In proper places sit Cupid and Jove, Vulcan and Jove alternately singing praises, the song ending thus:—

CHAPTER VI.
FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF THE IRONMONGERS’ HISTORY.—III.

The Lord Mayor’s Show of the olden time, unlike the annual carnival of the latter half of the nineteenth century, was in reality illustrative of the trade to which (by Company) the chief magistrate belonged, and notwithstanding the prejudices against pageantry at the present time, we are staunch advocates for some annual popular display whereby the rising generation of our great City may, like the apprentices of old London, have visible proof that the Lord Mayor is a reality and not invisible to his subjects, and that if they will only put their shoulder to the wheel and emulate Hogarth’s industrious apprentice they in time stand the best chance of living in a big house, riding in a gilt coach, and wearing that big gold chain which yearly makes their appetites so keen and their eyes glisten with delight.

These Lord Mayor pageants of the seventeenth century were, as we have stated, partly a show on the Thames and partly a show in the City streets. Designed by the City poet of the period, the descriptions were usually printed in a small volume and circulated among the Lord Mayor’s friends and the members of the company. Probably the largest volume on the subject is the reprint of the Fishmongers’ pageant of 1616, edited by J. G. Nichols in 1844, a large folio with twelve illustrations, facsimiles of the original drawings. Our own copy of this work belonged to Mr. Recorder Gurney, and has the plates beautifully hand-painted and illuminated. And the smallest book upon so great a subject is a 32-paged duodecimo entitled “The Lord Mayor of London: a Sketch of the Origin, History, and Antiquity of the Office,” printed in 1860, and containing, as we believe, every fact to that date worth knowing about the office.

There are two items in connection with the 1629 show which must not be omitted. That “gentle angler,” Izaak Walton, a City apprentice who had been admitted a member of the Ironmongers’ Company eleven years before, on November 12, 1618, was one of the thirty-two members of the yeomanry who took part in the pageant. The “Sea Lion” and the “Estridge,” after the day’s ceremony was over, were brought in state to Ironmongers’ Hall, “to be sett upp for the Company’s use.” We do not know how long the lion remained so proudly exalted, but certainly not so long as the world-renowned relic still called the “original” dagger with which “brave Walworth knight Wat Tyler slew” in 1381, and which, after being carried in many a Fishmongers’ pageant, rests at the present time in a glass case in Fishmongers’ Hall. The carved-wood ostrich still exists.

The same year that Walton was admitted to the freedom (1618) the Ironmongers’ pageant, exhibited a few days previous, and at which, of course, he was unable to be a representative member, was devised by Anthony Munday. There were three special attractions—an ironmine, an ostrich (which eats brass and iron to help its digestion!), and a leopard, the latter a compliment to the Lord Mayor, whose arms bore three leopards’ heads, and whose crest was a leopard. The cost of these was 103l. Some of the payments are curious to read:—Six green (wood) men, with four assistants, who threw up fireworks as they marched along, cost 8l. 10s.; two men-of-war ships cost 30l.; 120 chambers or small cannon, 34l., with “4 lbs. of almond comfits put in the bullets in the cannon,” 4s.; banners and streamers, 36l.; “a new antient staff with faire guilt head,” 6s. 8d.; thirty-two trumpeters, 24l.; taffety sarsnet, cloth, fringe, &c., 45l.; “meat for the children’s breakfast,” 42s.; and marshalling the show, 3l. 6s. 8d. Last, but not least, there was such a gigantic operation performed that it reads like a Chicago event of to-day—“Removing the iron myne to the hall, 2s. 8d.”! The next Ironmongers’ trade pageant (1635) cost 180l.

The last Lord Mayor’s Show of the seventeenth century which the Ironmongers specially connected themselves with was that of Sir Robert Geffery in 1685, and who subsequently proved himself “a worthy benefactor” to the Company and the founder of their almshouses. It was designed by Matthew Taubman, and cost 473l. In his opening speech the author reminds us:—

“Though poets place the Iron Age the last, it had certainly a being and was of use before silver or gold had a value among the ancients. To calculate the original founders we must go further than Tubal Cain; nor is it probable the first Cain built such a vast city without materials and instruments proper for so great a design in opening the quarries and diving into the stony bowels of the earth. As the mystery of iron-working is most ancient, so is it most useful to the State, and most profitable to the merchant and artificer. Iron, for the universality of its use, may be called the efficient matter of all other mysteries, being either an ingredient or necessary instrument in all arts and professions. Take away the use of iron, all trading must cease.”

