Charters, Ordinances and Grants of Arms
The new Charter
Cover: Detail of gilding on the Royal Coat of Arms on the new Charter
This booklet contains a copy of the Supplemental Charter which became effective on 15th June 2015 and substantially superseded all previous Charters (except for the Company’s 1528 date of incorporation, its seal, perpetual succession and the right to do anything a body corporate can do). It is thus the sole Charter governing the affairs of the Company, and addresses our future whilst affirming our past.
The booklet also includes the Ordinances, or rules and regulations, approved by the Court of Aldermen of the City of London on 24th August 2014, and details of our Grants of Arms.
It provides some background on Royal Charters, the rationale for updating our governing documents, and information on the design of the handwritten Charter.
The exercise of updating the documents has been an extensive one, and the Court is grateful for the efforts of Peter Langley, Assistant, and the Archivist, Jessica Collins, together with our legal advisers, Farrer & Co, in undertaking it.
The objective was that the new Charter and Ordinances should be sufficiently high level that neither would require to be updated in the future.
This objective has been met, and I am also delighted that the new Charter, along with its predecessors, is itself a wonderful heirloom for the Company to treasure.
I give due recognition to Andrew Blessley in initiating and leading this important initiative, bringing it to a successful conclusion during my Master’s year as the final achievement of his own illustrious 14 years as Clerk to the Company.
Michael Howell Master 2014-15
Royal Charters
Background
The term ‘charter’ comes from the Latin charta, meaning a leaf of papyrus, and is the generic term for a formal grant of rights or power to an individual or body corporate. They are intended to be perpetual grants and as such letters patent, a particular type of charter, are sealed open for all to see and read.
The grant of a Charter is an exercise of the Royal Prerogative, which in practice is exercised on the advice of Ministers. The government office that handles this business is the Privy Council Office, part of the Ministry of Justice.
The Privy Council’s formal decisions are taken by The Queen-in-Council and it meets regularly throughout the year to transact its business. The Queen presides and several Ministers who are Privy Councillors attend. The Privy Council is in fact a body of several hundred members, mostly senior politicians, judges and archbishops, but is convened as a full body only on a royal accession.
A Charter not only incorporates the body for legal purposes but sets out its purposes, objectives and powers, and describes its system of governance. A Charter has the force of law, but must be consistent with legislation, which is a superior form of law and in the event of any conflict will therefore be invalid.
Since the early seventeenth century, the courts have upheld consistently the principle that a Royal Charter body possesses all the powers of a natural person, subject to any restrictions imposed by the general law or by the Charter itself.
This means that the Company has powers to do any lawful thing which an individual could do, provided that there is nothing in its Charter which prohibits it from doing so.
Formula and Style of Charters
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The British monarchy has issued in excess of 900 Charters since the thirteenth century, and of this number some 750 are still in existence.
The British monarchy has issued in excess of 900 Charters since the thirteenth century, and of this number some 750 are still in existence. They follow a standard formula unchanged through the centuries. They are written in the first person, using the royal ‘We’ throughout. Each opens with the name of the monarch followed by his or her titles. After the greeting or Salutation (To all whom the present letters shall come, Greeting!), the opening section recites details of previous Charters before setting out the operative clauses of the new grant. The final section is known as the Attestation (In Witness whereof we have caused these Our Letters to be made Patent) followed by the date the Charter was witnessed at Westminster.
Royal Charters are sealed with the Great Seal of the Realm only, and do not bear the monarch’s handwritten signature. Royal authority must already have been given for issuing the letters patent by signed warrant – hence the inclusion of the final phrase ‘By warrant under The Queen’s Sign Manual’. Only letters patent granting Royal Assent to bills passed by Parliament or instruments of consent relating to royal marriages bear a king or queen’s personal signature.
Historically, Charters were issued by the Royal Chancery, and the style of handwriting employed on these documents was specifically taught to the royal clerks. The more elaborate the penmanship or decoration, the more expensive the Charter would have been to procure. As such the Foundation Charters of both the Fullers and the Shearmen are simpler than their successors, with the only decorative embellishments in the form of extended ascenders on the top line.
The Clothworkers’ Foundation Charter, granted by King Henry VIII in 1528 is more elaborate in style, with a portrait of the monarch within the first letter ‘H’ for Henricus and a detailed decorative border with his royal symbols – the Tudor rose (for England), the pomegranate (symbolising his marriage to Katherine of Aragon) and the fleur-de-lys (for France).
