my University, my College, my Inn of
Court, I doubt whether any but William of Wykeham’s Winchester can vie
with the Skinners’ Company in my affections.
There are several reasons for this which appear to me to be good. One
is, that a member of such a Company feels himself to be connected by a
direct link with the History of England, of which these Companies are
part. Their destinies have been shaped and guided by men, of whom many
have done good service to their country, and who stand towards their
successors of later date in the position of honoured and revered
ancestors, to be followed and imitated so far as change of circumstances
permits. They are gone, but their work remains to be preserved and
extended.
Another reason is the opportunity which membership of a Company affords
of being of some little use in one’s own day and generation. There is
great scope for this in the wise and prudent management of the affairs
of a great Company. The sick have to be tended, the poor to be relieved,
the schools to be governed, the exhibitions and prizes to be awarded,
the estates to be managed, worthy institutions to be selected for
support, all the multifarious matters connected with the ownership of
property and the dispensation of charity to be controlled. All these
must be of interest to any generous mind.
Then there is the association with agreeable and congenial comrades.
Both Oxford and Cambridge are well represented in the Court of the
Skinners’ Company, and few of the greater public schools lack at least
one supporter. Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Harrow, Rugby,
Charterhouse, Marlborough, Clifton, Tonbridge, King’s College School,
are all to be found there. Other members have been claimed by Commerce
at an early age, but all are cultivated and kindhearted, and united in
the desire to promote the benefit of the Company and the useful and just
disposal of its resources. A pleasanter or more congenial society could
not easily be found. It has been a source of much gratification to me
that I was allowed to assume the title of “Skynner” to ye Sette.
The narrative which follows can be filled in by reference to the
“Account of the Worshipful Company of Skinners of London,” which was
published by my regretted friend and colleague, the late James Foster
Wadmore, A.R.I.B.A., while this Paper was in course of preparation. He
had then recently completed fifty years of service in the Court of the
Company, of which he was for several years the senior member, but
survived the publication only a few months.
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An Old City Company.
THE corporate name of the Company is “The Master and Wardens of the
Guild or Fraternity of the Body of Christ of the Skinners of London.”
The association with the feast of Corpus Christi, held on the Thursday
after Trinity Sunday, goes back to the earliest days of the Company, and
the annual Corpus Christi procession and feast of the Company are
referred to and expressly sanctioned by the Charter of 1392—16 Ric. II.
When the name is Latinized, the word “Pelliparii” serves as the
equivalent of Skinners.
The Arms of the Company date from 4 Edw. VI., and are as follows:—The
Shield—_Ermine_, on a chief _gules_, three ducal coronets _or_, capped
of the field and tasselled gold. The Crest—a lizard (Lynx) statant
proper, gorged with a wreath, leaved _vert_, purffled _or_. The
Supporters—Dexter, a lizard proper; Sinister, a martin _sable_; each
gorged with a wreath, leaved _vert_. Motto—“To God only be all Glory.”
Down to the seventeenth century “In Christo Fratres” was used.
The date of the first establishment of this Company is unknown, but it
was certainly long prior to the year 1327—1 Edw. III—when the first
Royal Charter was granted to “Our beloved men of the City of London
called Skynners.” Later charters were granted from time to time, but it
is not necessary to refer to them here. The Company also holds an
unlimited license in mortmain. The earlier of the City Companies, such
as the Weavers, Saddlers, and others, claim to have had their beginning
in Saxon times. Whether the same is true of the Skinners, it is now
impossible to say, but at all events the grant of the charter
constituted a Royal recognition of what was already a voluntarily
existing fraternity.
An old book in the possession of the Company, written on vellum and
illuminated, which dates from the end of the fifteenth century, contains
a list of names of the “Founders and Bretherne and Susterne of the
fraternity of Corpus Christi founded by the Worshipful Fellowship of
Skynners of the Citee of London, that is to wit.”—
King Edward the III.
Dame Philip, his Queen.
King Richard the II.
Dame Anne, his Queen.
Prince Edward, father of the said King Richard.
King Henry the IIII.
Dame Johan, his Queen.
King Henry the V.
Dame Kateryn, his Queen.
King Henry the VI.
