Humbly sheweth—That notwᵗʰstanding yoʳ petʳˢ great care and good endeavʳ by making searches and orders, according to their oath and charter, whereby to suppress disorders and abuses in deceitfull working and making of ironwork, yet by the evill example and refractorie of some ill-affected persons of their society, whose names are here under menconed, their authority and orders are slighted and disgraced, and many who have been heretofore obedient and conformable doe now by their meanes continue refractory and disorderly, and yoʳ petʳˢ and their charters are so notoriously scandalised and abused that of themselves they cannot reforme the same, nor have they any hope of redresse therefore but by yoʳ honoʳˢ favor.They therefore most humbly beseeche yoʳ honoʳˢ to take their great wrong and just grievance into yoʳ hoᵇˡᵉ considerations. And to be pleased to send for the said disorderly and obstinate persons hereunder named before you. And to take such order wᵗʰ them for their conformity and obedience to the ordinances made and to be made for the good governmᵗ of the said society and prevencon. of deceits & abuses as to yʳ grave and hoᵇˡᵉ wisdome shall seem meete.And they shall ever praye for yoʳ honoʳˢ.
Humbly sheweth—
That notwᵗʰstanding yoʳ petʳˢ great care and good endeavʳ by making searches and orders, according to their oath and charter, whereby to suppress disorders and abuses in deceitfull working and making of ironwork, yet by the evill example and refractorie of some ill-affected persons of their society, whose names are here under menconed, their authority and orders are slighted and disgraced, and many who have been heretofore obedient and conformable doe now by their meanes continue refractory and disorderly, and yoʳ petʳˢ and their charters are so notoriously scandalised and abused that of themselves they cannot reforme the same, nor have they any hope of redresse therefore but by yoʳ honoʳˢ favor.
They therefore most humbly beseeche yoʳ honoʳˢ to take their great wrong and just grievance into yoʳ hoᵇˡᵉ considerations. And to be pleased to send for the said disorderly and obstinate persons hereunder named before you. And to take such order wᵗʰ them for their conformity and obedience to the ordinances made and to be made for the good governmᵗ of the said society and prevencon. of deceits & abuses as to yʳ grave and hoᵇˡᵉ wisdome shall seem meete.
And they shall ever praye for yoʳ honoʳˢ.
The names of the six disorderly Blacksmiths appear to have been:—George Johnson, William Bickford, Hanns Garrett, Leonard Berars, William Browne, and Henry Baily. Whether their nonconformity and other troubles led the Company to obtain a new charter we know not, but it is quite clear they did obtain one of Charles I., in his fourteenth year, and dated February 16, 1638-39. By this new grant all persons carrying on the business or trade of a blacksmith or spurrier within the City of London or suburbs four miles round were incorporated as “the Keepers or Wardens and Society of the Art or Mystery of Blacksmiths, London,” to have four keepers or wardens and twenty-one assistants, and to make by-laws and ordinances, to examine all spurs, ironwork made, &c., within the City and four miles round, and to hold lands to the extent of 30l.above the former charterallowance of 30l.In accordance with this grant and power the Company framed new orders (confirmed by the Judges), dated in December, 1640, and one of these allowed the Company to “call, nominate, choose, and admit into the yeomanry of the said Society such and so many persons being freemen of the said Society as they should think meet, honest, and of ability to be called and admitted into the said yeomanry.”
This shows that the Company anciently comprised the Livery, yeomanry, and freemen, and the clerk believes that the freemen were the journeymen and the yeomanry the master blacksmiths. Under theQuo warrantowrit of Charles II. the Company surrendered with the other Guilds, but were reinstated to their rights and privileges by James II. in the first year of his reign by a charter dated March 18, 1684-85.
