| |
| |
| |
| Their are Ermine, on a chief gu. princes' crowns composed of crosses pattee and fleurs de lis , with caps of the tasselled of the .
. A lizard , wreathed about the neck with laurel leaves vert, purfled
. The dexter, a lizard, or short tailed wild cat of Norway, rampant guardant The sinister, a martin sa. each gorged with a wreath of laurel leaves , purfled . To God only be all glory.
The Virgin Mary.
|
| The was incorporated by Edward the , in the year , by the appellation of the master and wardens of the Guild or Fraternity of Brothers and Sisters of the skinners of London, to the honour of God and the precious body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
At that period, the skinners, who had long formed a very affluent and respectable class of citizens,.were divided into brotherhoods, at St. Mary Spital, the other at St. Mary Bethlehem, but Richard the , in his eighteenth year, consolidated the bodies, and Henry the , in , confirmed their former grants, and directed that every person when admitted to the freedom of the company, should in future be presented to the lord mayor; this custom is still observed. |
356 | |
| The Skinner's company particularly flourished when sables, lucerns, and other rich furs were accustomed to be worn for tippets by the monarchs and nobility of England; but as commerce extended in the reign of queen Elizabeth, other garments came into use, and the trade declined. Henry Lane, a correspondent of Hackluit, the collector of voyages, in aletter written in , remarks, that it was a great pity but it (the wearing of furs) should be renewed; especially in courts and among magistrates, not only for the restoring of an old worshipful art and company, but also because they are for our climate, wholesome, delicate, grave, and comely, expressing dignity, comforting age, and of long continuance; and better with small cost to be preserved than those new silks, shags, and rags, wherein a great part of the wealth of the land is hastily consumed.
|
| The fur trade continuing to decline, particularly after the incorporation of the Eastland merchants in , who purchased skins from pedlars and others for the purpose of exportation, a controversy arose between those merchants and the Skinners' company, and the latter in consequence petitioned queen Elizabeth, that no pedlars or petty chapmen might gather or engross any skins or furs of the breed of England, but under licence of the justices of the peace; that those who were thus licensed should not make sale of any such skins or furs so gathered by them, except to some persons known to be of the trade of skinners, and that all others might be restrained to buy and transport them.
The petition was opposed by the Eastland company, who, on the other hand, required to have free licence to buy, provide, and engross, in any place whatsoever, all manner of coney-skins, raw, or tawed [that is, prepared as white leather, by artizans hence called tawers] and at their pleasure to transport them in any bottom whatsoever, unto any place, yielding the ordinary custom.
|
| The claims of the Skinners' company were also powerfully resisted by the corporation, who in the height of the dispute wrote a letter to the lord treasurer, urging, that this practice of the skinners, that all the skins of the breed of England must first pass through the hands and property of some freeman of that company, before they should be transported, would be to the exceeding great prejudice, not only of the city, but of all other traders into foreign ports within the whole realm,
they therefore prayed, that the intended new patent to the skinners, which was then nearly ready to be signed by the queen, might be stayed, till such time as he should be better informed, touching the great inconvenience which would grow thereby, and for which purpose they had appointed a deputation of aldermen and others to attend upon him.
Through this application, the petition of the Skinners' company was rendered ineffectual, and the fur trade got into fresh channels, as commercial rights were extended, and became better understood. These results lowered the influence of the company, as a trading |
357 | society, though in all other respects it still of the most respectable and affluent belonging to the city.
|
| The original Skinners'-hall, which Stow describes as a very fayre house, sometimes called Copped-hall,
was purchased by the company, together with several small tenements adjacent, as early as the reign of Henry III. and the skinners afterwards held it under a licence of mortmain granted by that king. It was afterwards alienated, though by what means is uncertain; and in the of Edward II. was possessed by Ralph de Cobham, the brave Kentish warrior, who having made Edward III. his heir, was thus the cause of the skinners being reinstated in their ancient purchase, which the monarch restored about the time of the legal incorporation of the company.
|
| The present Skinners'-hall, is a very handsome and convenient structure, standing on , on the site of the ancient building.
|
| The Names of the Company of Skynners from the Record in the Chapter-house.