King Edward the IIII.
Dame Elizabeth, his Queen.
Leonell, Duke of Clarence.
Henry, Duke of Lancastre.
Thomas, Duke of Clarence.
John, Duke of Bedford.
Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester.
Richard, Duke of York.
John, Duke of Excestre.
George, Duke of Clarence.
Richard, Duke of Gloucester.
Edmund, Erle of Rutland.
Richard, Erle of Salesbury.
John, Lord Faunhope.
And others of less distinction, several of whom are described as
“clerk,” nearly 600 in all.
Then follows a list of names of sisters of the fraternity, rather more
than 100 in all. The membership of the Skinners’ Company is still open
to females, but only through patrimony; and as a female member can only
become a freewoman, and is not eligible for the Livery, only few take
advantage of the opportunity.
So far as the records of the Company show, there is no evidence to
support the idea that membership of the Company was ever confined to
skinners or furriers. A list of 1446 contains the names of persons
variously described as “doctour,” “bocher,” “dier,” “joyner,” “groser,”
“skynner,” and so on. So again, in a list of members admitted to the
Livery in 1738, there were only six skinners out of twenty-seven, the
remainder of whom are described as engaged in other occupations.
The working or “Artesan” Skinners, however, made attempts on various
occasions to obtain admission as such into the governing body of the
Company, but such attempts invariably proved unsuccessful. In 1606, the
“Artesan” Skinners applied for and obtained the grant of a new charter
to the Company, providing for the election of a certain proportion of
working skinners, and the admission to the Court of certain persons
named; but the Company brought the matter before the Privy Council, and
they after report made by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, ordered the
improperly-obtained charter to be cancelled.
Again, in 1744, the “Artesan” Skinners proceeded in the Court of King’s
Bench for a mandamus, to compel the Court to choose certain of the
“Artesans” as members of the Court, but such proceedings failed. In
1747–8, a similar further attempt was made without success; and since
then the Company has had no further annoyance of this description.
The constitution and government of the Company are as follows:—At the
head comes the Court, consisting of the Master, four Wardens (known
respectively as First or Upper Warden, Second Warden, Third Warden, and
Renter Warden, of whom the Renter Warden, though possessing the
privileges of a member of the Court, is not one technically until
elected to membership at the end of his year of office), and Assistants,
all of whom but one (the last-preceding Renter Warden) are usually
Past-Masters. The above form the governing body of the Company. The
total number of the Court is fixed at not exceeding thirty. At one time
the Assistants were termed the XVI., and apparently did not exceed that
number. The members of the Court are all members of the Livery, and next
to them come the other members of the Livery, who are without seats in
the governing body. Below them come the Freemen, and after them the
Apprentices.
To trace the career of a member up to the Chair—if he is not the son of
a freeman, born after the date of his father’s freedom, so as himself to
be entitled to the freedom by patrimony, he must be apprenticed to a
freeman while between the ages of 14 and 21. After seven years of
apprenticeship he is entitled to the freedom, and it is usual to take up
the freedom of the City of London at the same time as the freedom of the
Company. Those entitled by patrimony are able to take up the freedom on
attaining 21. The Livery are elected by the Court from the freemen. The
practice has fluctuated. Sometimes the Court have elected practically
all qualified candidates free from objection. At other times, when the
numbers appeared to be growing too fast, limits have been imposed. At
the present time, the rule is to restrict the number of Liverymen
elected after apprenticeship to not exceeding three a year. This is in
addition to patrimonial candidates.
From the Livery one is chosen annually by the Court, on Corpus Christi
Day, to serve as Renter Warden for the year ensuing. The Renter Warden
was in former years the Bursar of the Company. He received the rents and
made the payments. He had the charge of the moveable property of the
Company, and was responsible for all. In return for this, certain of the
Company’s benefactors directed small annual payments to the Renter
Warden. The Renter Warden still checks over the plate of the Company on
taking office, but his responsible duties are now discharged by the
salaried officers of the Company, under the directions of the Court and
its committees. At the end of the Skinners’ year, _i.e._, on the
following Corpus Christi Day, it is usual for the retiring Renter Warden
to be elected to the Court, and through the following year he acts as
junior member, without office. The following year he is elected third
Warden, the next second Warden, the next first Warden, and then Master;
so that in six years from his election as Renter Warden he has passed
the Chair, and goes to the bottom of the Assistants, with only his own
ex-Renter Warden below him.
