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Worshipful Company of Drapers
The Worshipful Company of Drapers is one of the 114 livery companies of the City of London, formally styled The Master and Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of the Mystery of Drapers of the City of London.
More usually known simply as The Drapers' Company, it is one of the historic Great Twelve Livery Companies and was founded during the Middle Ages.
An informal association of drapers had organized as early as 1180, and the first (Lord) Mayor of London in 1189, Henry Fitz-Ailwin de Londonestone, was believed to have been a Draper. The guild was formally founded in 1361; it received a Royal Charter three years later. It was incorporated as a company under a Royal Charter in 1438 and was the first corporate body to be granted a coat of arms. The charter gave the company perpetual succession and a common seal. Over the centuries the original privileges granted by Royal Charter have been confirmed and amended by successive monarchs. The acting charter of today is that granted by James I in 1607, amended by four supplemental charters, most recently in 2008.
The brotherhood of drapers, a religious fraternity attached to the Church of St Mary Bethlehem in Bishopsgate, was founded in honour of the Virgin Mary by "good people Drapers of Cornhill and other good men and women" for the amendment of their lives. The majority of drapers lived in and around Cornhill, Candlewick Street (now Cannon Street) and Chepe (Cheapside). Possibly it was for this reason that their allegiance was transferred to St Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside and later to St Michael, Cornhill, where the Company continues to worship today. Despite these changes, the Drapers retain the Blessed Virgin Mary as their patron saint.
Originally, the organisation was a trade association of wool and cloth merchants. It has been one of the most powerful companies in London civic life. Over one hundred Lord Mayors have been members of the Company; the first, Henry Fitz-Ailwyn, progenitor of the earls of Arundel, was a draper. During the Plantation of Ulster, the Company held land around Moneymore and Draperstown in County Londonderry.
Among royalty who have been Drapers, three had not been expected to accede as a monarch at the time of their admission to the Company but were later crowned:
Other well known members have included Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (aka the Grand Old Duke of York), Sir Francis Drake, Admiral the Viscount Nelson, the Marquess of Ripon and Grinling Gibbons.
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom (elected to the Court of Assistants in 2017 on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of her admission to the Company), King Harald V of Norway, King Charles III, the Duchess of Gloucester, Admiral the Lord Boyce, and Lady Victoria Leatham (elected as the first female Master of the Company in 2012) are among the many distinguished recent members of the Company.
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Worshipful Company of Drapers
The Worshipful Company of Drapers is one of the 114 livery companies of the City of London, formally styled The Master and Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of the Mystery of Drapers of the City of London.
More usually known simply as The Drapers' Company, it is one of the historic Great Twelve Livery Companies and was founded during the Middle Ages.
An informal association of drapers had organized as early as 1180, and the first (Lord) Mayor of London in 1189, Henry Fitz-Ailwin de Londonestone, was believed to have been a Draper. The guild was formally founded in 1361; it received a Royal Charter three years later. It was incorporated as a company under a Royal Charter in 1438 and was the first corporate body to be granted a coat of arms. The charter gave the company perpetual succession and a common seal. Over the centuries the original privileges granted by Royal Charter have been confirmed and amended by successive monarchs. The acting charter of today is that granted by James I in 1607, amended by four supplemental charters, most recently in 2008.
The brotherhood of drapers, a religious fraternity attached to the Church of St Mary Bethlehem in Bishopsgate, was founded in honour of the Virgin Mary by "good people Drapers of Cornhill and other good men and women" for the amendment of their lives. The majority of drapers lived in and around Cornhill, Candlewick Street (now Cannon Street) and Chepe (Cheapside). Possibly it was for this reason that their allegiance was transferred to St Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside and later to St Michael, Cornhill, where the Company continues to worship today. Despite these changes, the Drapers retain the Blessed Virgin Mary as their patron saint.
Originally, the organisation was a trade association of wool and cloth merchants. It has been one of the most powerful companies in London civic life. Over one hundred Lord Mayors have been members of the Company; the first, Henry Fitz-Ailwyn, progenitor of the earls of Arundel, was a draper. During the Plantation of Ulster, the Company held land around Moneymore and Draperstown in County Londonderry.
Among royalty who have been Drapers, three had not been expected to accede as a monarch at the time of their admission to the Company but were later crowned:
Other well known members have included Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (aka the Grand Old Duke of York), Sir Francis Drake, Admiral the Viscount Nelson, the Marquess of Ripon and Grinling Gibbons.
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom (elected to the Court of Assistants in 2017 on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of her admission to the Company), King Harald V of Norway, King Charles III, the Duchess of Gloucester, Admiral the Lord Boyce, and Lady Victoria Leatham (elected as the first female Master of the Company in 2012) are among the many distinguished recent members of the Company.