CityandLivery

The traditions of the City of London and its Livery Companies rival those of the Royal Household for their displays of pageantry and public spectacle, blending of the past with the present and sense of majesty that no other city can rival. The fact that more troops of the Crown participate in the annual Lord Mayor's Show than parade in the Sovereign's annual birthday parade (Trooping the Colour) illustrates the scale of the City's ability to put on a show. In fact the very word show when taken to mean a public spectacle derives from the requirement that the City's elected chief magistrate 'show himself' to the Monarch or his justices and swear allegiance, hence the Lord Mayor's Show. The early 20th century antiquarian and author Dr George Williamson captured the panoply of City ceremonial in Curious Survivals, a book presented to Queen Mary and now in the Royal Collection. The opening chapter of his comprehensive work on British customs and traditions read...

Raising the standard of heraldic knowledge among the Livery - aptly by opening with my own heraldic standard! Petitioning for a grant of arms is, without a doubt, among the most unusual things I have done and yet it has been one of the most fascinating experiences, triggering a study of the subject that has proven immensely rewarding. The result of the petitioning process will also outlast me because arms are hereditary in English law and have already passed to my children. I believe that every Liveryman should, if they have the qualification, means and motivation, petition the Crown for a grant of arms to continue the City's centuries old custom of burgesses acquiring armorial bearings. When the Heralds last conducted a systematic survey of armigerous persons in the City of London the late 1700s almost 1 in 3 of the residents of some of the City's wards were armigerous (had a lawful right to armorial bearings). That is a vast concentration of gentry in a tiny area and ref...

This article is the second in a two part series that provides Liverymen with the knowledge required to learn their heraldic ABC (Arms, Badge and Crest). It is not intended to explain the coat of arms of each and every Livery Company, there are two excellent books that do that far better than I can (details at the bottom of this article). This second part explains an Armorial Achievement and its component parts. If you haven't already done so you may wish to read the first part on debunking the myths of heraldry before going further. What's an Armorial Achievement? Early in 2017 my daughter joined the Brownies and quickly made a plan to obtain every badge by Christmas 2018. She is making rapid progress against that plan and my wife and I have already sewn nine badges on her sash. The sash is a visual record of my daughter's achievements and affiliations of which she is rightly proud to display. The badges are arranged in a particular order and only granted when she h...