The ancient officers of the Company are the Clerk and the two Beadles,
the Clerk being the trusted and chief executive official, while the
Beadles discharge duties of a humbler character. To these have been
added, in more recent times, the Solicitor, the Surveyor, and the
Accountant.
On Corpus Christi Day the Election Court is held at noon, the members
being arranged round the horseshoe table in their usual order: that is
to say, the Master in the Chair at the head of the table, with the Clerk
at his right hand. Beyond him, the four Wardens in order of precedence.
The Master and Wardens alone wear their gowns at this and all other
meetings of the Court. On the Master’s left hand the Senior Assistant
sits, and beyond him, and round the outside and inside of both branches
of the table, come the remaining Assistants, more or less in order of
seniority, though this is not strictly adhered to. After the Minutes of
the previous meeting have been read, the first Warden is nominated for
the Mastership by a member, and leaves the room. Another member is
nominated in competition with him, and after the first Warden has been
elected on a show of hands, he is called back into the Court-Room, and
returns his thanks. The same course is adopted with the retiring second
and third Wardens and the Renter Warden of the year before, who are
respectively elected first, second, and third Wardens. Then follows the
election of most interest—that of the new Renter Warden, who is to join
the Court for the first time. Subject to the rule incapacitating more
than two near relatives from membership at the same time, any member of
the livery is eligible after the completion of seven years of
membership, and of these some will have been nominated by various
members of the Court in the previous March. The selection between these
is made by ballot, the name or names having the fewest votes being
removed from the list at each round, so that the final result represents
the general sense of the Court as nearly as possible. After this, it is
usual for the retiring Renter Warden to be elected to the Court. The
various committees are then appointed, and the annual re-election of
Officers follows. Shortly after 2 p.m., the Court, and such of the
livery as are able to attend, preceded by the Beadles with their staves,
and by the Clerk, and accompanied by the Preacher, proceed through the
streets to the Church of St. Mary, Aldermary (since the demolition of
St. Antholin’s), where a service is performed and the annual sermon
delivered by the Preacher, who is selected by the Master, and is usually
a highly-placed ecclesiastic, sometimes of episcopal—or even
archiepiscopal—rank.
In the evening the traditional election banquet takes place in the
Company’s Hall, in Dowgate Hill. The Master has on his right the four
outgoing Wardens, in order of precedence, and next to them the third and
Renter Wardens elect. On his left are the Guests of the Company, and the
remaining seats are occupied by the Court and Livery, all of whom are
invited. When dinner is over, and the loyal toasts have been honoured,
the doors of the hall are thrown open to the strains of music, and a
procession enters, headed by the musicians, who are followed by ten
Christ’s Hospital boys, representing the ten scholars formerly nominated
by the Company under the will of Mr. Stoddard (1611). Then come ten of
the junior Liverymen, each carrying alternately one of the five Cokayne
cups, referred to later on, or one of the election caps, and after them
the two Beadles with their staves, and the Clerk. The procession marches
round the hall from left to right, and halts when the first of the
Liverymen comes opposite the Master for the second time. The Master then
takes from him the first cap and, after trying it vainly on the heads of
some of the chief Guests, fits it successfully on the Master-elect, to
whom he then drinks from the first of the five cups. Then the music
strikes up, and the procession moves round the hall again, till a
circuit has been completed, when another halt is called, and the first,
second, and third Wardens elect are successively capped and pledged.
Then follows another circuit of the procession, and a similar
recognition of the Renter-elect, after which the procession resumes its
march, and leaves the hall. As each of the five Elect is capped, he
returns to his seat, wearing the cap, the retiring Renter Warden making
way for the third and Renter Wardens elect to pass above him. After an
interval, the caps are laid aside, and the Master proceeds to propose
the health of the Master-elect, and after his response the ordinary
proceedings are resumed.
