Britain Meets
The Worshipful Companies ”I
Company, sworn in allegiance to the Lord Mayor. It's a world that's still alive today WORDS EILEEN DUNWOODIE
n the 13th century, London, the largest, most densely populated city in the world, was a walled city where trade developed and
expanded fast. To protect their business from outsiders, who thronged to this metropolis, citizens pledged their support to the powerful Lord Mayor, earning in return the right to trade in London, free of tax. The City Liveries began”. So says Will Sibley, Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers. Assisted by wardens, a clerk and a beadle, the master of a city livery company acts as an official representative of his trade. Sibley is an eminent tree grafter, but has also worked in all sectors of the fruit industry, and provided advice to clients from Jackie Kennedy to HRH the Prince of Wales.
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Above: The Lord Mayor's Parade 2010, London
Not all members of the company are fruiterers. Steve
Bodger, another Past Master, deals in private equity, chairing several City enterprises. “About 50 per cent of us work in diverse sectors”, he says, “scientists, doctors, lawyers...” Peter Cooper, the honorary company archivist, has
some background in the fruit trade, but is also a City guide. Consequently, he has a practically encyclopedic knowledge of the Livery Companies. “A number of the 108 existing today began in Europe before
1066, and were known either as guilds, from a Saxon word meaning ‘payment towards the cost of fellowship’, or mysteries, from the Latin misterium meaning ‘professional skill’. They were responsible for the regulation of their trades – wages,
BRITAIN 77
Let us take you back to medieval London, when each trade had its own ceremony-laiden Livery
PHOTO: GERALD SHARP
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