Origin of Livery Companies
The Livery Companies of the City of London can trace unbroken descent from medieval Trade Guilds.
Guilds protected consumers and employers against incompetence or fraud, by training sufficient apprentices to provide an adequate supply of skilled craftsmen selling goods of true quality and weight. They helped workers by preventing unlimited competition and ensuring reasonable wages and conditions. They searched out inferior work and punished the offenders. They settled internal disputes by arbitration. Members paid contributions whilst working, then received relief when ill or infirm and had their burial expenses paid.
There was a strong religious element in the Guilds, each adopting a patron saint and being attached to a local monastery or church. On special occasions, the members wore distinctive costumes, or liveries and thus the Guilds became known as 'Livery Companies'.
Many Companies regulated branches of the cloth industry: the Woolmen, Weavers, Fullers, Shearmen, Dyers, Haberdashers, Drapers, and Merchant Taylors. This reflects the importance of wool and the cloth trade to the medieval economy. These Guilds wielded great power and it was inevitable that rivalry should develop as they struggled to preserve their individual rights.
1480 - 1527 >>