The Cokayne cups bear the date-mark of 1565, and passed to the Company
under the will, dated 1598, of Mr. William Cokayne. Each stands 16½ in.
high, and is in the form of a silver-gilt cock standing on a tortoise,
the head of the cock being removable. Ever since the cups came into the
possession of the Company they have been used at the election banquet,
in pursuance of an engagement entered into by the Company at the time of
the bequest becoming operative. Their value must be very great. The
workmanship is somewhat delicate, and repairs have had to be executed
from time to time. Thus, Renter Warden’s account, 1661–2:—
“Paid Jacob Boddendicke for makeing a new tayle for one of the cockes
and refreshing 3 other cockes and mending their tayles and one of
the cases—005–10–00.”
The actual change of office does not take place until the Swearing-in
Court, held on the Thursday following Corpus Christi. At that Court the
outgoing Master takes the Chair, having a second similar Chair on his
left hand, and the outgoing Wardens in their usual places on his right.
After the Minutes of the Election Court have been read, the new Master
makes his declaration, and takes the Chair, the ex-Master moving into
the vacant Chair placed for him. Then the Senior Past-Master heads a
procession round the Court-Room, the other members falling into their
places as the procession moves on, the Wardens coming last, and so they
file past the two Chairs, offering congratulations to the new Master,
and condolences to his predecessor. Then the three senior Wardens elect
make their declarations simultaneously, and proceed past the Master,
ex-Master, and Senior Member, and round the room, to receive the
felicitations of their colleagues. Then the new Renter Warden is called
into the room, and goes through the same process. As the Master and
Wardens make their declarations, to which all the members present listen
standing, they assume their gowns, which, as already stated, they alone
wear habitually throughout the sittings of the Court, though not in
Committees. Then the ex-Renter Warden makes his declaration as a Member
of the Court. The two Beadles are present. Then follows the reading of a
selection from the Ordinances of the Company, after which a vote of
thanks to the ex-Master for his “prudent government of the Company
during the past year” is proposed, carried, and responded to, and the
proceedings then follow a normal course. At the banquet in the evening
the new Master is in the Chair, having the ex-Master in a similar Chair
at his left hand. The latter’s health is proposed in the course of the
evening, after which his retirement is complete. At this banquet the
Master and Wardens wear their badges for the first time, of which the
Master’s badge was provided by the Company in 1874–5, and the Wardens’
badges have been presented since by various Past-Masters.
The “othe of the newe maister and wardeyns the morowe after the day of
corporis X’pi,” as taken in the fifteenth century, is worthy of note.
“Ye shall swere that ye shalbe true liegemen unto oure liege lorde the
Kyng, and to his heyres Kyngs; ye shall be indifferent jugis betwene
party and party, withoute favoure, love, or affeccion, and withoute
malice or any evill will to any parsone or parsons: all maner ordenances
and good rules that bene made or shall be made for the wele of this
craft of Skynners ye shall truly execute and kepe; ye shall not breke
any of the ordenances made by ye comyn assente and hole agreement of all
the XVI of thys Companye w^toute ye hoole agrement of alle or of ye most
part of ye same XVI. All these thyngs ye shall truly observe and kepe;
so help you God and all seyntes, and by the boke; and kys ye hyt.”
The old custom was that the Lord Mayor of London acted as Chief Butler
at the Coronation of a Sovereign, assisted by a representative of each
of the twelve great Companies. John Pasmer, Pellipar, represented the
Skinners’ Company in this way at the Coronation of Richard III, in 1483;
and so recently as the Coronation of George IV, in 1821, the Company was
similarly represented by Mr. Thomas Moore, who was Master of the Company
at the time of that King’s accession to the throne.
The Company has in its possession a complete list of the Masters from
1485 downwards. A few only of the earlier Masters can be identified.
Thus, John Penne is described as Master of the Company in 1409 in a deed
of that year, and William Newenham as Master in 1434 in a will of that
date.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it seems to have been customary
for the same member to occupy the Chair on several occasions, especially
when he was conspicuous among the Aldermen of the City of London. Thus,
between the years 1485 and 1600 only thirty-nine members served the
office, of whom the most frequent occupants of the Chair were:—
Sir William Martyn, 5 times, the first being in 1485, and the last in
1502.