Successive Charters obtained by the Company after 1528 are all similar in style – with decorative borders and a depiction of the monarch enthroned in the first letter; however, none were illuminated in colour or with any form of gilding. The exceptions are our Grants of Arms of 1530 and 1587 – the former with particularly splendid coloured decoration – and later Ordinances of 1587 and 1639 with detailed coloured and gilded borders and lettering.
Example of extended ascenders in an early Clothworker Charter
Detail of the 1639 Ordinances
Detail of the initial H in the Clothworkers' 1528 Charter
“The Company’s original Charter was granted by Henry VIII in 1528
Supplemental Charter 2015
The 2015 Supplemental Charter is the ninth Charter of The Clothworkers’ Company (‘the Company’).
The Company was formed in 1528 through the merger of two guilds in the City of London, the Fullers and the Shearmen. These two Companies’ founding Charters were granted by Edward IV in 1480 and by Henry VII in 1508 respectively.
The Company’s original Charter was granted by Henry VIII in 1528. Subsequent Charters were granted by Philip and Mary in 1558, Elizabeth I in 1560, Charles I in 1633, Charles II in 1685, James II in 1687 and 1688, and George VI in 1947.
Many of the provisions in these Charters had no operative effect and in many cases had been superseded by the general law that has overridden provisions in the earlier Charters.
Accordingly, the Court of the Company determined that it would be advantageous to seek a Supplemental Charter that superseded the earlier Charters save for the provisions concerning the incorporation of the Company, its perpetual succession and common seal as set out in the Foundation Charter of 1528. All other provisions of the 1528 Charter and all the subsequent Charters would be revoked.
Such a Supplemental Charter would modernise the constitution of the Company and resolve any uncertainties in interpreting earlier Charters that were in Latin and included provisions that had no operative effect.
As a result, following a meeting of the Commonalty (or membership) of the Company on 24th June 2014 to approve submission, a Petition was submitted to the Privy Council for a Supplemental Charter with the following three objectives:
1. It would draw together into a single document, in modern language, the bulk of the extant provisions governing the Company;
2. In addition to existing operative provisions, the new Charter would incorporate provisions as to the management and governance of the Company hitherto set out in the Ordinances, but which would be more appropriately contained in the Charter (in particular, the composition of the Company and its Court of Assistants);
3. It would contain in short form such additional provisions as are necessary to the efficient administration and governance of a sizeable membership organisation, including a power to amend the provisions of the new Charter.
The Court of Aldermen provided the required confirmation of support for the Petition, and at a meeting of the Privy Council on 16th July 2014, Her Majesty the Queen approved an Order referring the Petition and Supplemental Charter to committee for formal consideration and report.
Notice was placed in the London Gazette (with no responses received) and, having been cleared by the Privy Council Advisers, the Petition was passed to the Attorney General who placed it before a meeting of the Privy Council on 8th October 2014, when Her Majesty the Queen approved an Order granting a Supplemental Charter to the Company.
Although not required, the Company wished to have a handwritten copy of the Charter on vellum which would be sealed by the Crown Office at the House of Lords. It would only be at that point that the terms of the Supplemental Charter would come into legal effect.
The Great Seal was affixed on 15th June 2015, and the new Charter thus came into effect on this date. It was formally unveiled at a ceremony for the Installation Court on 15th July 2015.
Portrait of The Queen in the Clothworkers’ Elizabethan Charter
“Noad was able to successfully incorporate our requirements into his design, and yet draw his own inspiration from the commission.
Design of the New Charter
In keeping with custom, the Company wished to continue its tradition of commissioning a new handwritten Charter on vellum. We wanted the new Charter to be modern and colourful in design yet sympathetic in style to its predecessors, with which it will stand. It was also important that the Charter be both decorative and functional: a particular requirement was that the entire text, some 1200 words, be legible and recorded and displayed on a single sheet of vellum.
Following discussions with the College of Arms, the renowned calligrapher and illuminator Timothy Noad was selected to design and execute our new Charter. Noad has previously designed Royal Charters for The Drapers’ Company and Marylebone Cricket Club and undertaken commissions for the Royal Household.
A brief was put together with ideas for the design and several meetings were held with Noad and William Hunt, the Windsor Herald at the College of Arms, where Noad is employed as a Herald Painter.
