As a trade, the bakers of London rank from a very early date. They formed a brotherhood, or guild, in the reign of Henry II., about 1155. Stow says of them: ‘The Company of White Bakers are of great antiquity, as appeareth by their Records, and divers other things of antiquity, extant in their Common Hall. They were a Company of this City in the first year of Edward II., and had a new Charter granted unto them in the first year of Henry VII., the which Charter was confirmed unto them by Henry VIII., Edward VI., Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, and King James I. Their Arms were anciently borne; the crest and supporters were granted to them by Robert Cook, _Clarencieux_, the Letters Patent bearing date November 8 (32 Eliz.), 1590. The Cloud on the Chief thro’ which the Hand holding the Scales Cometh, hath a Glory, omitted in the edition printed 1633; and on each side of the Hand are two Anchors, here also omitted; as by the Visitation Book, _Anno_ 1634, appears.’ Stow describes the Company of the Brown Bakers as ‘A Society of long standing and continuance, prevailed to have their Incorporating granted the ninth day of June, in the 19th year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James I.’ The Arms of both White and Brown Bakers are copied from Harl. MSS. 1464, 57e. (73), A.D. 1634—the Arms of these and other Companies being copied from the Herald’s Visitation of that year, by Rd. Price, Armes-Painter. [Illustration: THE ARMS OF THE WHITE BAKERS.] Heraldically described, the Arms of the White Bakers are—Gules, three Garbs Or, a chief barry wavy of four, argent and azure, an arm issuing from clouds radiated of the second, the hand holding a pair of scales depending between the upper Garbs, also of the second. _Crest_: Two Arms embowed issuing out of clouds, proper, holding in the hands a chaplet of wheat, or. _Supporters_: Two Stags, proper, attired, or, each gorged with a chaplet of wheat, of the last. [Illustration: ARMS OF THE BROWN BAKERS.] The Arms of the Brown Bakers closely resemble those of their white brethren, but are not so dignified, as lacking supporters and motto: Vert, a chevron quarterly, or and gules, charged with a pair of balances, azure, holden by a hand out of a cloud, proper, between three garbs of beans, rye and wheat, or. On a chief barry of five, wavy, argent and azure, an Anchor couchant, or. _Crest_: An Arm quarterly of the second, the hand holding a bean sheaf, proper.