Taubman devised this “London’s Annual Triumph,” as he called it, in four pageants. The first exhibited a pyramid, on which was placed the Company’s founder, King Edward the Fourth, with Victory associated with Vigilance, Courage, and Conduct, and those four beautiful virgins, Triumph, Honour, Peace, and Plenty; the second pageant was a sea chariot; the third, a triumphal arch of loyalty, upon which was exalted Fame, supported by Truth, Union, and Concord; the fourth (or trade) pageant represented the Mountain of Ætna casting forth its sulphurous matter, with Vulcan, hammer in hand, at his anvil, attended by three Cyclops, also at anvils, answering Brontes, Steropes, and Pyracmon, who were forging thunderbolts for Jove and heads of arrows for Cupid. Amidst all the din of music and noise of the smiths were to be seen attendants throwing up ore from an ironmine, at the entrance to which stood Polypheme, a great giant, with only one eye, and that in the middle of his forehead, who, with a huge iron bar in one hand and a sword in the other, kept guard “to prevent all others but the Right Worshipful the Company of Ironmongers (whose peculiar prerogative it is) to enter.” Every figure in the pageant acted well his part, and Vulcan and Apollo probably took the lead, for Vulcan, addressing the Lord Mayor, sang:—

Victory declaring:—

At the subsequent Guildhall banquet was sung the Company’s song in praise of iron, and this was followed by another specially prepared to greet the King (James the Second), who was present.

It was nothing out of the way in those times for Royalty to dine with the citizens, with whom both kings and queens were “hale fellows well met.” The State papers and the Royal letters prove to the hilt that in a great many instances the citizens would have preferred their room to their company. The best anecdote belongs to the “merry monarch” Charles II., who, dining at Guildhall, so “hobnob’d” with the Lord Mayor that they did not know “the other from which.” The King, however, managed to leave without ceremony, and was just getting into his coach in Guildhall Yard when my Lord Mayor, discovering his loss, overtook him, and begged “Mr. King” to return and “take t’other bottle,” which, no doubt, he did, not forgetting a few days later to send to my lord his little bill for the usual loan!

In recent years the City Companies have taken up the question of technical education, and it cannot be denied that in many instances they have excelled themselves in this most praiseworthy work. If any reform is wanted, both Royalty and Government are the last to do it, but with the City Guilds, notwithstanding what is said against them, they have been found to the fore when anything beneficial to the people is required to be carried out, although in many instances they have neither been compelled to do it nor has it been beneficial to themselves in particular. From time to time the Companies had subscribed largely to the charities, &c., of societies not always of their special trade; but in January, 1860, the Painters’ Stainers’ Company took the lead in quite another direction by giving notice that in June following they would hold an exhibition of decorative works at their Hall in Little Trinity Lane, Cannon Street. There were thirty-five exhibitors, and this, the first exhibition of its kind, proving eminently successful, was held again the following year, and has been repeated upon many occasions since. The next Company’s announcement was that of the Ironmongers, who held a conversazione and exhibition of ironwork and curiosities in May, 1861, and, although this was not a trade exhibition, but promoted by the London and Middlesex Archæological Society, yet it brought together such a remarkable collection as had never before been seen in a City Company’s hall. In proof of this there is in print a very scarce volume entitled “A Catalogue of the Antiquities and Works of Art Exhibited at Ironmongers’ Hall, London, in the Month of May, 1861,” edited by the well-known Shakesperian scholar, the late G. R. French, at that time surveyor to the Company. So laborious was the editing of this ponderous volume, of 642 large quarto pages—for Mr. French was compelled at last to rely on his own resources in order to complete the book—that it was not issued until August, 1869. The actual cost of the book will never be known, for Mr. French died in October, 1881, and all the remaining copies, the drawings, the wood blocks of the 331 illustrations, and a large quantity of the original MSS. relating to the exhibition, the book, &c., had been already dispersed. The “Catalogue,” however, will keep his memory before the public long after everything else will have passed away. In this volume will be found described and illustrated, not only the charters, the plate, and other curiosities belonging to the Ironmongers, but also those belonging to other corporations, and the principal owners of iron and other antiquities and curios.

As we have said, the exhibition was opened in May, 1861. Over 600 persons attended the private view on Wednesday the 8th, 420 were present on the 9th, 1,345 on the 10th, and 1,678 on the 11th and last day—in all, more than 4,000 persons, each of whom on entering signed his or her name in a book still preserved by the Company. On the fourth day the Prince Consort attended, and he signed his name in the Court book. It was the regret of every one that, owing to the immense value of the antiquities, &c., the exhibition could not be kept open longer. Since 1861 the Ironmongers have had several other interesting meetings, and at the end of the month of March, 1889, the Blacksmiths, by special permission, held its first trade exhibition in the same building, following, as they do in this laudable work, the Fishmongers’, Plumbers’, Fanmakers’, Turners’, Carpenters’, Shipwrights’, Horners’, Coachmakers’, and other City Guilds.

