Livery company - drgavinr/tei-texts GitHub Wiki

Livery companies were guilds that regulated trades in the City of London. They were called livery companies because they each had a special costume called 'livery', and because they were incorporated companies. They still exist today. Some are still linked with the trades that they are named after but some are not. The full name of a company is usually 'The Worshipful Company of' and the name of their trade, such as 'The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers', but this is often abbreviated to the form 'Haberdashers' Company'.

Table of Contents Incorporation Freedom Actual trades Livery Company government Regulation of trade Halls References

Livery companies were usually incorporated by a royal charter, although it was also possible to be incorporated by Act of Parliament. Incorporation defined the structure and government of the company and made it a legal entity that could own property and engage in lawsuits.

Livery companies were part of the City of London. This was, and is, a legal entity incorporated by a royal charter. In the 17th century, it had the status of a county in its own right. The boundaries were outside the city walls but did not change when the built-up area of London expanded. The suburbs (the built-up area outside the boundaries of the City) were outside the jurisdiction of the City authorities.^[1]

Within the City, only freemen of the City had the right to pursue skilled trades as business owners or paid employees. Working in the City without being a freeman risked prosecution for unfree trading, although anyone could trade in the suburbs without being admitted to the freedom, and unfree journeymen could be licensed within the City.^[2] In the 17th century, admission to the freedom of the City was always through one of the livery companies. A person became a freeman of a company first, and then had the option of being admitted to the freedom of the City. It was possible to be a freeman of a company without taking up the freedom of the City. Once admitted to the freedom of the City, a freemen could use the title 'Citizen and'.^[3] For example, a freeman admitted through the Haberdashers' Company would be title 'Citizen and Haberdasher of London.

There were three ways to be admitted to the freedom of the City:

• servitude: by completing an apprenticeship, usually for a term of at least 7 years. This was by far the most common method.^[4]
• patrimony: children born after their father had been admitted to the freedom had an automatic right to be admitted themselves without serving an apprenticeship.^[5] Children who were entitled to freedom by patrimony might still serve some or all of an apprenticeship in order to gain training, experience, and contacts.^[6]
• redemption: buying freedom by paying a fee.^[7] This sometimes happened if apprentices did not complete their full term.

All of these were open to women, but women were admitted to the freedom much less often than men.^[8]

Knowing that someone was a freeman of the City and a member of a certain livery company does not necessarily tell us what their actual trade was. Each livery company had the right to regulate a certain skilled trade, which was reflected in its name, but the links between that trade and the company members were gradually breaking down in the early-modern period. This was partly because freedom by patrimony allowed children to join their father's company without being trained in its trade, although only a minority of freemen were admitted this way.^[9] Another cause may have been that the Great Twelve livery companies were more prestigious than the rest and so attracted members who were not connected with their trade. A court case in 1614 set a precedent that anyone who had served an apprenticeship of at least 7 years had the right to practice any trade and could not be forced to transfer to a different company.^[10] By the 1640s, company membership and actual trade sometimes coincided and sometimes did not. Smaller and less prestigious companies that governed manufacturing trades had stronger links with their trades for longer.^[11] But even here, company and actual trade were not guaranteed to be the same.^[12]

When a person used the title 'Citizen and', it definitely referred to their company membership, which may or may not be the same as their actual trade. The full title was mostly only used in very formal contexts, such as court cases or making a will. In common usage it was abbreviated by leaving off 'Citizen and', which makes it indistinguishable from a description of a person's actual trade. When describing themselves, some people seem to have used their freedom and actual trade interchangeably, even if they were different. Sometimes actual trades can be identified because they did not coincide with the name of a livery company. For example, 'sugar baker' is an actual trade because there was no Sugar Bakers' Company.

If a tradesman was described as, or described himself as, a 'haberdasher', it could mean any of the following:

• he was a freeman of the Haberdashers' Company and actually trading as a haberdasher.
• he was a freeman of the Haberdashers' Company but actually trading as something else.
• he was actually trading as a haberdasher but was a freeman of a different company.
• he was actually trading as a haberdasher but was not a freeman.