Noad was able to successfully incorporate our requirements into his design, and yet draw his own inspiration from the commission: the idea of incorporating illustrations of the different plants used in clothmaking in the Charter’s borders for example was his.
Timothy Noad
The illumination was completed in May 2015 whereupon the Charter was taken to the Palace of Westminster for sealing. After application of the Great Seal, Noad attended the Crown Office to date the Letters Patent, on the 15th June 2015, on which date the Charter became officially operative.
Progress of gilding on the initial letter E
Measuring approximately 636 x 564mm unframed, the Company’s new Royal Charter is a beautiful addition to an important series of hand-scrivened and decorated governing documents comprising Charters, Ordinances and Grants of Arms spanning the period 1480 to the present day. Painted in gouache on calfskin vellum, it is our first Charter to employ coloured decoration and gilding – in the form of gold leaf on gesso for raised and burnished areas such as the initial E, other letters in the heading and the royal crowns, for example, and also powdered gold for the bodies of the rams, griffins and lion.
In a break with the past, we chose not to include a portrait of the monarch within the capital E, instead using a simpler, cleaner capital E decorated with the Royal helm and crest. The Royal Coat of Arms can however be seen in the top centre of the document. Both the top and left and right hand borders comprise spiralling pieces of cloth in the Company’s heraldic colours – black and gold, bearing the Company’s motto – My Trust is in God Alone.
The left hand border incorporates illustrations of the plants used in clothmaking in its wider sense (the Clothworkers traditionally finished woven woollen cloths and fustians only), including a mulberry tree with silk worm and moth, flax and cotton. Also included is a clever representation of the chemical structure of nylon – a more modern fabric but appropriately included in consideration of the Company’s wider support of textile technology, manufacturing in the UK and the nation’s textile heritage.
The same pattern is repeated on the facing border, but in the reverse direction.
Detail of side border
The top border comprises a Tudor rose and heraldic thistle and shamrock and other heraldic motifs including teasels and habicks (the tools of the Company’s root craft, clothworking – the finishing of woven woollen cloth), and carnations and strawberries, the latter two being symbols of the Company’s patron, the Blessed Virgin Mary – in reference to the design of our 1639 Ordinances. Other symbols successfully incorporated include a stylised version of a ram’s horn, the logo of The Clothworkers’ Foundation, our charitable arm, and two small moths, moths perhaps the Company’s greatest benefactor.
Beneath the main body of text, the Charter bears the name Brennan for Dame Ursula Brennan DCB, Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, and head of the Crown Office charged with the safekeeping of the Great Seal of the Realm.
The Great Seal, cast in red wax, shows Queen Elizabeth II seated, crowned and carrying the orb and sceptre, symbols of her sovereignty.
Detail of top border
The Great Seal
Supplemental Charter of
The Master Wardens and Commonalty of Freemen of the Art or Mystery of Clothworkers of the City of London
15 June 2015
ELIZABETH THE SECOND BY GRACE OF GOD Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Our other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith
TO ALL TO WHOM THE PRESENT LETTERS SHALL COME GREETING!
WHEREAS the Master Wardens and Commonalty of Freemen of the Art or Mystery of Clothworkers of the City of London, commonly known as the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers (hereinafter “the Company”), were incorporated with the name of the Guild or Fraternity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Clothworkers in the City of London by Letters Patent under the Great Seal from His Majesty King Henry the Eighth in the nineteenth year of His Reign;
AND WHEREAS a further Charter in the form of an Inspeximus was granted by Their Majesties King Philip and Queen Mary in the fourth and fifth year of Their Reign;
AND WHEREAS a further Charter in the form of an Inspeximus was granted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the First in the second year of Her Reign;
AND WHEREAS a further Charter was granted under the Great Seal of His Majesty King Charles the First in the ninth year of His Reign;
AND WHEREAS these Charters were superseded by a Charter under the Great Seal of His Majesty King Charles the Second in the thirty-seventh year of His Reign, following judgement of the Court of King’s Bench in the case of The King v The Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London in the thirty-fifth year of His Reign and reported at 2 Show KB 263 and 89 English Reports 930;
AND WHEREAS further Charters were granted by His Majesty King James the Second in the third and fourth years of His Reign;
AND WHEREAS by the statute of 2 William & Mary chapter VIII entitled “An Act for reversing the judgement in a Quo Warranto against the City of London, and for restoring the City of London to its ancient rights and privileges”, the judgement in the aforementioned case was reversed and by Section XIV of the said Act all those Charters granted after the said judgement was given were declared null and void and the earlier Charters of the Company restored;
AND WHEREAS a Supplemental Charter was granted by His Majesty King George the Sixth in the eleventh year of His Reign;
AND WHEREAS the Company has by its Petition most humbly represented unto Us that it is expedient that a new Supplemental Charter is granted,
and has therefore most humbly prayed that We would be graciously pleased to grant it a Supplemental Charter;
AND WHEREAS We have taken the said Petition into Our Royal consideration and We are minded to accede thereto:
NOW THEREFORE KNOW YE that We by virtue of Our Royal Prerogative and of Our especial grace, certain knowledge and mere motion, have granted, ordained and declared and do by these Presents for Us, Our Heirs and Successors, grant ordain and declare as follows:
1. Previous Charters of The Company
Save only in respect of that part of the Charter of 1528 which incorporated the Company and conferred upon it perpetual succession and a Common Seal and power to sue and be sued and to do all such other things as are ancillary to a body corporate, the said Charter of 1528 and all subsequent Charters of the Company shall be and are hereby revoked and the provisions hereinafter contained shall be substituted therefor, but nothing in this revocation shall affect the legality or validity of any act, deed or thing lawfully done or executed under the provisions of the said Charters.
