THE GREAT TWELVE COMPANIES

Historically, the Great Twelve Companies tend to interact with one another but not the other companies.

The Twelve are: the Mercers, the Grocers, the Drapers, the Fishmongers, the Goldsmiths , the Merchants Taylors, the Skinners, the Haberdashers, the Salters, the Ironmongers, the Vintners, and the Clothworkers.

Website: www.liverycommittee.org/about/clerks-associations-and-city-clubs/great-xii-clerks-association

The Fishmongers' Company

Location: Fishmongers Hall, London Bridge, EC4R 9EL (purple, yellow)

Website: https://fishmongers.org.uk

The Peasants' Revolt

The Company of Fishmongers still owns the dagger with which Lord Mayor William Walworth, a member of the Company, killed Wat Tyler, the leader of the Peasants' Revolt (1381). Walworth s action brought the crisis to a head. Subsequently, the rebellion collapsed.

The Goldsmiths' Company

The Goldsmiths' Company was granted a charter by King Edward III in 1327.

The Goldsmiths had the first known livery hall - Foster Lane and Gresham Street.

Inigo Jones (1573-1652) recommended to the Goldsmiths' Company that it should employ Nicholas Stone to design its new livery hall. The resulting building provided a template that strongly influenced the construction of other company halls. Stone's building survived the Great Fire of 1666.

In 1829 the Hall was demolished.

In 1961 the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths mounted exhibition at Goldsmiths' Hall of modern jewellery that was complemented by works of art. The jewellers whose works were displayed included Andrew Grima (1921-2007). The exhibition was organised by Philip Hughes.

Location: Goldsmiths Hall, Foster Lane, EC2V 6BN (orange, blue)

Website: www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk

The Trial of The Pyx

Website: www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/company/today/trial-pyx www.assayofficelondon.co.uk/about-us/trial-of-thepyx

The Grocers' Company

Apothecaries sold a wide range of commodities. Some of these have come to be categorised as pharmaceutical drugs. Many of them had a basic knowledge of medicine. Therefore, laymen sought their advice was sought about health matters. The apothecaries had to work around the physicians whose privileges in and around London were legally supported by an Ecclesiastical Act of 1551.

The Apothecaries Society separated from the Grocers' Company and was incorporated in 1617.

Location: Grocers' Hall, Princes Street, EC2R 8AD (orange, grey)

Website: https://grocershall.co.uk

The Haberdashers' Company

The Haberdashers' Company developed an estate at New Cross, hence the street names, e.g. Pepys.

The Hopkinses designed Haberdashers' Hall in Smithfield.

Location: Haberdashers' Hall, 18 West Smithfield, ECIA 9HQ

See Also: SMALL ITEMS Haberdashery

Website: www.haberdashers.co.uk

The Merchant Taylors' Company

Location: Merchant Taylors' Hall, 30 Threadneedle Street, EC2R 8JB (purple, pink)

Website: www.merchant-taylors.co.uk

The Mercers' Company

The Old French word mercier meant a dealer in small wares. The mercers activities came to be focused upon the woollen and textiles trades. The Mercers' Company holds precedence over all of the other City livery companies. The Mercery district was based on the south side of Cheapside to the west of the Church of St Mary-le-Bow. By the middle of the 14^thC the Company had taken to holding its meetings in the Hospital of St Thomas of Acon. (This was an institution that had been founded by Thomas Becket's sister on the site of his birth (1118).)

Thomas More was made a member of the Mercers' Company in 1509. At the time, the guild was seeking to broaden the character of its membership. Ultimately, it would become disconnected with the trades that had brought it its prominence. However, at the start of the 16^thC the association to them was still extant. The future statesman and martyr's joining the livery company reflected the fact that he was a talented and well-connected lawyer, who had been born and raised in the City. He was to represent the mercers in their collective negotiations with other parties.

The order of precedence was established in 1515. It reflected the guilds respective contemporary wealth and not their antiquity. (The Weavers predated the Mercers by a quarter of a millennium but were ranked only at No. 42.)

In the early 16^thC the Mercers bought the Hospital's Cheapside frontage. Following the institution s dissolution in 1542, the Company purchased the rest of the site.

The Mercers were the only livery company with a private chapel. Because of a deal at dissolution.

The original Mercers' Hall was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666.

Location: Mercers Hall, Ironmonger Lane, EC2V 8HE (red, yellow)

Mercer Street, WC2H 9QB (grey, blue)

Website: www.mercers.co.uk

The Salters' Company

Location: Salters Hall, 4 London Wall Place, Fore Street, EC2Y 5DE (orange, red)

See Also: CHEMICALS

Website: https://salters.co.uk

The Vintners' Company

Five cheers for the monarch, as opposed to the usual three. Derives from a feast that was held in 1363.

The Davy family established themselves in London's wine trade. In the early 1960s John Davy sought to expand his business into operating wine bars. His applications to open one were repeatedly turned down by the licensing magistrates. Finally, he used his membership of the Vintners' Company to secure a free vintner s licence . This enabled him to sell wine, and only wine, as a sole trader within the City of London and along the routes from the ports through which wine was imported. In 1964 the Davies opened The Boot & Flogger at Nos. 10-20 Redcross Way.

Location: Vintners Hall, 68 Upper Thames Street, EC4V 3BG (orange, yellow)

See Also: BIRDS Swans; WINE

Website: www.vintnershall.co.uk

David Backhouse 2024