Sir Thomas Mirfine, 5 times, the first being in 1509, and the last in
1516.
Geoffrey Walkeden, 5 times, the first being in 1561, and the last in
1577.
Sir John Champneys, 6 times, the first being in 1527, and the last in
1539.
Sir Andrew Judd, 6 times, the first being in 1533, and the last in
1555.
Sir Wolstan Dixie, 7 times, the first being in 1573, and the last in
1592.
Alderman Philip Gunter, 8 times, the first being in 1556, and the last
in 1582.
Seven others served for four years each within the same period.
After the sixteenth century the practice of re-election became nearly
obsolete, and at the present day it is never adopted except in the case
of the death or retirement of the Master, or one of the five members in
the succession to the Chair, in which event a Past-Master has to be
elected in order to avoid dislocating the ordinary course of the
Company. Only eight re-elections took place during the whole of the
nineteenth century; and there are at the present time only two double
Past-Masters in existence. On leaving the Chair for the second time, a
double Past-Master regains his original precedence.
In the seventeenth century, three instances occurred of noblemen who had
joined the Company being elected and serving as Master. These were the
Earl of Berkeley in 1685, the Earl of Monmouth (afterwards of
Peterborough) in 1690, and the Earl of Romney in 1696. At the Election
Court at the conclusion of the Earl of Monmouth’s Mastership (June 18th,
1691), it is recorded in the Minutes that “Ye R^t Hon^{ble} ye Master
appeared and tooke his place;” and after the elections were over it was
ordered that a dinner should be given, on which £60 should be expended,
“To w^{ch} the R^t Hon^{ble} the Master declared hee would make the same
up 100_l._ But the Co^{rt} considering his Lo^{pps} extraordinary bounty
from time to time shewed to ye Company, w^{th} great importunity prayed
his Lo^{pps} excuse therein, letting his Hono^r know a Buck was ye
usuall and only p^rsent made by ye Mast^r on ye like occasion. Upon
mo’con to know who should preach ye Elec’con Sermon, it was by the R^t
Hon^{ble} ye Mas^{tr} declared that he would appoint his owne Chaplaine
to performe ye same.” In recent years it has become usual for each
Master to leave with the Company some permanent record of his year of
office, in the form of a piece of plate, but this is a purely voluntary
act.
It is usual for the Master to officiate at public ceremonials—such as
laying of foundation-stones, opening of new buildings, and the like,
instead of inviting distinguished aliens to act; and a collection of the
records of some of such occasions will be found in Appendix III.
It is also usual, in the event of a child being born to the Master
during his year of office, for the four Wardens to stand godfathers to
the child on behalf of the Company, and for a silver cradle or its
equivalent to be presented by the Company to their godchild. It is an
understood thing that the child, if a boy, shall be christened
“Skinner,” and, if a girl, shall be christened “Pellipar,” or some
variant of that name. Such occasions have of late years been far from
frequent. In fact, there has been only one within the last quarter of a
century, and that happened twenty years ago.
The Hall of the Company is situate in Dowgate Hill, facing the west side
of Cannon Street Station, and having the Hall of the Tallow-Chandlers’
Company adjoining it on the north, and that of the Dyers’ Company on the
south. In and prior to the fourteenth century, the buildings standing on
the site were known as the Copped Hall, but since the fourteenth century
the Copped Hall with certain shops adjoining, or the buildings which
have replaced them from time to time, have formed the Hall of the
Skinners’ Company. The earliest deed relating to the premises which is
in the possession of the Company is a grant of the Copped Hall by
Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, to Reginald de Thunderley, in December, 1295.
The old Hall was consumed in the Great Fire of 1666, after which the
present Hall was erected in its place.
One of the earliest members of the Company to arrive at distinction was
Thomas Legge, who was Lord Mayor in 1347 and again in 1354, and was the
ancestor of the Earls of Dartmouth. His was the age of the wars with
France, and he contributed £300 to the expenses of the expeditionary
forces. In 1364, the Skinners’ Company supplied a sum of £40 for the
same purpose.
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the order of precedence of the
Companies was not clearly defined, and struggles took place between them
from time to time, in which one Company sought to establish its
superiority over another. The Skinners, who always ranked high among the
chief Companies, fell out with the Fishmongers over this matter in 1339,
and fighting took place, which had to be put down by force.