A most important step was taken in 1872, when the Ironmongers joined the other City Guilds in the promotion of technical education. Mr. Henry Grissell, an old ironmaster and then senior warden, represented the Company at the meetings. Speaking of this great movement, the report of the City Livery Companies’ Commission in 1884 tells us:—“The subject of technical education has within the last few years been taken up by the Companies. The Clothworkers’ Company has promoted the establishment of Yorkshire College at Leeds, where instruction is given in the manufacture of woollen goods, and similar institutions at Bradford, Huddersfield, and other places, the present seats of its former trade. The City and Guilds of London Institute for the Advancement of Technical Education has also recently been formed. It is an association consisting of representatives of the City of London, and of most of the more considerable Livery Companies, and the funds which have been placed at its disposal by the City and the Companies are very large. A building fund of upwards of 100,000l. has been contributed, and annual subscriptions have been promised amounting to about 25,000l. a year. The former sum has been, or is being, expended on a technical college in Finsbury and a central institution in South Kensington.” When we state that the technical education scheme is likely to cost the companies 50,000l. a year, no one should say a word against them, but rather applaud the City for having inaugurated a grand work without Government aid or the support of the great employers of labour in outer London.

The attacks made in Parliament during the past quarter of a century against the City Companies have so far fallen back with a crushing defeat upon the enemy. Mr. Maguire’s Irish spoliation scheme of 1868 and 1869 ended, as it was expected it would, in proving then (as now) that there are many worse-managed estates there than those belonging to the City Guilds. In 1876 and 1877 Mr. James distinguished himself by also attacking the Companies, and upon three occasions had the majority of the House against his spoliation designs. Then, again, the “Royal Commission” of 1880 has enabled our descendants to possess the finest collection of historical details relating to the Companies it is possible to get together, and for that alone—not for having obtained the information at so serious an outlay to the Companies and the public purse—historical students are truly thankful.

We will now say a few words about the livery and the yeomanry, or freemen generally, which, unlike any other City Company, form the only two grades of membership in the Ironmongers (all the livery forming the court); and this exception, together with the rarity of the oldest yeoman being considered eligible for the “Clothing,” makes this Company in every particular as regards the term Livery Company unique. We are very sorry it is so, because there are many of the freemen who are not only eligible by time service, but are in many other ways equally eligible by their devoted interest and their ability; while the peculiar order of the Guild prevents them being members of other Companies where their services, &c., would be more appreciated.

The Livery.—The introduction of liveries into the City Companies took place 600 years ago. The chief members wore a gown or cloak with hood, and for distinction sake each Company had its own colours; but we cannot learn what the Ironmongers’ were. Edward IV.’s charter is directed to “all the freemen of the mystery and art of Ironmongers,” and appoints “one master and two keepers or wardens, and the commonalty” and their successors to have perpetual succession, with powers to frame ordinances, &c. The ordinances of 1498 (in which the warden was made responsible in selecting the necessary cloth at the drapers) were revised in the reign of Elizabeth, and finally approved, as stated in our fourth chapter, in February, 1581. Four quarterly courts were to be held, at which the livery called “the Clothing” were to pay their quarterage, and those neglecting to attend were to be fined 2s. And at these courts the yeomanry were to appear and also pay their quarterage. And upon the admittance of a member of the yeomanry to the livery he was to pay 6s. 8d. upon receiving “his pattern of his lyverie.” Those not paying fines to be sent to prison. There does not appear to be a record officially fixing the strength of the livery. The earliest complete list is dated 1537, when it appears that the number was 59, at the head being William Denham (Alderman) and Thomas Lewen (Sheriff of London). In 1570 there were 54 liverymen. In 1687, before the restoration patent of James II., the list comprised a master, 2 wardens, 44 assistants, and 16 liverymen—in all 60, or one more than in the list just 150 years previous. In 1710 the list was 95, but in 1776 the court had increased to 100. In 1801 there were 97 all told; in 1828, 85; in 1833 again 98; in 1847, 82; in 1857, 99; in 1867, 84; since which time there has been a gradual decrease, the total numbering only 48 last year. Now this is an extraordinary decline, and we should not have collected all these numbers had it not been that for some years past the yeomanry, among whom are many worthy and representative men, have been discussing their chance of obtaining “the clothing,” seeing that “calls” to the court are by no means regular, and when they do take place younger men, generally sons or relatives of those already on the court, are chosen over the heads of “antient” yeomen equally capable, and certainly more so by long connection with the Company, of looking after its interests, their position in the commercial world being a guarantee that they would serve their brethren without the “fee or reward” about which the Royal Commission on the Companies had so much to say. The ancient dress or costume of a liveryman in his cap and furred robe is shown in the Leather-sellers’ charter facsimiles in the magnificent quarto work on that Guild, edited by the late W. H. Black, for the Company in 1871. From time to time many ordinances were made about the citizens’ dress, special reprimands to the livery being administered in 1619 and 1677 for not appearing in their gowns; and in 1698 the Corporation issued an order that in future no one should join as a liveryman one of the twelve Companies unless he had an estate of 1,000l., or one of the minor Guilds under 500l. By an order passed in 1790 no servant is eligible for election on the livery. In 1627 a very curious dispute arose between Humphrey Hook, then residing at Bristol, where he had served municipal offices, and the court, they calling upon him to be their warden, he having been a freeman twenty-four years. The Company appears to have won the case.

