There have been many noteworthy members of the Blacksmiths’ Guilds, although the custom of the City in olden time compelled the chief Magistrate to be “one of the twelve.” Consequently the names of those citizens in this Company who have served the offices of Lord Mayor and sheriffs have been limited, and so far as we can learn the earliest only dates back to the end of the last century, when Thomas Baker, exactly a century ago—in 1789—was one of “the eyes of the Mayor” (as Stow quaintly describes the sheriffs), serving in the mayoralty of the celebrated William Pickett, who originated the grand improvement without Temple Bar, a full account of which will be found in the “Memorials” of that edifice published in 1869. The late Alderman James Abbiss was a Blacksmith, and one of the sheriffs in 1859, and in turn would have served as Lord Mayor had not illness compelled him to resign his gown. We have numerous interesting references to the wills and other evidences of the Blacksmiths of old London, but want of space prevents even a summary. Two only, and these a century apart, are sufficiently curious to mention. William Reason, in 1568, left his livery-gowns to his brother and cousin, and to his apprentice William one of the vices in his shop and half of his files and tools. Industrious apprentices were thought of by their masters in those days. “And furder,” continues Mr. Reason, “I bequeathe to the Company of Blackesmythes being of the lyvery that shall attende upon my bodye to the buriall for a repaste or drincking to be had and bestowed amongst them twentie shillings.” The citizens of old London never expected their brethren to work for nothing, and funerals with the City Companies, especially with those who possessed halls, were of daily occurrence, as a reference to the “Diary of Henry Machyn,” 1550-1563, printed by the Camden Society in 1848, will amply prove. In 1674 William Rawlings, who requested to be buried in St. Stephen’s Church, Coleman Street, and possessed much property about London, was a benefactor to the poor of Bromley and Bow, Middlesex. Joseph Thornhill, also a Blacksmith, who was buried at Hampstead, left by will in 1718 all his property adjacent to the well-known “Pindar of Wakefield,” St. Pancras, and in which house he some time dwelt, in trust for the benefit of his two daughters. An account of this celebrated tavern and tea-gardens will be found at page 58 of Pinks and Wood’s “History of Clerkenwell.”