The Act of Common Council of June 9, 1658, compelled all persons carrying on the trade to be free of the Company. Fifty years later the Company took special means to enforce it; but, like many of the other rights and privileges of the Guilds, through the altered conditions of trading the power of the Company has not been exercised for many years. The following entry from the books of the Founders’ Company, as extracted by Mr. Williams and printed in his “Annals,” is sufficiently interesting to merit a place in our present notice of the Blacksmiths:—
1660, Sept. 3. Memorandum.That upon this day the mastʳ and wardens did visit all the ffounders shopps in Bartholomew Lane and Lothebury—as well of them that were free of the ffounders company as those of the coppersmiths, and found in the shop of John Lucas one lock of brass fitted in wᵗʰ 20 oz. of lead and one 4-lb. weight unsealed, unsized, and unmarked with the owner’s stamp, which work was brought into the Hall.
1660, Sept. 3. Memorandum.
That upon this day the mastʳ and wardens did visit all the ffounders shopps in Bartholomew Lane and Lothebury—as well of them that were free of the ffounders company as those of the coppersmiths, and found in the shop of John Lucas one lock of brass fitted in wᵗʰ 20 oz. of lead and one 4-lb. weight unsealed, unsized, and unmarked with the owner’s stamp, which work was brought into the Hall.
Founders’ Hall stood in Lothbury (hence the name of Founders’ Hall Court), and was let to the Electric Telegraph Company in 1853. The Founders of Bartholomew Lane and Lothbury have long since departed to other quarters of the City, and the sites of their ancient trading are now occupied by the great monetary fraternities, the Bank of England and other banks, and the Capel Court of the Stock Exchange.
In May, 1750, the Committee of the Corporation of London specially reported on several petitions presented by masters and journeymen freemen, and it was resolved that the matters complained of required some regulation; that the Court of Aldermen any Tuesday may have the power to grant to any master freeman liberty to employ non-freemen, but under certain restrictions; and that all proceedings and prosecutions rest in the name of the Chamberlain, who, however, only represents the City, and does not obtain any personal benefit under such action.
The “Evil One” on his Rounds sees the Effect of the Treaty.The Horseshoe puts to Flight the Devil, and Pursues the “Evil One” and all his Evil Companions.
The “Evil One” on his Rounds sees the Effect of the Treaty.
The Horseshoe puts to Flight the Devil, and Pursues the “Evil One” and all his Evil Companions.
According to the returns made to the Royal Commissioners, the Blacksmiths’ Company now comprises four keepers or wardens, twenty-one assistants, the Livery, and the yeomanry. The freedom of the Company is obtainable by servitude (as an apprentice), by patrimony, and by redemption. Formerly a quarterage of 4s.per annum was collected, but this caused much trouble in the collection. Females were formerly admitted, but none during the last twenty years. For thirty years previous to 1833 the admissions or calls to the Livery were often one or two only ayear, the highest years being 1805, 1810, and 1818, when ten, eleven, and ten respectively were admitted. During the same period the freemen numbered from six to twenty a year; in 1813 and 1818 the actual admittances were twenty-one. In 1834 about three-fifths of the Livery were, or had been, smiths, and of the whole Company nearly one-half were of the trade.
There is one advantage in this Company—the calls to the Livery go by rotation from the lists of the yeomanry, and according to seniority. In 1882 there were eighty-three freemen and eighty-one liverymen. As deaths take place a fresh “call” is made, although in the nine years ending 1879 only thirty-two were admitted freemen. Another difficulty has arisen as regards apprentices; only three were admitted in the past ten years. Persons, even freemen, have been led astray by the “know-nothings” of society, and have simply been persuaded to believe that the City apprenticeship is now of no value. We know different; and hence we heartily applaud the endeavours of the Company of Blacksmiths and their energetic clerk, Mr. W. B. Garrett, in holding the exhibition in 1889 in the Ironmongers’ Hall, and promoting technical education among the rising generation of the trade, art, or mystery. The Corporation of London also proposes to make the “indenture” more conformable to the times, and this, too, is a step in the right direction.
