1550 1875 1911 +----------------------------------------+-------+-------+-------------+ |106-8, Rotunda, Woolwich, Maltese Suits.| | | | | _Half-armour and helmet, 25 lb._ } | | | | | _Clothes and arms, about 15 lb._ } | 40 lb.| | | +========================================+ | | | |British Infantry. | | | | | _Service equipment, including arms_ | | 52 lb.|59 lb. 11 oz.| | | | [129]| [131] | +----------------------------------------+-------+-------+-------------+ FOOTNOTES: [120] _Arch. Journ._, LX. [121] _Archives de Bruxelles_, Cat. Mus. Porte de Hal, 1885. [122] _Jahrbuch des Kunsthist. Sammlungen_, II, 1032. [123] _Arch. Journ._, IV. [124] _Archæologia_, LVII. [125] _Antiquarian Repertory_, IV. [126] Johnes’ edition, I, 449. [127] _Ludlow’s Memoirs_, Firth, I, 44. [128] Catalogue of the Museum. [129] Sir G. P. Colley, K.S.I., _Encyc. Brit._, 1875. [130] Col. F. N. Maude, _Encyc. Brit._, 1910. [131] _Morning Post_, December 9, 1911. THE ARMOURERS’ COMPANY OF THE CITY OF LONDON, ARMOURERS’ HALL, COLEMAN STREET, E.C. At the present day this Company is combined with that of the Braziers, but this combination only dates from the beginning of the eighteenth century, when it had ceased to deal with the making of armour and was more concerned with other branches of the craft of the metal-worker. The objects of the craft-gild of the armourers were the same as all those of like nature in the Middle Ages. Members were protected from outside piracy of methods and trade-marks, they were cared for in body when ill or incapable of working, and in soul by masses and religious exercises. [Illustration: FIG. 62. Arms of the Armourers’ Company of London.] An important detail in the organization of these craft-gilds and one sadly lacking in modern trade combinations was the examination and approval of the members’ work by the gild-masters. In this way was the craftsman encouraged to produce good work, and also the purchaser was protected against inferior workmanship. A reference to the Appendices B, K will exemplify this, for in these two instances alone we find that careless work is condemned by the Company. In the document of the reign of Edward II it is noted that “old bascute broken and false now newly covered by men that nothing understood of ye mystery wh. be put in pryvie places and borne out into ye contrye out of ye said Citye to sell and in ye same citie of wh. men may not gaine knowledge whether they be good or ill of ye wh. thinge greate yill might fall to ye king and his people.”