The Yeomanry are the freemen of the Company generally, and about 300 in number. Although not of the “Clothing” (livery) a yeoman was described by an authority in 1759 as being of military origin, and in many respects equal to an esquire, the former fighting with arrows and bows made of yew tree, the latter carrying for distinction and defence a shield. In the ordinances of 1581 it was laid down that the yeomanry should pay their quarterage of 4d. a quarter, and that the wardens of the livery should, when necessary, help the “wardens of the yeomanry”; the four quarter-days are specially named as July 25, or St. James’ day, October 18, being St. Luke’s day, New Year’s day, and the Wednesday in Easter week, on which last-named day the new warden of the yeomanry should be elected for two years, there having been two wardens allowed by petition in 1497. All members failing to appear on these days were fined. It was also decreed that two suppers should be kept yearly at the hall, for which the wardens were allowed 33s. 4d. Mr. Nicholl, the Company’s historian, states that the wardens of the yeomanry stand in the same position to their body as the wardens of the livery do; but of late years, their duties having declined, only one warden now represents the freemen. The quarterage, too, of 16d. per annum has for many years past ceased to be collected, and the two meetings and suppers at the hall, which formerly took place on election day and St. Luke’s day (by and under the authority of the ancient ordinances of 1581, confirmed by the Lord Chancellor in 1590, assisted by the will in 1653 of “a worthy benefactor,” none other than the clerk of the Company, Ralph Handson, and finally approved by the Charity Trustees in 1876), were in the year 1830 discontinued, and two dinners appointed to take place at the hall in their stead. At these meetings and festivals, which are proved to be no unimportant rights, the senior warden of the livery presides, drinking health and prosperity to the yeomanry “root and branch, and may they flourish for ever”; their warden replying, and desiring his brethren in return to drink to the health of the senior warden. These are the only occasions when the members have the opportunity and pleasure of meeting in a body, and may the ancient custom—which by special ordinances became the freemen’s right—long continue is a wish echoed by the whole Company. Formerly the bread and cheese and ale repast was obtained from the old King’s Head Tavern opposite the hall in Fenchurch Street, and it was within the walls of the New London Tavern, erected on its site, that the warden of the yeomanry for the year 1888 held the St. Luke’s day meeting, and by discoursing to his brethren upon the history and antiquity of the Company, and exhibiting a number of curiosities relating to the Ironmongers, not only brought together a most enthusiastic audience, but for the first time in the recollection of the yeomanry made them feel interested in their Guild, and to pass a resolution never to permit the opportunity of meeting twice a year (by virtue of the old ordinance) to lapse in the future.