The Blacksmiths’ Company now holds its meetings at Guildhall. Formerly they met in the Blacksmiths’ Hall standing on Lambeth Hill, Doctors’ Commons, which in Hughson’s time (1806) was “a much neglected structure,” and yet “a good brick building with very convenient and stately apartments.” This building formed part of the City lands of the Corporation of London, and by indenture dated in February, 1746, was granted on a forty years’ lease by the City to “the Wardens, Keepers, and Society of the Mystery or Art of the Blacksmiths.” It is described as situate in the parish of St. Mary Magdalene, Old Fish Street, having a frontage to Lambeth Hill of 76 feet 6 inches, and then used by the Company as their hall, &c. When the lease expired, the Blacksmiths held their meetings, as we have said, at Guildhall, and do so still.
The return made to the Commissioners of 1880 states, “The Company is not possessed of plate, pictures or furniture,” but a loving cup, in private hands, of silver, was presented to the Company by Christopher Pym, upon his admission as clerk in 1665. The front of the stem that supports the bowl is occupied by a figure of Vulcan as a smith at his anvil, on which is engraved the motto of the Company, “By Hammer and Hand all Arts doe Stand.” On the outside of the bowl are also engraved the Company’s arms, which were confirmed by Sir William Segar, Garter, June 24, 1610.
Arms: Sa. a chev. or. between 3 hammers ar. handled of the second, ducally crowned of the last.
Crest: On a wreath a mount vert; thereon a phœnix with wings indorsed proper, firing herself with the sunbeams of the last.
The motto of the Company in ancient times was: “As God will so be it.”
The Blacksmiths’ is not a rich corporation, and the only charity it possesses is that founded by Edward Prestyn in June 1557. He left five houses in Fleet Lane and Old Bailey,charged with the simple trust for the bestowal of 4s.per annum among “the poor artists” of the Company. As a proof that the Company carry out the trust in accordance with the spirit which prompts right-minded citizens, the Blacksmiths receive a rental from these premises of 136l.a year, and yet pay away in charity 12l.per annum each to twelve poor persons of the Company, being 8l.more than the amount received! This would appear to be a mystery were it not explained that the Company privately purchased some other small properties, the rents from which help to keep themselves in existence, and enable them to augment the pensions of their poorer brethren.
We cannot omit to say a word or two about another society which bears the arms and the motto of the London Guilds, but is known as the Smiths’ Company of Newcastle-on-Tyne. Like the Blacksmiths, the Smiths are an ancient fraternity, for its earliest ordinance is dated 1436, and among the peculiar enactments was that no Scotchman should be taken as an apprentice, or allowed to work for a member under a penalty of 40s.—a large sum in those days. In 1664 the branches of the trade represented on the Company were numerous, and in 1677 they were incorporated, having four wardens (one to be an anchor-smith), and twelve assistants, four of each to represent anchor-smiths, locksmiths, and farriers’-blacksmiths. Their hall adjoined the Blackfriars in Newcastle; the ground-floor room, a chapel, was the room in which homage was done by the Scottish King to the King of England. In 1824 there were seventy-seven members belonging to this Smiths’ Company.
There have been many noteworthy members of the Blacksmiths’ Guilds, although the custom of the City in olden time compelled the chief Magistrate to be “one of the twelve.” Consequently the names of those citizens in this Company who have served the offices of Lord Mayor and sheriffs have been limited, and so far as we can learn the earliest only dates back to the end of the last century, when Thomas Baker, exactly a century ago—in 1789—was one of “the eyes of the Mayor” (as Stow quaintly describes the sheriffs), serving in the mayoralty of the celebrated William Pickett, who originated the grand improvement without Temple Bar, a full account of which will be found in the “Memorials” of that edifice published in 1869. The late Alderman James Abbiss was a Blacksmith, and one of the sheriffs in 1859, and in turn would have served as Lord Mayor had not illness compelled him to resign his gown.
