THIS paying exhibition at the Guildhall and the
free show at the Goldsmiths' Hall encapsulate a tale of
two cities. On the one hand, the tremendous wealth of the City,
and, on the other, the impoverished lives of those whose work
sustains it.
The Livery Companies were founded some 850 years ago, and, like
Oxford and Cambridge colleges (and to a lesser extent the Inns of
Court) have seen out the changes that have come and gone ever
since. At the Goldsmiths' opening, the Lord Mayor wore the double
"S" collar that had once belonged to Sir Thomas More, with the
great morse that contains the diamonds that Elizabeth I paid the
City for the 1588 Armada.
The Guildhall exhibition, in the much neglected and sadly often
overlooked gallery that was misconceived 400 years later in 1988,
is part of the City of London festival. The basement of that
gallery houses remains of the Roman Amphitheatre (free) that alone
should bring in the crowds, but, like the magnificent 15th-century
Guildhall itself across the courtyard, it, too, is rarely
visited.
That should change in the light of this little exhibition, once
word goes round. What we get to see are not just the treasures of
individual livery companies that form the Corporation of London,
but the most diverse display of our island's heritage which one
could imagine, and which tells a unique story of medieval piety and
modern philanthropy. There is currently no catalogue available, as
many loans were only agreed very late in the day, whereas the
Goldsmiths' show boasts a lavish gold-bound volume that will serve
a generation.
Nowadays, there are 108 Livery Companies in total. A latter-day
Mr Gove would perhaps have no difficulty in removing some of the
more recent accretions of trade associations. Happily, the
exhibition concentrates on the Great Twelve Livery Companies, of
which Goldsmiths' ranks fifth in precedence. There were four dozen
in existence by 1515, when a table of precedence was first
established.
But if you go the Guildhall by taxi you are travelling in the
conveyance of a Worshipful Company granted livery in 2004, and the
2005 company of Tax Advisers has been somewhat in the news of late.
The Guild of Public Relations Practitioners awaits the grant of a
Livery; even Jimmy Carr could not make it up.
If you want to learn about the slave trade, you will find here
the intricate snuff box that was owned by Thomas Bretton, an
ironmonger, who at his death in 1723 left half his estate for the
redemption of British slaves in Barbary and Turkey. An astronaut's
protective gauntlet (1985) was worn by the last Soviet cosmonaut
who worked on the Mir Space Station who came back to find himself
Russian.
The register kept by the Parish Clerks is open at a page
recording events between 12 and 19 September 1665, when 97 persons
were baptised in City parishes, and a further 16 in those without
the walls; and 1493 were buried in the City, of whom 1189 had died
of the plague. The death toll in the outlying parishes was an
astounding 3631, with 3070 victims of the bubonic plague. The
Clerks also record that one man died when he fell from the belfry
of All Hallows' by the Tower. Others died of the gripe, of thrush,
"timpani", and failure of the lungs. This page alone brings the
world of Samuel Pepys and Daniel Defoe to pulsating life.
The badge of office of the Master of the Clothworkers includes
102 diamonds from Queen Alexandra's coronation crown (1902). Edward
VII was a Clothworker, and had agreed in advance with H. B.
Carrington that the goldsmith could keep the diamonds he put into
the new consort's crown. Here, too, are two 17th-century silver
salts (Innkeepers) and the Venetian glass goblet ("The Weoley Cup")
from which outgoing Masters of the Founders drink to their
successors.
The exquisitely illuminated rolls of medieval Fraternities show
how these religious bodies were gradually absorbed or transformed
into later Livery Companies. The Fraternity of the Assumption of
Our Lady, which later became the Skinners' Company, listed Henry
VI, John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk and Richard Neville, then Earl of
Salisbury. Next to the Bede Roll of the Fraternity of St Nicholas
(1448-1521) is displayed the Drapers' Ordinance Book of 1405. Both
depict the assumption and include prayers for the protection of the
Blessed Virgin Mary.
The Ordinances of St Paul's School (1518) have a later cover
depicting John Colet (1467-1519), the school's founder. Colet, who
was Dean of St Paul's, was the eldest son of a former Lord Mayor of
London and was himself a Mercer. In 1510, the Company of Mercers
became trustees of the school that Colet re-founded; to this day,
the company has interests in 17 schools.
The frontispiece was painted c.1585, and depicts
Colet's skeleton on his tomb monument in Old St Paul's, rather than
the commemorative terracotta figure set up in the Mercers' Hall by
1573. The image is very much that of an Elizabethan antiquarian
artist.
The most priceless manuscript on display is the earliest
surviving charter, which is the grant of Hernry II to the Weavers
(1155/58). It is attested by the new Lord Chancellor, no less a
person than Thomas Becket, who had assumed that office in January
1155.
Hanging above it is a long charter granted to the Carpenters at
Westminster on 17 July 1640 by Charles I, who by then had other
things on his mind after the collapse of the Short Parliament and
with the threat of war with Scotland.
At least the Government has no declared plans to reform or
revise the constitution of the Livery Companies. The Broderers,
Poulters, and Tin Plate Workers look set to outlast the House of
Lords.
"Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker: 850 Years of London
Livery Company Treasures" is at the Guildhall Art Gallery,
Guildhall Yard, London EC2, until 23 September. Phone 020 7332
3700.
www.guildhallartgallery.cityoflondon.gov.uk/gag/