The freedom of the Ironmongers’ Company is obtainable by patrimony (as children of freemen, for there have been free women admitted), servitude (as apprentices to freemen), and redemption (by payment of one hundred guineas, or honorary presentation); but, curious to relate, although there are members of the Company “learned in the law” at the present time (as freemen by patrimony), no attorney is eligible for election by redemption. By ordinance dated 1657 no person is to change the copy of his freedom, and by an order of Court made November 21, 1878, “no person who is free of any other Company can be admitted to the freedom of the Ironmongers’ Company, nor can he become free of another Company after being admitted to the freedom of this Company.” This order necessarily makes the Ironmongers a select body corporate, and unlike the other Companies of the City. Upon being elected freeman the member makes a declaration accordingly, and when elected warden he takes the warden’s oath to look after the Company’s welfare during his term of office. The beadle of the Company half-yearly sends out the notices: “You are desired by the warden of the yeomanry to meet at Ironmongers’ Hall” (on the day of election, or St. Luke’s) “when a court will be holden in the usual manner.” At this court the warden presides and signs the freemen’s book, as do also such members who may be present. The beadle, having previously written to those of the yeomanry eligible for office of warden, submits the replies to the court. The election is entirely by their own vote, and selected from those present; and we believe for the first time in 1881, when Mr. F. W. Pellatt was chosen. The warden of the following year (Mr. Alfred Marshall, C.E.) was re-elected in 1883, he having taken an active part in the freemen’s interest; and at the election in 1888 (the Armada Tercentenary celebration year) the warden chosen was the author of the “Historical Essay” upon the Spanish Armada, who, being a member of the Plymouth and London committees, was selected in commemoration of the Company’s zeal at the time of the threatened invasion 300 years previous. At the yeomanry meeting at Easter, 1883, a special vote of condolence with the family was recorded in the minute-book upon the decease of “its much respected clerk, Simon Adams Beck, Esq., who for the long period of nearly fifty years so ably discharged the duties of his very important office.” The death of Mr. Beck, who was at one time Governor of the Gas Light and Coke Company—the district in which the works are situated being now known as Beckton—was a sad loss to every member of the Ironmongers’ Company. His portrait appropriately hangs close to that of Mr. John Nicholl, the Company’s historian, in the court-room at the hall.

CHAPTER VII.
THE APPRENTICES, THE HALL, AND THE IRISH ESTATE.

The London apprentice of the olden time was as different a personage to the ’prentice lad of to-day as the streets of the City are now unlike the thoroughfares of two or three centuries ago. The ancient Guild ordinances relating to apprentices prove that they were considered a most important part of the establishment of a citizen, and this is not to be wondered at when we consider that not only the trade of his master, but the trade of London, depended entirely upon the skilled artisan and craftsman’s ability, without which all the money-bags of the merchant were of little use. We could fill a volume with the history and anecdotes of the apprentice, but must content ourselves by giving a brief summary only; and the notes that we do give will show that our apprentices were not unworthy of the City, notwithstanding they were never backward in crying “Clubs! clubs!” and eager for the fray. In every festival, on the “high days and holidays” of civic life, at the marching watch or a Lord Mayor’s Show, at “going a Maying” to Shooters’ Hill, and archery practice in Finsbury Fields, the apprentice was an expected visitant. As he existed in the days of James I., Sir Walter Scott, in his “Fortunes of Nigel,” conveys to us a presentable and true picture.

Since the year 1662, no sooner was a boy aged fourteen than a master was found, and to him he was “bound” to serve, to follow his master’s trade, and to learn it until the age of twenty-one, when, having proved a good apprentice, he was admitted to the freedom of the Company to which such master belonged. Sometimes his master in the meantime died, and that necessitated his being “turned over” to another employer. If the boy misbehaved himself, then the Company and the Chamberlain took him in hand, and, if incorrigible, to Bridewell he was sent. It neither benefited the Corporation, the Company, nor the master to take too severe measures, and in recent years the cases have been few where correction has been administered, although to our minds it should have been oftener; and instances, too, have occurred where the master ought to have paid the penalty as well.

The earliest enrolment of a City apprentice was in the reign of Edward II., or five centuries and a half ago. There is a curious case recorded in the Guildhall Letter-book II, folio 42, of the year 1376, when William Grendone, alias Credelle, a scrivener, was sent to Newgate and fined for making a false indenture between William Ayllesham, a goldsmith, and Nicholas, the son of William Flourman. The indenture was for nine years, and the surety, instead of the father of the boy, was named as “the Cross at the North Door.” This cross—Broken Cross, or the Stone Cross—was at the north door of St. Paul’s, and, having been erected in the reign of Henry III., remained there until 1390, and in those superstitious ages any transaction there was, as a rule, considered binding. Each cross in the City had certain stalls, or stands, or stations, and these from time to time were let to persons who thus became Stationers, and in course of time left these stations at the Cross, and took up their position in and about Paternoster Row.

