Posts

A new tradition for Sheriffs' shields in the Old Bailey

Image
It has been said that the City throws away nothing it finds to be useful, and this is true of many of its ancient customs and traditions handed down through the centuries. While the City is a place of tradition and heritage it also at the vanguard of modernity; a centre of excellence for innovation in business; finance; technology; law; and a champion of diversity and inclusion in the commercial; civic, and livery realms.  Nowhere is this more apparent the way the Livery Companies and the City's civic institutions have evolved to encourage greater diversity among their membership. Many companies have signed up to the Diversity Charter , others have codified their own principles of inclusion. At a practical level all Livery Companies now admit women; the Lady Past Masters Association has grown to nearly 200 members since the first female Master, Sylvia Tutt (1983-84) and the first female Lord Mayor, Mary Donaldson (1983-84). Somewhere between a third and a half of the Livery Company...
Post a Comment
Read more

A residence fit for any Liveryman

Image
For most of the 20th century the City offered little in the way of accommodation to the business traveller, liveryman or tourist. While overnight lodgings were provided for the troops of the Bank Picquet, and some of the Livery Halls were furnished with apartments for the Master, Clerk and perhaps the Beadle, most had to travel beyond the Square Mile for a good night’s rest. Demand for hotel rooms in the City has led to the opening of upmarket establishments such as the Ned Hotel on Poultry in the premises of the former Midland Bank's City HQ*, and more recently the Vintry & Mercer on Garlick Hill which describes itself as ‘set in London’s Vintry Ward, among the livery halls, guilds and narrow streets that line the banks of the Thames’.  NB. While I am certain that Vintry & Mercer is a fine establishment, it is not affiliated with either the Vinters’ or the Mercers’ companies. * Did you know, UK clearing banks were required to have offices within easy walking distance of th...
Post a Comment
Read more

The City Sheriffs and their Chain Gangs

Image
There's a new Sheriff in Town (well two actually) Any good cowboy and western film will feature that square jawed character who stands for law and order - the City Sheriff. In the wild west the Sheriff relied on his badge, his revolver, his horse, and a good dose of common sense to keep the peace. His office was usually next to the courthouse, and there were invariably cells for holding wayward townsfolk. This familiar trope of the spaghetti western finds it origins in the City of London where there are many parallels to be draw, but as ever the City of London likes to be different from other towns and elects two new Sheriffs to hold office every year, a right it has held since time immemorial. Who were the first Sheriffs in London? The office of Sheriff is undoubtedly the oldest in the City's vast treasure chest of ancient offices, it predates that of the Lord Mayor (1189), and the Aldermen (earliest record 1111). Its origins reach back before the Norman Conquest to Anglo-Saxo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nails, Knives and Horseshoes - a rent payment like no other

Image
The City of London is no stranger to quirky customs and ceremonies , no alien to ancient offices or the parading of artefacts from centuries past. The Ceremony of the Quit rents combines all these elements in an annual rite that has been conducted since at least the early 13th century; only the Coronation ceremony is older and that certainly does not happen annually.  In October of 2022 I was honoured to be invited to witness the ceremony as guest of one of the City's Sheriffs, Andrew Marsden, to whom I am most indebted for a privileged insight into this time-honoured tradition.  The Ceremony of the Quit rents is held every year at the Royal Courts of Justice, Kings Bench division, and presided over by the King's Remembrancer (not to be confused with the City Remembrancer) who is the last vestige of the Court of Exchequer and the oldest judicial office in the Kingdom.  Note: There is another, unrelated, Quit Rents ceremony for the Guildable Manor of Southwark. The King's ...
Post a Comment
Read more