We have numerous interesting references to the wills and other evidences of the Blacksmiths of old London, but want of space prevents even a summary. Two only, and these a century apart, are sufficiently curious to mention. William Reason, in 1568, left his livery-gowns to his brother and cousin, and to his apprentice William one of the vices in his shop and half of his files and tools. Industrious apprentices were thought of by their masters in those days. “And furder,” continues Mr. Reason, “I bequeathe to the Company of Blackesmythes being of the lyvery that shall attende upon my bodye to the buriall for a repaste or drincking to be had and bestowed amongst them twentie shillings.” The citizens of old London never expected their brethren to work for nothing, and funerals with the City Companies, especially with those who possessed halls, were of daily occurrence, as a reference to the “Diary of Henry Machyn,”1550-1563, printed by the Camden Society in 1848, will amply prove. In 1674 William Rawlings, who requested to be buried in St. Stephen’s Church, Coleman Street, and possessed much property about London, was a benefactor to the poor of Bromley and Bow, Middlesex. Joseph Thornhill, also a Blacksmith, who was buried at Hampstead, left by will in 1718 all his property adjacent to the well-known “Pindar of Wakefield,” St. Pancras, and in which house he some time dwelt, in trust for the benefit of his two daughters. An account of this celebrated tavern and tea-gardens will be found at page 58 of Pinks and Wood’s “History of Clerkenwell.”
Finally, we can but echo the sentiments expressed in the return to the Royal Commissioners in 1880:—“The objects of the establishment of the Blacksmiths’ Guild were (1) the promotion of good fellowship; (2) the protection and encouragement of the trade the name of which is borne by the Company;” and that the present Company “do all that is in their power” to attain the objects of such foundation whenever opportunity presents itself. The opportunity has been given them inA.D.1889 to promote technical education by holding an exhibition at Ironmongers’ Hall, and, as it is their first effort, so do we sincerely hope it is the forerunner of many successful ones in the future.
(Reprinted fromThe Ironmonger, March 30, 1889.)
The exhibition of articles specially applicable to the blacksmith’s art has been held this week in the Ironmongers’ Hall, Fenchurch Street. When a month ago (February 23) we called attention to the competition that had been opened by the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths, we expressed a hope that, although it was their first effort, it might prove a successful one; and it is a pleasure to us to be able to chronicle that a most valuable and interesting proof has been given that on English soil there are still to be found journeymen and industrious apprentices who can turn out “by hammer and hand” some very creditable work.
Like most of the first exhibitions that have been held for the promotion of technical education, the Blacksmiths’ has not been an extensive one. Only twenty-eight exhibitors sent in specimens, and only two dozen of these were competitors. But, if the quantity was small, the quality was good, and, we must say, far exceeded our expectations. Each exhibit was limited in weight to 20 lbs., so that the entire collection was easily arranged upon tables, &c., in the court-room of the Ironmongers’ Company, who had willingly lent their brother-blacksmiths a most interesting apartment, which effectively added to the exhibition.
The exhibits comprised works by apprentices or youths, and works by journeymen—in the former three sections, and two prizes offered in each; in the latter three prizes. The apprentices or youths were in the respective sections not to exceed seventeen, nineteen, or twenty-one years of age, “the work to be pure hammer-work of his own production of any article of ornament or utility.” The journeymen’s work was to be specially “table ornamentation or panel,” the three prizes being 10l., 7l.10s., and 5l., both apprentices and journeymen to have a certificate of merit in addition. The majority of the exhibitors were of the metropolis, but in a few instances the North, even as far off as Midlothian, sent competitors.
