A Short History of the Worshipful Company of Horners — John Shaqi
A Short History of the Worshipful Company of HornersRosedale, H. G. (Honyel Gough)
History
A Short History of the Worshipful Company of Horners
Rosedale, H. G. (Honyel Gough)
Guilds -- England -- London -- History; Horners' Company (London, England)
It is a little difficult to define the area in which the Horners of
London were originally located, but it may be somewhat vaguely described
as the district of Aldgate. Many were the streets and alleys to which
Horners have given a name, and one well-known Horn Alley was, until a
comparatively late date, to be found on the East side of Bishopsgate
Street, and in Korneman’s book on “Old Street Signs and Tablets” is an
allusion to one with the following inscription:—“This is Horn Alley,
1670.” In Stow’s “Survey of London,” 1633, the following passage
occurs:—“I read in the 26th of Henry VI (1447), that in the parish of
St. Dunstan’s in the East a tenement called Horners Key was granted to
William Harrington, Esq.” Doubtless this alludes to a building used by
the Horners for the purposes of their trade, at a time when all was
_couleur de rose_ with them, and it is extremely likely that upon
further investigation this William Harrington will be found to be the
Guardianus or Alderman of the Gild.
[Sidenote: The warehouses of the Gild.]
Time, however, brought its changes, and when, in 1603-4, the Horners’
Act was repealed, it would seem likely that they found it either
impossible to continue to pay the rent, or, realising that disaster
awaited them, may have sold the property, if it were theirs to sell. It
is, however, certain that in 1604 the Company leased a house with
storehouses and sheds in Wentworth Street, Whitechapel, for the term of
1,000 years at a ground rent of £4. When, in 1789, these premises were
no longer required for the use of the trade, which had declined, they
were let for £30 a year, and in 1879 were sold to the Metropolitan Board
of Works and the money invested on behalf of the Horners’ Company.
[Sidenote: Was there a Horners’ Hall?]
It has been stated that the Horners’ Company never had a Hall. It is
difficult to see quite why this statement has been made, for there is
much to make the student of Gild lore think otherwise. The Charter of
1638 expressly provides for one, and, as in every other respect, it
simply imposes the absolute conditions then existing, there would seem
no reason to doubt that the sum of £40 per annum therein mentioned was
the exact value of the property then held. The Bottlemakers would not
have joined the Horners had the latter Company not had a hall or meeting
place.
As with other Craft Gilds, the Fire of London probably proved very
disastrous to the Company, and, no doubt, very little was saved.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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