Willm. BealeRobert Harryson
Andrew JuddBenet Lethe
Thomas AddyngtonArthur Graveley
Richard StanffeldJohn Harte
Rychard DobbesJohn Payne
Thomas MydeltonHumfrey Cotton
Thomas PercyeJohn Colman
Thomas DavyeJohn Penson
Thomas WanlesJohn Colyere
John GoldewellThomas Sewell
Barnard JenynsRobert Plant
John WisemanRichard Castell
Willm. JeffesonRichard Ragdale
Vincent CoxstonNicholas Dalton
John BromelesJohn Yong
Symond EnglysheJohn Adeane
Willm. NaysbyRogier Medcalf
Edmond WhelerThomas Smythson
John WolfRichard Busse
Rogier BanksThomas Rede
Henry SusheHenry Cutler
Nicholas PavyeLeonard Mannyng
Henry BailyLeonard Gardener
Richard BeweHenry Medlam
George AleynThomas Baxter
Thomas HeymondThomas Pierson
Robt. ColynsJohn Gaer
Willm. GybbelettThomas Manghen
Willm. ClerkJohn Latwytte
John WarnerMathew Ponye
George CrowcheJohn Smythe, jun.
John HoweJohn Ffyner
Miles ParkynsJohn Holywell
Philip GonterJohn Danyell
Willm. LandesdaleWillm. Derby
Willm. HyntonHugh Grene
Thomas HerytageWillm. Ffletcher
Rafe PrestonMarten Denam
Thomas CoperThomas Wadde
John BurwellJames Banks
Edmond BacktonJohn Pursell
Raynborne BanksNicholas Emerson
Henry HardsonWillm. Whitley
George FormanWillm. Easter
Thomas OrwellRichard Lacy
Willm. JohnsonJohn Shorton
John CannonNicholas Marche
John Smythe, sen.Thomas Davy
Willm. HoweThomas Hilton
Richard HackelettWillm. Humfrey
Willm. ChamberlaynHenry Baily
Richard BrauncheRichard Studeley
James ParmanThomas Starkye
Ambrose BeckwithCristofer Ward
James StevynsRichard Stafford
Richard ClystonThomas Peyke
Robert HodgesThomas Yett
William LandeslayRobert Baily
Nicholas BardeneyRobert Huntley
Richard SusheWillm. Ffissher
John NycolsonRichard Mathewe
John GraywytteJohn Borne
John KnellRogier Eyton
Willm. Henton, sen.John Bayte
Nicholas MarstynJohn Bromesgrove
Edmond EttonRobert Talbot
Richard RatclyffRichard Cramp
Thomas BalthroppJohn Warde
John JeskynJohn Graunger
Willm. HollyngwortheHenry Bulshe
James BrakenockChristofer Button
Thomas RoyseRobert Robynson
Willm. StoddardRobert Ffranke
John BawdwynWillm. Playne
Robt. LongEllys Wayte
Henry Bathe
The skinners' company is governed by a master, four wardens and a court of about sixty assistants, whose disbursements for the support of schools, alms-houses, exhibitions, lectures, &c. amount to between one and two thousand pounds annually.
| | |
| |
Footnotes:
[] Arms granted 5th Oct. 4 Edw. VI. 1551; crest and supporters in 1561. [] In the times of Catholic superstition, it was customary for the company of Skinners, to make a grand procession through the principal streets of the city on Corpus Christi day in the afternoon, in which, says Stow's continuator, Munday, were borne more than one hundred torches of wax (costly garnished, burning light,) and above two hundred clerks and priests in surplices aud copes, singing: after which came the sheriffs' servants, the clerks of the computers, chaplain for the sheriffs, the mayor's serjeants, the councell of the city, the mayor and aldermen in scarlet, and then the skinners in their best liveries. --Stow's Sur. p. 248. Edit. 1633. |
