Worshipful Company of Drapers
Encyclopedia
Livery Company
The Livery Companies are 108 trade associations in the City of London, almost all of which are known as the "Worshipful Company of" the relevant trade, craft or profession. The medieval Companies originally developed as guilds and were responsible for the regulation of their trades, controlling,...
of the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
; it has the formal name of The Master and Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of the Mystery of Drapers of the City of London but is more usually known simply as the Drapers' Company. It ranks third in the order of precedence
Order of precedence
An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of nominal importance of items. Most often it is used in the context of people by many organizations and governments...
of the Livery Companies, thus being one of the historic Great Twelve City Livery Companies. The Company's motto
Motto
A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...
is Unto God Only Be Honour and Glory.
History
An informal association of draperDraper
Draper is the now largely obsolete term for a wholesaler, or especially retailer, of cloth, mainly for clothing, or one who works in a draper's shop. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. The drapers were an important trade guild...
s undoubtedly existed as early as 1180. The organisation was founded in 1361; it received a Royal Charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
three years later. It was incorporated
Incorporation (business)
Incorporation is the forming of a new corporation . The corporation may be a business, a non-profit organisation, sports club, or a government of a new city or town...
as a company under a Royal Charter in 1438, and was the first corporate body to be granted a coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
. The charter gave the company perpetual succession and a Common seal. Over the centuries the original privileges granted by Royal Charter have been confirmed and amended by successive monarchs. The acting charter of today is that granted by James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
in 1607, amended by three supplemental charters, most recently in 1964.
A Brotherhood of Drapers, a religious fraternity attached to the church of St. Mary Bethlehem in Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate is a road and ward in the northeast part of the City of London, extending north from Gracechurch Street to Norton Folgate. It is named after one of the original seven gates in London Wall...
, is also known to have existed in the 1360s. It was founded in honour of St. Mary by "good people Drapers of Cornhill and other good men and women" for the amendment of their lives. The location of St. Mary can hardly have been convenient for the majority of drapers who lived in and around Cornhill, Candlewick Street (now Cannon Street
Cannon Street
Cannon Street is a road in the south of the City of London. It runs roughly parallel with the River Thames, and about 250 metres north of it. It is the site of the ancient London Stone.-Etymology:...
) and Chepe (Cheapside
Cheapside
Cheapside is a street in the City of London that links Newgate Street with the junction of Queen Victoria Street and Mansion House Street. To the east is Mansion House, the Bank of England, and the major road junction above Bank tube station. To the west is St. Paul's Cathedral, St...
). Possibly it was for this reason that allegiance was transferred to St Mary le Bow in Cheapside and later to St Michael, Cornhill
St Michael, Cornhill
St Michael, Cornhill is a medieval parish church in the City of London with pre-Norman Conquest parochial foundation. The medieval structure was lost in the Great Fire of London and the current church was designed by Sir Christopher Wren between 1670-1677....
, where the Company continues to worship today. Despite these changes, the Drapers have retained the Blessed Virgin Mary as patron saint.
Originally, the organisation was a trade association of wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
and cloth merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
s. It was one of the most powerful companies in London politics. Over one hundred Lord Mayors have been members of the Company; the first, Henry Fitzailwyn, is thought to have been a draper. During the Plantation of Ulster
Plantation of Ulster
The Plantation of Ulster was the organised colonisation of Ulster—a province of Ireland—by people from Great Britain. Private plantation by wealthy landowners began in 1606, while official plantation controlled by King James I of England and VI of Scotland began in 1609...
, the company held land around Moneymore
Moneymore
Moneymore is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 1,369 in the 2001 Census.It is an example of a Plantation village in Mid-Ulster. It was the first town in Ulster to have piped water.-Geography:...
and Draperstown
Draperstown
Draperstown is a village in the Sperrin Mountains of County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 1,638 people in the 2001 Census.-Name:...
in County Londonderry
County Londonderry
The place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...
.
