The Leathersellers Co

General information

The Leathersellers' Company's orgins, like those of many other Livery Companies, lie in the middle ages when guilds gradually emerged to support and protect those engaged in particular crafts and trades.

The Leathersellers' Company is thought to have its origins amongst the whittawyers (makers of fine white leather) and pouchmakers who congregated along London Wall in the early thirteenth century. The English word 'letherseller' is first found to describe the occupations of John and Roger Pointel in 1297, but the earliest official documentary use of 'leathersellers' for a group of London craftsmen comes in 1372, when members of the mistery or craft of Leathersellers and Pursers complained to the mayor and aldermen about the Dyers who had been dyeing sheep leather to pass it off as the the more durable and expensive roe leather. In 1398, during the first mayoralty of Richard Whittington, the Leathersellers applied for articles for the regulation of their craft and the prevention and punishment of dishonest practices in their trade. This resulted in "ordinances" or bye-laws, in which the Leathersellers laid claim to the right to inspect all leather goods and hides sold in the City of London. By 1444 the Leathersellers were sufficiently organised and powerful to apply to Henry VI for a charter of incorporation.

The first Royal Charter of 1444 established the government of the Company by four Wardens, confirmed and extended the Company's right to inspect leather, and granted the right to meet, to wear a livery and to hold land. Shortly after incorporation, a group of trustees acting for the Company purchased five tenements on the south side of London Wall near Moorgate, and from around 1476 the Leathersellers used the upper floor of one of the houses as a Hall. Contemporary descriptions show that it was well furnished, with tapestries depicting the life of the Virgin Mary lining the walls and a large window overlooking the garden to the rear. The other properties were let out, and part of the revenue distributed amongst poor prisoners for debt in accordance with the will of Robert Ferbras, an early benefactor who had helped with the purchase of the Hall.

One of the 17th century 'garlands' still used to crown the heads of the Master and Wardens at the annual Confirmation Court. These hats of purple velvet, decorated with silver gilt representations of animals used in the leather trade, are recorded as having been used to crown the new Master and Wardens from 1487 on. New ones were presented in 1540 and in 1638 those were replaced with the ones currently in use.