The Company created by the Charter of 1528 shall continue to be known as: The Master Wardens and Commonalty of Freemen of the Art or Mystery of Clothworkers of the City of London and for all purposes, including in legal and formal documents, the Company may be named and referred to by the aforementioned name, or “The Worshipful Company of Clothworkers” or “The Clothworkers’ Company”.
3.Members
3.1The Company shall consist of a Master, Wardens, Assistants, Liverymen and Freemen, who together comprise the Members or Commonalty of the Company.
3.2The Court shall have the power to admit new Members to the Freedom of the Company or to the Livery of the Company, to call and hold meetings of the Members or any class of Members, and otherwise to regulate Membership in accordance with this Our Charter and the Ordinances and Standing Orders made by the Court hereunder.
4.The Court
4.1The government of the Company shall be vested in the Court, which shall comprise the Master, Wardens and Assistants.
4.1The Court may elect from among its members from time to time a Master and Wardens.
4.1Assistants shall be elected by the Court from among the Livery.
5.Powers
The Court may exercise all the powers of the Company and may from time to time make, alter or revoke such Ordinances, Standing Orders and regulations as it thinks fit for the due governance, management and administration of the Company, including (but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing) for:
a. The conduct of elections;
b. The delegation of powers to Members or any of them and to third parties; and
c. The appointment of officers of the Company, provided always that such Ordinances, Standing Orders and regulations shall not be contrary to the Laws and Liberties of England or of the City of London.
6.Amendments To The Charter
The Court may by a resolution passed at any meeting by not less than twothirds of its members present and voting (being an absolute majority of the whole number of members of the Court eligible to vote), and confirmed by the Court in like fashion at a subsequent meeting held at least one month later but not more than six months later, alter amend or add to this Our Supplemental Charter and such alterations, amendments or additions shall when allowed by Us, Our Heirs or Successors in Council become effectual so that this Our Supplemental Charter shall thenceforward continue and operate as amended or added to.
AND WE DO for Us, Our Heirs and Successors grant and declare that this Our Supplemental Charter or the enrolment thereof shall be in all things valid and effectual in law according to the true intent and meaning thereof and shall be taken, construed and adjudged in the most favourable and beneficial sense for the best advantage of the said Company as well in Our Courts of Record as elsewhere by all Judges, Justices, Officers, Ministers and other Subjects whatsoever of Us, Our Heirs and Successors and non-recital, mis-recital or other omission, defect or thing to the contrary notwithstanding.
IN WITNESS whereof We have caused these Our Letters to be made Patent.
Ordinances
Ordinances are similar to the rules and regulations which may be adopted under a registered company’s Articles of Association.
“Accordingly, in March 2014 the Court approved a set of simplified, more high level, Ordinances, couched in plain language
Under the Company’s Charters, it has had the power to “ordain and devise divers Articles Acts and Ordinances for the better rule order and government of the Company”.
The Company’s first Ordinances were introduced in 1532, with subsequent revisions in 1587, 1639 and 1984. The 1984 Ordinances were introduced to make the provisions consistent with modern law and practice.
