Worshipful Company of Grocers
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Motto | God Grant Grace |
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Location | Grocers' Hall, Princes Street, London EC2 |
Date of formation | 1345 |
Company association | Spice merchants |
Order of precedence | 2nd |
Master of company | Alderman Charles Bowman |
Website | www |
The Worshipful Company of Grocers is one of the 111
Established in 1345 for
History
Founded in the 14th century by members of the Guild of Pepperers, dating from 1180,
The guild was known as the Company of Grossers from 1373 until 1376 when it was renamed the Company of Grocers of London. In 1428, two years after building its first hall in Old Jewry, the company was granted a royal charter by King Henry VI of England.[4]
A
Today, the Grocers' Company exists as a
Grocers' Hall
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Grocers%27_Hall%2C_Prince%27s_Street_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1537101.jpg/220px-Grocers%27_Hall%2C_Prince%27s_Street_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1537101.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/ONL_%281887%29_1.433_-_Interior_of_Grocers%27_Hall.jpg/220px-ONL_%281887%29_1.433_-_Interior_of_Grocers%27_Hall.jpg)
The earliest known Grocers' Hall was in Poultry, London, then known as Conningshop-Lane on account of the three conies or rabbits hanging over a poulterer's stall in the lane. It was built in 1428 on land once owned by Lord FitzWalter and let out "for dinners, funerals, county feasts and weddings". The roof and woodwork of the hall were destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire and afterwards a new roof was erected on the old walls while Sir John Cutler paid for a new parlour and dining room. The hall was again renovated in 1681 by the future Lord Mayor Sir John Moore. A new hall was built on the same site between 1798 and 1802 when part of the garden was sold to the Bank of England for the expansion of nearby Prince's Street.[7] However, frequent and extensive repairs were required due to the third hall's defective foundations, which was replaced by a fourth hall, completed in 1893 on Prince's Street. The hall survived the Blitz with only minor damage to its north wing, but was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1965, apparently caused by a lightbulb left on in the grand staircase beneath an oak lintel which smouldered and eventually ignited. The fifth and final hall was constructed nearby in 1970, also on Prince's Street, is the Grocers' home today.
Past Masters of the Grocers' Company include
The Master Grocer for 2022/23 is James Thompson. The Clerk to the Grocers' Company is Brigadier Greville Bibby and the Revd George Bush serves as Honorary Chaplain.[9]
Guild church
School and military affiliations
The Grocers' Company is responsible for the maintenance of
The Grocers' Company is also affiliated with HMS Queen Elizabeth, the first of the Royal Navy's new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, and with the Coldstream Guards, the oldest regular regiment of the British Army as well as XI (F) Squadron, Royal Air Force.
Eglinton Village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, was established by the Grocers' Company in 1619 under the name of Muff; the local Castle Credit Union[16] has assumed use of the Company's crest, as has Eglinton Primary School.[17][18]
The
See also
- Guild
- Oundle School
- Zunft
References
- ^ www.british-history.ac.uk
- ^ Jean Bellamy. "The Worshipful Company of Grocers". TimeTravel-Britain.com (History Magazine) July–September 2006 issue.
- ^ www.apothecaries.org
- ^ wholesalemerchants.
- ^ "A Modern Interpretation of Classic Cuisine: A Culinary Experience at the Grocers' Hall". London Launch, 24 April 2007.
- ^ "CIBSE Presidential address: Look back and learn to complete the circle". Voltimum: The First European Portal for the Electrical Industry.
The CIBSE Annual General Meeting and Presidential Address took place at the Worshipful Company of Grocers on 3 May 2007.
- ^ Timbs, John (1855). Curiosities of London: Exhibiting the Most Rare and Remarkable Objects of Interest in the Metropolis. D. Bogue. p. 397.
- ^ www.mapoflondon.uvic.ca
- ^ www.theroyalexchange.co.uk
- ^ "Grocers' Company - Livery Companies of the City of London". liverydatabase.liverycompanies.info. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ www.stmarylebow.org.uk
- ^ "Reed's School". networkreeds.org.
- ^ "Roundcube Webmail :: Welcome to Roundcube Webmail". mossbourne.hackney.sch.uk.
- ^ a b G, Sludge (13 April 2009), Grocers' Company Foundation stone,former St Paul, Glyn Road, E5, retrieved 26 September 2020
- ^ Saint Paul, Homerton: Glyn Road, Hackney. <corpname>Church of England, St Paul's Parish, Homerton</corpname>. 1887–1981.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ "Lowest Price on Brand Shoes Fast Shipping in UK". castleandminster.co.uk.
- ^ "school-sites.org".
- ^ "Eglinton Primary School, Londonderry – The Good Schools Guide". The Good Schools Guide.
- ^ "Church of St Mary the Virgin, Northill". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
Further reading
- John Benjamin Heath (1829). "Some Account of the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City of London". Printer. 1829 history of the company by the Governor of the Bank of England, 1845–1847.