The Ironmongers’ ordinance for the year 1498 (confirmed by the Judges February 16, 1581) specially mentions the apprentice, as we have shown in our fourth chapter. The housing, the clothing, and the general welfare of the boy were fully set down, even to the command that the master “shall not suffre his (the apprentice’s) here to growe to long!” Again, “Every maister is sworne at the Guyldehall to make his prentice free wᵗʰout any cost or charge to the prentice”—a custom, we regret to say, long ago forgotten; and a century and a half after the making of the ordinance it was further ordered that any master putting in an appearance with the boy at the hall “before he have orderly cutt and barbed his hayre to the liking of the Mʳ and Wardens of the Company” was to be fined twenty shillings. One of the best City ordinances was that preventing the early marrying of artisans, in 1556—a custom which had produced “povertie, penurie, and lacke of livyng.” The Act recites:—

therefore, for the remedy it was ordered that all apprentices in future should not be made free until the age of twenty-four, at which age his apprenticeship is to expire, and any master violating the order to pay a fine of 20l. It is a curious coincidence, too, that in the original rules, dated September, 1557, for the government of “the House of Bridewell,” which hospital the City had recently obtained from Edward VI., there is a special ordinance relating to the oversight of “the Nail House”:—

As already stated, the overseers, artmasters, taskmasters, workmasters, or artificers, for the foremen of the Bridewell shops, where the boys were taught clothworking, weaving, pinmaking, &c., were so called, had under their charge sometimes 150, and as many as 250. Two of the hospital minute entries tell us:—

And in 1606 the minute-book reports the order that the names of all proposed apprentices brought into the House of Bridewell shall be registered, as also the master’s name. During the last century the apprentices in the house gradually declined, for in 1708 there were 140, in 1768 only 60, in 1789 only 36, and in 1791 only 26, illustrating but too forcibly the change in the times. It is probably not generally known that in the olden time the Bridewell boys upon the ringing of the fire-bell by the beadle used to drop their tools and start off to the fire, wherever it was situate in the metropolis. The result was:—

By the above quotations, written in 1798, we have shown that Bridewell was not only a House of Correction for City vagrants, but was from its foundation a real workhouse and artisans’ workshop. Many ignorant and misinformed persons have before now gone out of their way to abuse this institution, and declare that it never was put to the use the royal founder intended. We could multiply our proofs that Bridewell always was a useful house until Government, more than a century ago, meddled with the City management, and spoilt this and Christ’s Hospital as well.

Another ancient ordinance of the City is dated 1582, when every freeman was charged to take such steps necessary to prevent, and not to suffer under any circumstances, “servants, apprentices, journemen, or children, to repare or goe to annye playes, peices or enterludes, either wiᵗʰn the Citie or suburbs,” under the severe pains and penalties “at the discretion of me and my brethren.” Exactly a century later, on August 9, 1682, some 2,000 apprentices of London, who had taken active steps in the address to Charles II. for the support of the institution, were feasted in Merchant Taylors’ Hall, the king specially sending them two fat bucks for the occasion.

The following is a copy of an original apprenticeship indenture, dated 1676. It is printed on vellum, 7 by 4 inches in size, the names and date being the only portions written:—

By the Act of Common Council, passed March, 1889, apprentices can now be bound for four years instead of seven, and instead of the master being compelled (as of old) to make the apprentice an indoor servant, he is to pay wages sufficient to keep the boy in food, clothing, &c., elsewhere, as may be arranged. This term of four years also entitles the apprentice to his freedom if the bindings are to citizens, and effected by the Chamberlain and the Companies. The Ironmongers so long ago as January, 1863, had (when desired) adopted the five years’ term, but then, while it gave the boy the Company’s freedom, it did not confer that of the City. Thus, at last, in this official four years’ term, we have arrived at a most satisfactory settlement of a long and often heart-burning grievance.

The Ironmongers’ Hall, where the bindings take place and the Company’s business transacted, is situated in Fenchurch Street, one house westward of Billiter Street. The original ground upon which the premises stand was purchased by nineteen ironmongers, members of the ancient Guild, in October, 1457, and the original purchase deeds still exist to prove that the site is the private property of the descendants of those nineteen brethren of the Guild—if there is really any law extant that freehold property belongs to the “root and branch” of a true-born Englishman. The Hall is mentioned in 1479 as being in the parish of All Hallows Staining, in the Ward of Aldgate. Between the parochial authorities and the Company long existed a dispute upon the burning question of tithes, until some twenty years ago it reached the crisis. A warrant was issued, and four of the candelabra and two of the loving cups were “in a friendly way,” in order to test the case, placed on a table in the Hall and momentarily seized by the official, and as quickly restored upon the usual bonds being given for the superior Court’s decision. A few years before—in 1862—some beautiful specimens of ornamental ironwork, which the company had erected in the Corporation pew in the church as rests for the sword and mace, suddenly disappeared, but upon question raised as suddenly returned. There is a funny entry in the church-wardens’ accounts of this parish for the year 1494: “Payd for a kylcherkyn of good ale, which was drunkyn in the Yrynmongers’ Hall, all chargis born xijs. ijd.” We should like to know what brought about this merry-making 400 years ago. Could it have been “a parochial settlement” of the dispute of 1479?