They were approved by the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and the Lord Chief Justice of England, together with two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury, as required by the Ordinances of Corporations Act 1503.
The 1984 Ordinances contained a lot of detail which would be more appropriately included in the Company’s Standing Orders, which are within the control of the Court.
Accordingly, in March 2014 the Court approved a set of simplified, more high level, Ordinances, couched in plain language, together with revised Standing Orders, which include detailed provisions on how the Company is run.
These were approved at a meeting of the Commonalty on 24th June 2014.
Following the repeal of the 1503 Ordinances of Corporations Act, approval from the Lord Chief Justice is no longer required. However, the Court of Aldermen do claim a jurisdiction (“customary oversight” of Livery Companies contained in the City Corporations 1505 Charter).
As a result, the Ordinances were put to the Court of Aldermen who duly provided their approval on 24th August 2014, as evidenced by a letter from the Chamberlain’s Court.
Detail of More’s signature in the 1532 Ordinances
Ordinances of The Clothworkers’ Company of The City Of London
Preamble
A.The Clothworkers’ Company (hereafter referred to as “the Company”) is known formally as ‘The Master Wardens and Commonalty of Freemen of the Art or Mystery of Clothworkers of the City of London’
B.The Company was formed by the merger of the Wardens and Commonalty of Freemen of the Mystery or Craft of Fullers of the City of London and the Master and Wardens of the Fraternity of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of Shearmen of the City of London by a Royal Charter dated 18th January 1528 with the name of ‘The Guild or Fraternity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Clothworkers in the City of London’
C. The 1528 Charter has been amended, extended or otherwise varied by a number of subsequent Royal Charters granted to the Company (all such Charters including the 1528 Charter being hereinafter referred to as “the Charters”)
D.The Charters give the Company the power to ordain and devise Ordinances for the better rule, order and government of the Company
E.The Company has had a number of sets of Ordinances, the most recent, replacing previous ones, having been approved on 24th July 1984 by The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, the Lord Chief Justice of England and two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury pursuant to the Ordinances of Corporations Act 1503
F.The Court of the Company is of the opinion that it would be beneficial to the administration of the affairs of the Company if the 1984 Ordinances were to be replaced by new ordinances couched in clearer language and limited to matters of principle relating to governance and structure with matters of detailed management and administration being dealt with in the Company’s Standing Orders (“Standing Orders”)
Details of flowers featured in the borders of the new Charter
G.A meeting of the Company, summoned in proper form, was held at Clothworkers’ Hall on 24th June 2014 in conformity with the Charters for the purpose of adopting the new ordinances in the form set out below (“the New Ordinances”)
H.The Ordinances of Corporations Act 1503 was repealed in 1993, and it was resolved at the meeting that application should be made to the Court of Aldermen of the City of London for approval of the New Ordinances and that, following such approval, the New Ordinances should be adopted as the Ordinances of the Company in substitution for all previous Ordinances of the Company from the date that the Master and at least two Wardens shall certify in writing
I.The Court of Aldermen gave its approval to the New Ordinances on 27th August 2014
The New Ordinances are as follows:
1.The Company shall consist of a Master, Wardens, Assistants, Liverymen and Freemen (“the Members”)
2.The affairs of the Company shall be directed and administered by a Court comprising the Master, Wardens and such number of Assistants as it deems appropriate to manage the affairs of the Company (“the Court”)
3.The Court will elect from its members such number of Wardens as it deems necessary
4.The Master, Wardens and any new Assistants shall be elected each year at the Election Court Meeting to be held on a date determined by the Court or, if required, on such other date or dates during the year as may be agreed by the Court
The 1587 Ordinances
5.The Master and Wardens and any new Assistants so elected shall take office at the Installation Court Meeting to be held on a suitable date following the Election Court Meeting as determined by the Court or on such other date or dates as may be agreed by the Court
6.Candidates for the office of Master must have served as Warden unless specifically agreed by the Court
7.If a Master or Warden dies or for any reason is unable to continue to serve, or in the opinion of the Court is unable or unfitted to perform his duties, the Court will appoint or elect an Assistant to take over the office as required
8.A Master may not serve twice unless specifically agreed by the Court, but for this purpose any service under the provisions of Ordinance 7 shall not be deemed to be service as Master
