Tel: 020 7620 1818 email: cookandbutler@btconnect.com
The Worshipful Company or Broderers
www.broderers.co.uk
Associated Companies Dinner
October 2016, HMS President, St Katharine's Way, London E1
HMS President is a shore establishment of the Royal Naval Reserve, based on the northern bank of the River Thames near Tower Bridge. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_President
Court & Consorts Dinner
April 2015, The Guards Museum, London
The Guards Museum is a Military Museum on Birdcage Walk,
home to the five regiments of Foot Guards being the Grenadier Guards,
Coldstream Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards.
The Museum opened in 1988. It covers the history of the Foot Guards from the
end of the English Civil War right up to the NATO led Afghanistan campaign.
The displays include many examples of different Guards uniforms, chronicling
the evolving dress over time of the five regiments. There are also
paintings, weapons, models, sculptures and artefacts such as Mess Silver —
all of which are aimed at explaining to the visitor the history of the
regiments and what being a soldier in the Guards is all about.
Court Dinner
March 2015, Armourers' Hall, City of London
Fund-Raising Dinner
to commemorate 450 years since the granting of the first Royal Charter
March 2012, The Old Library, Guildhall, London
ROYAL CHARTER - 25 OCTOBER 1561
The first Charter of the Worshipful Company of
Broderers is dated 25 October 1561 and is the original Charter of Queen
Elizabeth I. It incorporates the Freeman of the mystery or art of the
Broderers of The City of London and the suburbs... it allowed the Company to
hold lands of the annual value of £30.00, for the assistance and support of
poor women and men of the mystery.
The Charter granted the Wardens power to overlook and govern the art and all
using the same in the City and suburbs thereof, the City of Westminster, St
Katherine’s in Middlesex, and the Borough of Southwark, and to punish all
men for not truly working or selling. The original document appears to
have survived the Great Fire of 1666 and there is even a suggestion that
there was a devastating fire in the area of the Hall in 1678. The first
surviving Minutes of the Court of the Company start in 1679.
The Company holds a translation of the Charter made in the 19 Century but it
would seem that the Charter of 1561 did not survive the Blitz in 1941.
The Guildhall Museum holds the original Grant of Arms dated 1 7 August 1558
together with further Charters of 1609 and 1686.
The Charter of James I dated 20 April 1609 contains only a recital and
confirmation of the Charter of Queen Elizabeth, without any alteration or
addition. This later Charter was surrendered to King Charles II in the year
1684 and in 1686 King James II granted another Charter in lieu thereof. It
is interesting to note that all surrenders and grants of Charter in the time
of James I and Charles II were rendered void by statute during the reign of
William and Mary and consequently the Company reverted to the rules and
ordinances as set out in the original Charter of 1561.
The above information has been extracted from “A Chat about the
Broderers” written by Christopher Holford, a Past Master of the Company. The
book was published in 1910.
Information has been updated in so far as the First Charter now appears to
have been lost.
The Broderers Charity Trust
Supporting embroidery and the City of London
www.broderers.co.uk/charity