But the chief of these disputes in which the Skinners were concerned
took place at the beginning of the reign of Richard III, between the
Skinners and the Merchant Taylors, which again caused fighting, and led
to the question of precedence in processions between the two Companies
being submitted to the arbitration of Lord Mayor Billesdon and the
Aldermen of the City of London, by whose award, dated the 10th April,
1484—1 Ric. III—it was in effect decided that each Company should invite
the Master and Wardens of the other to dine with them in their Common
Hall once a year, and that the two Companies should take precedence in
processions in alternate years, beginning at Easter. This order was only
to be disturbed by the event of a member of either Company becoming Lord
Mayor, in which case, according to old custom, the Lord Mayor’s Company
was to take precedence of all others. The award will be found in
Appendix I, together with a supplementary award of the 17th January,
1521—12 Hen. VIII—explaining that the original award was applicable on
all occasions.
Lord Mayor Billesdon’s award, which forms the subject of the painting
recently placed by the two Companies jointly in the Royal Exchange, has
continued to be scrupulously observed down to the present time. The two
Companies rank alternately sixth and seventh among the twelve great
Companies of the City, and the Master and Wardens of each dine with the
other once a year; the Skinners’ entertainment taking place in December,
and that of the Merchant Taylors’ in June. The representatives of the
visiting Company are received as the chief guests of the occasion, and
after dinner the Master of the entertaining Company gives the
time-honoured toast, which, when the entertainment is at Skinners’ Hall,
is in the following terms:—“The Master and Wardens of the Worshipful
Company of Skinners drink health and prosperity to the Worshipful
Company of Merchant Taylors, also to the Worshipful Company of Skinners,
Merchant Taylors and Skinners, Skinners and Merchant Taylors root and
branch; may they continue and flourish for ever!” To which the Master of
the Merchant Taylors’ Company responds in identical form, but
transposing the names of the two Companies. When the entertainment is at
Merchant Taylors’ Hall, the Master of that Company gives the toast on
behalf of his Company, to which the Master of the Skinners’ Company
responds.
In the year 1681, some little friction appears to have occurred with
respect to the annual visit, as the Court Book for that year contains
the following entry under date August 9th:—“Whereas, at a Court holden
the 8th of June last, it was ordered that the Mast^r and Wardens of the
Merchant Taylors should be invited to dine with this Worp^l Comp: on
their Election Day, viz^t, on the 15th of the said month, and whereas
the Mast^r and Wardens of the said Compa: were invited by the Wardens of
this Worp^l Comp: at Merchant Taylors schoole at the usuall time, and
forasmuch as the Mast^r and Wardens of the said Company of Merchant
Taylors for severall reasons to their Court appearing did decline the
said invitac’on and sent one of their Wardens to excuse their comeing;
and since, viz^t, on Monday, the 8th of August instant, one of their
Wardens with some other p’sons in his Comp: made an invitac’on to the
Mast^r and Wardens of this Worp^l Company to dine with their said
Company, on Thursday, the 11th of this instant August. Now, this Court
haveing had informac’on from the Mast^r and Mr. Warden Key that such
their invitac’on was not made by ord^r of Court of Assistants of the
said Company of Merchant Taylors, but only by one of their Wardens, with
the consent and direction of the said Mast^r and Wardens—This Court doth
therefore desire Mast^r and Wardens of this Company now p’sent to
decline goeing to their said Dinner or to accept thereof in respect the
said invitac’on was not made by ord^r of their Court according to their
usuall custome.”
In pre-Reformation times, an important feature in the conduct of the
Company was the performance of obits and rendering of honour to departed
members. The Renter Warden’s accounts, which have been preserved from
1491 downwards, contain numerous references to such matters. Thus, in
1535–6—
“Pay’d to Syr John Stylbone, pryst, syngynge and prayinge for the
soule of Master Merfen at the Charnel-house, and at Seynt
Antolyns, by yere
vii_li._”
“Item, pay’d for the kepynge of Mr. Myrfyns obbyte by yere at the
Charnel-house xxvi_s._ viii_d._”