Three royal princes joined the Company, though none were expected at the time to become kings:
- Prince William of Orange, later King William III of EnglandWilliam III of EnglandWilliam III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
- Prince Carl of Denmark, later King Haakon VII of NorwayHaakon VII of NorwayHaakon VII , known as Prince Carl of Denmark until 1905, was the first king of Norway after the 1905 dissolution of the personal union with Sweden. He was a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg...
- Prince Albert Duke of York, later King George VI of the United KingdomGeorge VI of the United KingdomGeorge VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and King Harald V of Norway
Harald V of Norway
Harald V is the king of Norway. He succeeded to the throne of Norway upon the death of his father Olav V on 17 January 1991...
are members of the Company.
Another, who would have become king had he survived his elder brother, was Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany
The Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany was a member of the Hanoverian and British Royal Family, the second eldest child, and second son, of King George III...
.
Today, the company exists as a charitable, ceremonial, and educational institution. This has included providing the site and some of the buildings of Queen Mary College
Queen Mary, University of London
Queen Mary, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
in the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
. It also administers almshouse
Almshouse
Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...
s such as the Henry Lucas Hospital. It is a trustee for Bancroft's School
Bancroft's School
Bancroft's School is a co-educational independent school in Woodford Green, London. The school has around 1,000 pupils aged between 7 and 18...
, who use the Drapers' coat of arms and motto, and a sponsor of Drapers' Academy
Drapers' Academy
Drapers' Academy is a secondary school in Harold Hill near Romford, Essex. It is the first academy in the London Borough of Havering.It was established in September 2010 under the joint sponsorship of the Drapers' Company and Queen Mary, University of London. It is located on the site of the...
who use a similar logo. It administers charitable trusts relating to relief of need, education, and almshouses; it provides banqueting and catering services; and it fosters its heritage and traditions of good fellowship. The Court of Assistants
Court of Assistants
A Court of Assistants is a council of members belonging to professional, trade, craft or livery organisations. The term originated among the London Livery Companies, but may also be used by other trade associations...
is its governing body.
The Drapers' Company continues to play a role in the life of the City. Its liverymen carry out important functions in the elections of the government of the City and its officers.
Hall
Like many other livery companies, the Drapers' Company is based at a grand building named after itself. Drapers' Hall is located in Throgmorton Avenue, near London WallLondon Wall
London Wall was the defensive wall first built by the Romans around Londinium, their strategically important port town on the River Thames in what is now the United Kingdom, and subsequently maintained until the 18th century. It is now the name of a road in the City of London running along part of...
. The Company has owned the site since 1543, when it purchased the London mansion of Thomas Cromwell from King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
. Cromwell had been attainted and executed in 1540.
The building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
and rebuilt to designs by Edward Jarman. After another fire in 1772, it was rebuilt again. This time the architect was John Gorham
John Gorham
John Gorham was an award-winning British graphic designer, who gained renown within the industry through a variety of successful projects including film posters, postage stamps and book covers...
. Further alterations were made in the 19th century. The hall survived the Blitz
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
during the Second World War.
The hall includes four lavishly decorated main rooms, which are used for the Company's functions. The largest room is the Livery Hall, which can accommodate up to 260 guests for dinner. These rooms are also available for hire and have often been used for film locations, including for The King's Speech, GoldenEye
GoldenEye
GoldenEye is the seventeenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Martin Campbell and is the first film in the series not to take story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming...
, The Lost Prince
The Lost Prince
The Lost Prince is an acclaimed British television drama serial, produced by Talkback Thames for the BBC and originally broadcast in two episodes on BBC One in January 2003...
and Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London
Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London
Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London is an English-American action comedy film and the sequel to the 2003 film Agent Cody Banks, and was released in the United States on March 12, 2004. Frankie Muniz was the only major returning star, with Hannah Spearritt now playing the love interest and...
. Groups may book a guided tour of Drapers' Hall; a donation to the Company's charitable work is requested in return.