If it's found that a person's trade does not match their company, this does not need a special explanation. It was very common in the 17th century.

Freemen were members of the company and had the right to trade and to train apprentices, but this was only the lowest rank. Some time after being admitted to the freedom, a freeman could be promoted to liveryman. This rank was for men and was not usually granted to women. Although it was an honour and brought extra privileges, it also required paying a fee. If a freeman never became a liveryman it could be that he was never invited, or that he declined because he could not afford the fee.

Liverymen were entitled to wear the company's livery - the special costume after which livery companies are named.^[13] Livery was granted to each company by the City of London, not by royal charter. Freemen who were not liverymen did not wear the livery. Liverymen could potentially be promoted to higher offices in the government of the company.

As well as being more senior members of the company, liverymen had the right to vote in elections for the City of London's MPs, Lord Mayor, sheriffs, and Common Council members.

At the top of each company, above the liverymen and freemen, were:^[14]

• the Master or Prime Warden: head of the company. Usually served for a term of one year at a time.
• the Wardens: deputies to the head of the company.
• the Court of Assistants: the governing body of the company. Usually included former masters and wardens. Members were known as 'assistants' but this can be misleading if taken out of context as they were senior to the rest of the liverymen.

Other important offices, which were sometimes held by professional employees who were not freemen of the company:

• the Clerk
• the Beadle

Not full members of the company but subject to its authority:

• widows of freemen were not admitted to the freedom in their own right, but they inherited their husband's right to trade and to train apprentices.^[15] Widows of liverymen did not gain any of their voting rights.
• apprentices were under the jurisdiction of their master's company. The binding of a new apprentice to a master was supposed to be recorded by the company, although this was not always done in practice. Apprentices could be punished by the company as well as by the master.

Each company had the power to regulate the trade that it was named after. These powers came from their royal charters and were not closely tied to the City of London in the way that freedom was. Charters could give companies the power to regulate their trade for a radius of several miles outside the City. Within this radius, whether inside or outside the jurisdiction of the City, the company could regulate anyone actually practising the company's trade, even if they were freemen of another company, or were unfree and trading in the suburbs. These powers were known as 'powers of search' because they authorized company officials to search premises and to confiscate and destroy sub-standard goods. These powers were not always used rigorously or effectively in practice, but they existed in theory.

Most livery companies had their own hall where the Court of Assistants sat and where other meetings and social events were held. The hall was usually named after the company. For example, the Haberdashers' Company was based at Haberdashers' Hall.

1. ^ Vivienne E. Aldous, My Ancestors Were Freemen of the City of London (London: Society of Genealogists, 1999), pp. 4-6.
2. ^ Aldous, Freemen, pp. 13, 16.
3. ^ Aldous, Freemen, p. 9.
4. ^ Aldous, Freemen, pp. 45-46.
5. ^ Aldous, Freemen, p. 57.
6. ^ Thomas Juxon, The Journal of Thomas Juxon, 1644–1647: 13, eds. Keith Lindley and David Scott (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), Camden Society, 5th Series, vol. 13, pp. 1-3.
7. ^ Aldous, Freemen, p. 65.
8. ^ Aldous, Freemen, pp. 24-25.
9. ^ Aldous, Freemen, p. 9.
10. ^ J. R. Kellett, ‘The Breakdown of Gild and Corporation Control over the Handicraft and Retail Trade in London’, The Economic History Review, Vol. 10 (1958), pp. 384
11. ^ Ben Coates, The Impact of the English Civil War on the Economy of London, 1642–50 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004), p. 202.
12. ^ Aldous, Freemen, p. 9.
13. ^ Aldous, Freemen, pp. 9-10.
14. ^ Aldous, Freemen, p. 10.
15. ^ Aldous, Freemen, p. 25.