An Old City Company: A Sketch of the History and Conditions of the Skinners' Company of London — John Shaqi
An Old City Company: A Sketch of the History and Conditions of the Skinners' Company of LondonSebastian, Lewis Boyd
History
An Old City Company: A Sketch of the History and Conditions of the Skinners' Company of London
Sebastian, Lewis Boyd
Worshipful Company of Skinners
The old custom was that the Lord Mayor of London acted as Chief Butler
at the Coronation of a Sovereign, assisted by a representative of each
of the twelve great Companies. John Pasmer, Pellipar, represented the
Skinners’ Company in this way at the Coronation of Richard III, in 1483;
and so recently as the Coronation of George IV, in 1821, the Company was
similarly represented by Mr. Thomas Moore, who was Master of the Company
at the time of that King’s accession to the throne.
The Company has in its possession a complete list of the Masters from
1485 downwards. A few only of the earlier Masters can be identified.
Thus, John Penne is described as Master of the Company in 1409 in a deed
of that year, and William Newenham as Master in 1434 in a will of that
date.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it seems to have been customary
for the same member to occupy the Chair on several occasions, especially
when he was conspicuous among the Aldermen of the City of London. Thus,
between the years 1485 and 1600 only thirty-nine members served the
office, of whom the most frequent occupants of the Chair were:—
Sir William Martyn, 5 times, the first being in 1485, and the last in
1502.
Sir Thomas Mirfine, 5 times, the first being in 1509, and the last in
1516.
Geoffrey Walkeden, 5 times, the first being in 1561, and the last in
1577.
Sir John Champneys, 6 times, the first being in 1527, and the last in
1539.
Sir Andrew Judd, 6 times, the first being in 1533, and the last in
1555.
Sir Wolstan Dixie, 7 times, the first being in 1573, and the last in
1592.
Alderman Philip Gunter, 8 times, the first being in 1556, and the last
in 1582.
Seven others served for four years each within the same period.
After the sixteenth century the practice of re-election became nearly
obsolete, and at the present day it is never adopted except in the case
of the death or retirement of the Master, or one of the five members in
the succession to the Chair, in which event a Past-Master has to be
elected in order to avoid dislocating the ordinary course of the
Company. Only eight re-elections took place during the whole of the
nineteenth century; and there are at the present time only two double
Past-Masters in existence. On leaving the Chair for the second time, a
double Past-Master regains his original precedence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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