In Aggas’s map of the City, of the reign of Elizabeth, Ironmongers’ Hall is depicted as a range of buildings (among which was the clerk’s residence). There was no entrance from Fenchurch Street, but only through a long garden having entry from Leadenhall Street. That there was a garden to the Hall is certain, because in the records, about the year 1540, there are numerous interesting entries similar to these:—

The first Hall remained until 1585, when, being found “ruinous and in greate decay,” it was rebuilt, and a kitchen erected. The cost was large—something like 600l.—but the ground covered was somewhat extensive. Tapestry was ordered for the Hall in 1590, and in 1629 further additions were made. In 1686 new sundials were erected, and in 1701 a new wall was put up to prevent the persons in the tavern next door looking across the Company’s garden into the private apartments of the Company. In 1707 a mulberry tree was planted in the garden, and in 1719 some new lime trees, so that the Ironmongers’ garden was quite a rural retreat, and like the Drapers’ garden, which has only of late years been covered over by bricks and mortar.

The second Ironmongers’ Hall was not burnt in the great fire of 1666, although it was surrounded by the destructive demon. A certain William Christmas, shipwright, did some good service to the Company upon the occasion, so that in March, 1667, he received a gratuity. In 1677 the Corporation ordered all public buildings to keep leather buckets, hand-squirts, &c., to be ready in case of fire, and the Ironmongers provided themselves with thirty buckets, one engine, six pickaxes, three ladders, and two squirts, the latter being of brass, 3 feet long and 9 inches diameter. To this day may be seen some, if not the, buckets, hanging in the vestibule of the Hall. In 1699 the music-room was repaired; in 1707 a lion and unicorn was put up in the court-room.

The third, and present, Ironmongers’ Hall was erected from the designs of T. Holden, and at a cost of about 5,000l., about 1748. It was not completed until 1750, when, on February 13 that year, a ball was given at the opening, and a hogshead of port wine, half a chest of oranges, and other good things were consumed at the feast. A full description of the Hall and its interesting contents will be found in Malcolm’s “Londinium Redivivum,” vol. ii. 1803, pp. 32-62. The Hall was repaired in 1817, and in 1827 a light corridor connecting the grand staircase with the drawing-room was erected, and two years later the four handsome columns and pilasters were put up in the drawing-room. Just about a century after the erection of the present Hall it underwent an entire redecoration, and was reopened once more with a ball on June 8, 1847. The banqueting-room is 70 feet long and 29 feet wide. A carved panelled dado, 8 feet high, is carried round the room, having in the upper compartments the arms in proper colours of the past masters from the recognised foundation in 1351. The windows, as seen from the street, are curious as presenting seven different styles, and only equalled, we believe, by a house in Berkeley Square, where, out of eleven windows, seven are of different kinds. Mr. Nicholl gives a full description of the Hall and its contents as existing in 1866 in his “Some Account,” pp. 421-467. The portraits of eminent members hang on the walls of the banqueting-room and in the court-room, two of the latest in the latter room being those of Mr. John Nicholl, F.S.A., the Company’s historian, and Mr. S. Adams Beck, who for nearly fifty years was the clerk and sincere friend of the Company, as mentioned in our last chapter.

From Ironmongers’ Hall were conducted the last remains of many a notable member or citizen in the olden time. The funeral pall or hearse cloth used on these occasions was the gift of John Gyva, ironmonger, in 1515, and Elizabeth, his wife. It is of crimson velvet and cloth of gold tissue, and is described and illustrated at pages 454-7 of Mr. French’s “Catalogue.” Notes of the sixteenth century funerals are given in “The Diary of Henry Machyn” (Camden Society), 1848. In the “Diary of Samuel Pepys” he tells us of the funeral from the Hall in November, 1662, of Sir Richard Stayner, where “good rings” were distributed and the mourners had “a four-horse coach,” in which he by mistake took a place.

