Company Treasures

Iron, English, probably c1580-1600, incorporating a mechanical spring lock covering the entire underside of the lid,  which it fastens on three sides with ten bolts. On the front is fastened a cast iron plate with the Shipwrights’ Arms embossed on it, flanked by the City arms and by a wreath, and the words:

 1380  SHIPWRIGHTS  1780

 ROBERT WELLS

WARDENS

 FRAN. WHETSTONE

In 1685 the Company “received of Mr. William Bringhurst the sum of ten shillings by him freely given towards buying the iron chest for the use of the Company”. For the next two centuries the chest was used for storing the Company’s books and treasures. It was  kept at Guildhall, the two keys being held by the two current wardens. Then a century ago, when T.D. Sewell,  Deputy Town Clerk, became Clerk to the Company with proper office and storage facilities, the chest became redundant. It was deposited on loan in the Guildhall Library in 1876, and eventually moved to theMuseumof London, and later to the Museum in Docklands where today it is on display.

(001/1685)

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For the next two centuries, the chest was used for storing the Company’s books and treasures. It was kept at Guildhall, the two keys being held by the two current wardens. Then a century ago, when T.D. Sewell, Deputy Town Clerk, became Clerk to the Company, with proper office and storage facilities, the chest became redundant. It was deposited on loan in the Guildhall Library, and eventually transferred to theMuseumofLondon, where today it may be seen on request.

 From inventories of Company property handed by the outgoing to the incoming wardens in February each alternate year, it is clear that the Company had no other possessions which it considered worth recording. The Clerk and the Beadle are known to have been supplied with gowns for centuries past – the latter’s, as today, a distinctive garment accompanied by a staff of office and a hat, since he was the only representative of the Company frequently visible about the City. The staff was a simple wand until 1702, when the Company “paid for silver head for the Beadle’s staff and engraving it and expenses about the same: £9:15:7.” This is item 003/1702 in the main list, and was in use until replaced by a more elaborate version in 1876 (item 021/1879). It is now mounted on a mahogany plinth, and placed in front of the Prime Warden at Company dinners. This appears to have been the first time that the Company of Free Shipwrights of London used the arms of the Company of Shipwrights of Redriff,  then only recently defunct after a century of litigation between the two.

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