| The Haberdashers' Company | |
| Motto: | "Serve and Obey" |
| Location: | Haberdashers' Hall, London EC1 |
| Association: | Silk and velvet trade |
| Precedence: | 8th |
| Master: | Rupert Elliott |
| Clerk: | Brigadier Angus Watson MBE |
The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies, is an ancient merchant guild of London associated with the silk and velvet trades.
The Haberdashers' Company received its first royal charter in 1448 and holds records dating back to 1371. The formal name under which it is incorporated is The Master and Four Wardens of the Fraternity of the Art or Mystery of Haberdashers in the City of London.
The company was originally responsible for the regulation of silk and velvet merchants then hatmakers,[1] but began losing control over those trades as the population of London increased and spread outwards from the City after the Industrial Revolution. Through careful stewardship of financial bequests and funds, the company now serves as a significant educational and charitable institution whilst maintaining links with its heritage by giving awards for fashion education.
As an educational foundation, the Haberdashers' Company maintains a strong tradition of supporting schools. It founded a boys' school at Hoxton, Middlesex, in 1690 and following redevelopment of the site, in June 1875, it reopened the school, divided into two, educating boys and girls. At the same time, it opened a boys and girls school at Hatcham in Surrey. The Haberdashers' Hoxton Boys' School moved to Hampstead, North London, and then in 1961 becoming the Haberdashers' Aske's School for Boys, Elstree. The Haberdashers' Girls' School, founded in Hoxton moved to Creffield Road, Acton, opening on 1 November 1889 with 47 Hoxton pupils and 12 new girls, and reopening in September 1974 on its present site in Elstree as Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls, adjacent to the Haberdashers' Boys' School. The original Hatcham schools continue to be run by the Haberdashers' Company, as academies, open to girls and boys.
Elsewhere in England and Wales, Haberdashers' schools have been endowed notably by William Jones (Monmouth) and William Adams (Shropshire).
In 1990, at Monmouth School, the Glover Music School was established funded by Dame Jane Glover, sister of Past Master Richard Glover, and daughter of a previous headmaster of the school.
The Haberdashers' Company continues, as required, to present copies of the King James Bible to pupils at all its schools, whilst welcoming those of all faiths and none. The company owns and participates in the patronage of eight parish church advowsons.[2]
The company is sole trustee of two major educational charities: Haberdashers' Aske's Charity and the William Jones's Schools Foundation.
The company ranks eighth in the order of precedence of City livery companies and, as such, it is recognised as one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies. Like other livery companies, it supports the work of the Lord Mayor, the City Corporation and the Sheriffs: Alderman Sir William Russell, First Warden (2023/24), was the first Lord Mayor of London to serve consecutive terms (2019–21) since the 19th century;[3] HRH the Duke of Edinburgh currently serves on the Haberdashers' Court of Assistants. Haberdashers' Hall was situated near the Guildhall in Bassishaw Ward for many centuries, but from 2002 the company took additional premises in the City Ward of Farringdon Without, where it is now based.
The Haberdashers' motto is "Serve and Obey".
The Haberdashers' Company moved to its new hall at 18 West Smithfield on 15 April 2002, located opposite the King Henry Gate of St. Bartholomew's Hospital.
On 24 October 2002 Queen Elizabeth II was welcomed by Master Haberdasher Nicholas Lund to formally declare the Hall open.[4] Haberdashers' Hall, with its various meeting and function rooms as well as offices, is centred on a cloistered courtyard, entered through the façade at Market View, Smithfield, and also includes residential apartments and retail units. On the south side of the property, the company has developed office space which opens onto Hosier Lane.
Within the Hall, its cloisters to the right-hand side lead via a circular staircase to the first floor where its Court Room, Committee Room and a Luncheon Room lead off a Reception Gallery. The reception gallery leads to the livery hall, which has a high vaulted ceiling and is entirely oak-panelled. There are also offices for company staff, facilities for catering staff with storage and cellars below the Hall, together with accommodation for the Master and the Beadle.
The Clerk to the Haberdashers' Company, since 2020, is Brigadier Angus Watson,[5] and the Revd Marcus Walker serves as its Honorary Chaplain.[6]
See main article: List of Lord Mayors of London.