There have been many meetings at the Hall, some of national and others of great civic interest, especially in the making free and entertainments to distinguished men like Lords Hood and Exmouth. In 1694 the Company let the Hall for a lottery, which was called “the best and fairest chance at last,” and five years later the whole of the old armour then standing in and about the premises was sold to Mr. Thomas Saunders for eight guineas, “the musketts 2s. 6d. apiece!” It is not generally known that the national anthem of “God Save the King,” so repeatedly sung at the old City feasts and all over the world, was the composition of Dr. John Bull, who, with the children of the King’s Chapel, sung and played it before James I. and Prince Henry at the Merchant Taylors’ Hall feast, July 16, 1607. In Ironmongers’ Hall have dined Dr. Livingstone, Admiral Dawes, and Sir Garnet Wolseley, the latter just before leaving England for the Gold Coast. An interesting article, entitled “Banqueting with the Ironmongers,” and giving a good picture of these modern entertainments, appeared in the City Press, August 21, 1875. The Company’s plate is not so extensive as that possessed by some of the City Guilds. The collection will be found described by Mr. French in his “Catalogue,” pp. 616-624. There are two mazer bowls (thirteenth to sixteenth century drinking-vessels), of which only fifty are supposed to be extant, and therefore curious and interesting. They are described by Mr. St. John Hope in “Archæologia,” vol. 50, 1887, pp. 129-193. In the old views of the exterior of the Hall are shown the houses on the east side adjoining Billiter Street. These were pulled down and rebuilt some twenty years ago. Finally, in bringing our description of the Hall to a close, we cannot forbear mentioning a curious fact. In the first report of the City Livery Companies’ Commission, 1884, p. 36, there is a list given of all the existing halls of the City Guilds, thirty-four in number, and yet the Ironmongers’ (one of the twelve) has been omitted!

We shall conclude this chapter by noticing the Irish estate of the Ironmongers’ Company, called “The Manor of Lizard,” about seven miles from Coleraine, and skirting the river Bann, in the province of Ulster, the total area of which is between 12,000 and 13,000 acres, occupied as 550 holdings, with a population of about 2,800 persons all told. The net receipts from rents come to about 4,000l. a year. The estate is scattered over five parishes, and until recent years has been a great anxiety to the Company, who, having, like other Guilds, in former times let their lands as a whole to certain responsible persons, receiving a yearly rent, found out too late then that these persons, some of whom were resident, grossly neglected the well-being of both the property and the people. In 1766 the Company leased the estate to Josias du Pre, Esq., for sixty-one years and three lives. In 1813 he sold the remainder of his lease to the Beresford family. The last life mentioned in the lease was that of the Bishop of Meath, who died in his eighty-third year in 1840. The Hon. the Irish Society reported that year:—“The present holders seem only to have used the property for the purpose of making the most of it during the term of their lease,” consequently when the Company took possession they found it no easy matter to put the estate in that order which they so long desired to do. Through their energetic agents they have at last succeeded, after terribly uphill work, and we believe the tenantry now find out the truth of the Irish Society’s report in 1838, which stated, “This estate upon the death of the Bishop of Meath passes into the hands of the Company, and we have no doubt that it will prove a source of much happiness to the tenantry when they shall be placed under the immediate superintendence of that body.”

The origin of the purchase of this estate arose through the rebellion in Ireland, in the reign of Elizabeth, when the O’Neills and the O’Dohertys were in the possession of the province of Ulster. In order to suppress the revolt the army was sent over in 1566, and encamped in Derry County. The lands were subsequently confiscated, and when James I. came to the throne he found them such a source of trouble that he or his Ministers devised the scheme of selling the whole property, being, as we have said, confiscated from traitors to the Crown. The King also instituted the order of Baronets to such persons who would pay towards the charges of the reclamation of the waste lands and the new plantation, and peopling with Protestants the North of Ireland, and that is why the red hand of Ulster will be found in a baronet’s coat of arms. After much trouble the City of London were offered the Irish estates, which the Companies jointly purchased for 40,000l. This sum was subscribed by fifty-five of the Guilds, being the twelve great and forty-three minor Companies. The great ones were to manage for the lesser, the Ironmongers being associated with the Brewers, Scriveners, Coopers, Pewterers, Barbers, Surgeons, and Carpenters, paying 3,333l. 6s. 8d. as their share, calling their portion the Manor of Lizard, from the crest of their arms. “This manor was created by the Irish Society in October, 1618, and was conveyed to the Ironmongers’ on November 7 following, to the only use and behoof of the said Company, their successors, and assigns for ever.” In May, 1613, the Coopers’ Company’s share was taken over by the Corporation of London, and the Irish Society of the City of London, incorporated by royal charter March 29, 1613, was made a body corporate to carry out the plantation of the City and County of Londonderry, which cost them from first to last before completed nearly 100,000l. To this day the citizens of London annually visit Ireland, the last visit in 1888 being more than usually important, as the two-hundredth anniversary of the memorable siege of Derry, now Londonderry, in 1688, about which so much has been written and said. The following works may be consulted as giving true details of the plantation scheme, one of, if not the wisest of, the schemes of the first King James:—