 Haberdashers' arms: Barry nebuly of six Argent and Azure on a Bend Gules a Lion passant guardant Or | |
| Motto | "Serve and Obey" |
|---|---|
| Location | Haberdashers' Hall, London EC1 |
| Date of formation | 1448 |
| Company association | Silk and velvet trade |
| Order of precedence | 8th |
| Master of company | Rupert Elliott |
| Website | haberdashers |
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. [1]
The company was originally responsible for the regulation of silk and velvet merchants then hatmakers, [2] 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. [3]
The company is sole trustee of two major educational charities: Haberdashers' Aske's Charity [4] and the William Jones's Schools Foundation. [5]
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; [6] 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. [7]
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, [8] and the Revd Marcus Walker serves as its Honorary Chaplain. [9]
Haberdashers' Boys' School, is a 4–18 boys public school in Elstree, Hertfordshire, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
Haberdashers' Adams Grammar School is a selective state grammar school for high-achieving boys and girls aged 11–18 with boarding for boys, located in Newport, Shropshire, offering day and boarding education. As of 2024, boarding fees are £14,553 per year for years 7-11 and £15,954 per year for Sixth Form. Haberdashers' Adams was founded in 1656 by William Adams, a wealthy member of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers. In January 2018, the school changed its name from Adams' Grammar School to Haberdashers' Adams. In July 2022, the school announced that it would become fully co-educational, starting from September 2024.
The Mercers' Company, or the Worshipful Company of Mercers, is a livery company of the City of London in the Great Twelve City Livery Companies, and ranks first in the order of precedence of the Companies.
Haberdashers' Girls' School is a private day school in Elstree, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as "Habs". The school was founded in 1875 by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies of the City of London.
Barnes Cray is an area in south-east London within the London Borough of Bexley. It is located on the Greater London border with Kent, bordering the Dartford Borough. It is located north west of Dartford.
Monmouth School for Boys was a public school for boys in Monmouth, Wales. The school was founded in 1614 with a bequest from William Jones, a successful merchant and trader. The school is run as a trust, the William Jones's Schools Foundation, by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, one of the livery companies, and has close links to its sister school, Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls. In 2018, the Haberdashers renamed their group of schools in the town, the Monmouth Schools, and made corresponding changes to the names of the boys' and girls' schools. Further changes were initiated in June 2022, when the Haberdashers opened a consultation on merging the school with the girls school in the town to create a fully coeducational establishment. In October 2024 the amalgamated schools were relaunched as Haberdashers' Monmouth School.
Haberdashers' Hatcham College is a state secondary school with academy status and a music specialism in New Cross, south-east London. The school was formerly a grammar school, then a comprehensive City Technology College and now an Academy operating between two sites near New Cross Gate.
Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls was an independent school in Monmouth, Wales. Established by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers in 1892, in June 2022 the Haberdashers began a consultation on proposals to merge the school with Monmouth School for Boys, making them fully coeducational. In October 2024 the amalgamated schools were relaunched as Haberdashers' Monmouth School.
Robert Aske was a 17th-century English philanthropist, merchant and haberdasher, who served as an Alderman of London.
Telegraph Hill is a largely residential conservation area bounded by Nunhead and Brockley and is an electoral ward just south of New Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham in southeast London, England.
West Monmouth School is a state-funded and non-selective secondary school in Pontypool, Torfaen, south Wales.
Haberdashers' Aske's School may refer to:
In the Middle Ages or 16th and 17th centuries, a cloth merchant was one who owned or ran a cloth manufacturing or wholesale import or export business. A cloth merchant might additionally own a number of draper's shops. Cloth was extremely expensive and cloth merchants were often very wealthy. A number of Europe's leading banking dynasties such as Medici and Berenberg built their original fortunes as cloth merchants.
Sir John Garrard, sometimes spelled Gerrard, was a merchant and alderman of the City of London, six times Master of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, a Buckinghamshire landowner, and Lord Mayor of London for the year 1601 to 1602.
William Jones was a London haberdasher, born in Newland, Gloucestershire, England. He is remembered for his bequests, which led to the establishment of schools in Monmouth and Pontypool, almshouses at Newland, and the so-called "Golden Lectureship" in London.
The Church of St John the Baptist, Hoxton, usually known as St John's Hoxton, is an Anglican parish church in the Hoxton area of Hackney, London N1.
The Monmouth Alms Houses of Monmouth, Wales are funded by the charity established by the haberdasher William Jones before his death in 1615. That charity also established schools in Monmouth and a lectureship in London. The Haberdashers' Company served as trustee of the charity from 1613 until 2011, when the trusteeship was transferred to Bristol Charities. A second charity established through a separate bequest by Jones enabled the building of the Newland Alms Houses in the Forest of Dean. The original Monmouth Alms Houses were constructed in 1614; they were rebuilt in 1842 and 1961. The fourth version of the Monmouth Alms Houses was completed in 2013 and is named 'Cwrt William Jones Almshouses' and is owned and managed by Bristol Charities under the name of 'William Jones Almshouse Charity'. The original alms houses were located on what is now known as Almshouse Street. The most recent houses are located off St James' Square.
Mary Ellen Bagnall-Oakeley (1833–1904) was an English antiquarian, author, and painter known for her work in Bristol and south-east Wales. She was a governor of the Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls.
Haberdashers' Crayford Academy is a mixed secondary school and sixth form with academy status sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers. It is located in the Crayford area of the London Borough of Bexley, England.
Sir John Reader Welch, 2nd Baronet was an English solicitor and baronet.
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