CityandLivery

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...

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 ...

New livery halls in the City of London are a very rare thing, rarer in fact than new Livery Companies, and they do not come along too often. As of summer 2022 only 110 livery companies exist, the greatest number since the earliest company was formed before the Norman Conquest. So news of a new livery hall in the Square Mile is rather special, and the newest hall is that of the Worshipful Company of Carmen. I was delighted to be offered a sneak peak around the home and hall of the Carmen's Company in the summer of 2022 in advance of its official opening  by HRH The Princess Royal  next year. So come on in and let's explore a little of the history of the Company, the hall and the Carmen's Museum. Carmen's Hall is located on Fleet Street adjacent to St Dunstan in the West. Photograph © Paul D Jagger  The Carmen's Company past and present The Worshipful Company of Carmen received its Royal Charter in 1946, the 704th such charter since William I arrived on these shores, ...

The Lives of the Great and the Good - Honorary Freeman of the City of London is a new book written by William (Bill) Clark, Past Master of the Woolmen's Company and the prime mover behind the annual Sheep Drive over London Bridge, an event that has now become a popular fixture in the City's calendar and for which Bill was recognised with a Highly Commended award by the City Livery Club's Root & Branch Award committee in 2018. I heard of Bill's project to write a book about the Honorary Freemen of the City of London prior to the City Briefing in September 2021. My first thoughts were about how the Honorary Freedom is defined, a topic which it turns out was the genesis of Bill's excellent work, and one I still do not have entirely straightened out in my mind (see below) despite chatting with the Clerk to the Chamberlain's Court (Murray Craig) about it at the end of that City Briefing.  Nevertheless, Bill's book is a masterpiece of penmanship, condensing th...