9.Before taking up their offices, the Master and Wardens shall make such Declarations before the Court as the Court may from time to time prescribe
10.Before taking his place in the Court, each Assistant shall make such Declarations before the Court as the Court may from time to time prescribe
11.Assistants will be elected to and serve on the Court for such period as the Court may from time to time determine is in the best interests of the Company
12.Any Master or Warden on leaving that office shall continue to be a member of the Court as an Assistant
13.The Court may elect to the Livery of the Company such and so many Freemen of the Company as it may from time to time deem appropriate
14.The Freedom of the Company shall be by way of Patrimony, Patrimonial Redemption, Redemption, Presentation, Courtesy or such other means as the Court deems appropriate
14.Each Member shall be required to pay to the Company such fee, subscription, contribution or other sum as the Court shall determine from time to time; and the Company shall be entitled to recover any such amount due as if it were a civil debt
16.Every person being admitted to the Company (other than by Presentation or Courtesy) shall make such Declaration as the Court may from time to time prescribe before the Court or the Master and Wardens or such other body of Assistants as may be prescribed by the Court
17.The Court may from time to time lay down standards of behaviour, conduct and circumstance which, if not met, may result in disciplinary action being taken against individual Members under Standing Orders
18.The Court shall ensure, so far as is possible and practicable, that a suitably qualified individual is appointed at all times to serve as Clerk to the Company, to be supported by such officers and staff as the Court may determine from time to time
19.Before taking up his duties, the Clerk shall make such Declarations before the Court as the Court may from time to time prescribe
20.The Court shall have the power from time to time to make, vary and replace regulations under Standing Orders for the detailed management and administration of the Company, its membership and its affairs provided that the same do not conflict with the Charters or these Ordinances
21.The Company’s accounts will be subject to annual audit and report by qualified accountants
22.In these Ordinances the masculine includes the feminine and singular includes plural
23.These Ordinances shall be and remain the sole and only Ordinances of the Company until they are lawfully replaced or altered
We certify that, as of 27th August 2014, these Ordinances have been adopted as the Ordinances of the Company in substitution for all previous Ordinances of the Company
Michael William Davis Howell Master
Melville Ellis Vernon Haggard First Warden
Michael William Jarvis Second Warden
Detail of the Royal Coat of Arms on the new Charter
Grants of Arms
Arms and crests, badges and supporters, are granted by letters patent issued by the most senior heralds, the Kings of Arms. They act according to powers delegated to them by the Crown and all grants are therefore made under Crown authority.
The Clothworkers’ arms were granted in 1530 by Thomas Benolt, Clarenceux King of Arms, two years after the foundation of the Company. They may be described as follows: sable a chevron ermine in chief two havettes argent and in base a teasel cob or –a black shield with an ermine fur chevron between two silver habicks above and a golden teasel head beneath.
The surviving Grant contains a beautiful representation of the Company’s arms (ie its shield alone) illuminated in a floral border comprising red, white and Tudor roses. The edges of the parchment contain a number of punch holes where it is believed to have been attached to a wooden mount for display in centuries past.
The 1530 Grant of Arms
The Company’s crest and supporters were granted in 1587 by Robert Cooke, also Clarenceux King of Arms, whose red seal appends the letters patent. They comprise: crest –on a wreath argent and sable a mount vert, thereon a ram stantant or; mantling –sable doubled argent; supporters – on either side a griffin or pellet. In layman’s terms –the shield is surmounted by a helmet topped with a golden ram standing on a green hillock with a base of black and silver and draped with black mantling lined with silver. It is supported on either side by golden griffins with spots.
The golden ram echoes the ideas of sheep supplying wool thus considered the ultimate source of the Company’s wealth, the Golden Fleece of Greek mythology and perhaps a mild pun on the word ‘ram’ and the French word ‘rame’, meaning a clothworker’s tenter frame. The griffins, half eagle and half lion, are associated with the guardianship of treasure and the enactment of good deeds, appropriate heraldic symbols for the Company to the modern day.
“The golden ram [is] perhaps a mild pun on the word ‘ram’ and the French word ‘rame’, meaning a clothworker’s tenter frame.
Detail from the 1587 Grant of Arms and Supporters
The Clothworkers’ Company
Clothworkers’ Hall Dunster Court
Mincing Lane
London EC3R 7AH
Telephone 020 7623 7041 enquiries@clothworkers.co.uk www.clothworkers.co.uk
Design by Chris Monk www.yellowduck.net
Printing by Trident Printing www.tridentprinting.co.uk
Photography Richard Valencia and Timothy Noad