The judges met at Ironmongers’ Hall on Tuesday last to inspect the exhibits, and were in several instances sorely tried, for most of the work sent in was, as we stated, very creditable. The Blacksmiths called to their aid skilled practical craftsmen outside their own body, so that the decisions arrived at must be considered eminently satisfactory. The general public viewed the exhibits on Wednesday and Thursday, and on Friday (yesterday) afternoon the prizes were awarded to the successful competitors in the fineHall of the Ironmongers in the presence of a numerous company. The following were the successful recipients:—
Apprentices and Youths.1.—A. Harvey, 33 Marsham Street, Westminster, gas-bracket. First prize, first section, 3l.2.—Arthur Beaver, 4 Victoria Terrace, Kilburn, electric table-lamp. Second prize, first section, 2l.3.—J. B. Imison, 31 Rowena Crescent, Battersea, suspending-lamps. First prize, second section, 4l.and medal.4.—C. Baker, 17 South Wharf Road, Paddington, three-candle bracket. Second prize, second section, 3l.5.—A. W. Elwood, 9 Kennington Park Gardens, two panels, 40 × 10½. First prize, third section, 5l.6.—F. Burkitt, 4 Great Suffolk Street, Southwark, three-candle stand. Second prize, third section, 4l.and medal.Journeymen.1.—G. Snailum, 66 Clarendon Road, Hornsey, panel, 36 × 13½. First prize, 10l.2.—H. Ross, 13 Melton Street, N.W., bracket and oil-lamp. Second prize, 7l.10s.3.—T. R. Kendall, 11 Haymerle Road, Peckham, suspending-lamp holder, third prize, 5l.
Apprentices and Youths.
1.—A. Harvey, 33 Marsham Street, Westminster, gas-bracket. First prize, first section, 3l.
2.—Arthur Beaver, 4 Victoria Terrace, Kilburn, electric table-lamp. Second prize, first section, 2l.
3.—J. B. Imison, 31 Rowena Crescent, Battersea, suspending-lamps. First prize, second section, 4l.and medal.
4.—C. Baker, 17 South Wharf Road, Paddington, three-candle bracket. Second prize, second section, 3l.
5.—A. W. Elwood, 9 Kennington Park Gardens, two panels, 40 × 10½. First prize, third section, 5l.
6.—F. Burkitt, 4 Great Suffolk Street, Southwark, three-candle stand. Second prize, third section, 4l.and medal.
Journeymen.
1.—G. Snailum, 66 Clarendon Road, Hornsey, panel, 36 × 13½. First prize, 10l.
2.—H. Ross, 13 Melton Street, N.W., bracket and oil-lamp. Second prize, 7l.10s.
3.—T. R. Kendall, 11 Haymerle Road, Peckham, suspending-lamp holder, third prize, 5l.
In the preface to their list of exhibits the Company (through their energetic clerk, Mr. W. B. Garrett) appeal to exhibitors:
The Blacksmiths’ Company initiate this exhibition in the hope that British workmen will once more come to the front, and show that they can make as good and as elegant articles, both for use and ornament, as can the foreign artisan. Many persons who visited the Italian Exhibition last year saw what that country could produce, and must have been struck by the number of articles in ornamental ironwork sold, and, in many instances, in which copies were ordered. Why does not the English workman endeavour to follow—shall I not say lead?—in such work, and so retain in this country a growing and profitable industry?
The Blacksmiths’ Company initiate this exhibition in the hope that British workmen will once more come to the front, and show that they can make as good and as elegant articles, both for use and ornament, as can the foreign artisan. Many persons who visited the Italian Exhibition last year saw what that country could produce, and must have been struck by the number of articles in ornamental ironwork sold, and, in many instances, in which copies were ordered. Why does not the English workman endeavour to follow—shall I not say lead?—in such work, and so retain in this country a growing and profitable industry?
We can endorse this appeal, and hope that the first exhibition may be but the forerunner of many others, each to be more successful than its predecessor.
The Blacksmiths expressed their best thanks to the Ironmongers for so kindly lending their hall, as also to Sir P. C. Owen and his staff at the South Kensington Museum for sending on loan a most interesting and valuable collection of ancient ironwork, chiefly of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth century. Among the articles exhibited were:—
One of the wardens of the Blacksmiths’ Company, Mr. J. F. Clarke, sent for exhibition several interesting articles, including a large representation of the armorial shield of the Company, whose motto is: “By Hammer and Hand all Arts do Stand.”
SPOTTISWOODE & CO., PRINTERS, NEW STREET SQUARE, LONDON, E.C.