The Guild of Freemen of the City of London

www.guild-freemen-london.co.uk

The Freedom of the City of London was, in earliest times, an essential prerequisite for all who wished to carry on business and prosper in trade within the Square Mile. The privileges attaching to the Freedom were therefore eagerly sought, while the duties and obligations of Freemen were faithfully observed.

Not only did citizens practising specific crafts and trades tend to gather together in their own areas of the City, but they developed their own Guilds and Livery Companies, founded on the triple bases of commerce, benevolence and religion. They provided mutual aid and protection for their members. They ensured qualitative standards that enhanced their own reputations and protected the interests of their customers.

The involvement of Freemen in the development of London’s government can be traced back to the Saxon folkmoot and to the ‘great concourse’ of the early Norman kings. As London grew, its population, trade and craft industries expanded to such an extent that it was no longer possible for all Freemen to be directly involved in determining the evolving structure of local government.

The direct involvement of Freemen in the government of London thus gave way to indirect involvement through the Masters and Wardens of their Guilds and Livery Companies. It remains necessary to this day for Liverymen to be Freemen of the City and it is the Liverymen who contribute annually to the election of the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs.

The proud history of the City of London is such that many men and women rightly continue to regard it as a privilege to be admitted to the Freedom; further, the charitable activities of Freemen have been maintained in many different ways by a great variety of City institutions.

Amid all the processes of change during the 19th Century, it became possible for persons to apply for the Freedom of the City without having to be Liverymen. This development led, in 1908, to the formation of the Guild of Freemen. Over the years since then, a large number of Liverymen have also chosen to join the Guild, so that today it is uniquely representative of all who enjoy the Freedom of the City and wish to come together for the purpose of Charity, Benevolence, Education and Social Activities.

The Freedom has never been the prerogative of men alone. A Royal Commission was set up in 1880, known as the London Livery Companies Commission. Its Report referred to the fact that nearly all the ancient returns of the Livery Companies bore references to Sisters, from which it inferred that women were as eligible for membership as men. Men and women alike are eligible to apply for membership of the Guild of Freemen.

True to the earliest traditions associated with the Freedom, the Guild maintains a strong commitment to benevolence and charitable activities. The Guild’s Trustees provide support to members in distressed circumstances, as well as to the widows and children of deceased members; they make awards to other charities, particularly those operating in the London area; and they provide awards or bursaries to help children in difficult circumstances receive a sound education in schools supported by the Corporation of London.

It has become a happy tradition that The Lord Mayor honours the Guild by becoming its Patron during his year of office, and that the Dean of St Paul’s serves as its Honorary Chaplain. One of the major events of the Guild’s social year is this Banquet, which the Guild is privileged to hold at Guildhall annually, just before Christmas.

GUILDHALL

Centre of civic government for more than 1000 years, Guildhall has been the scene of far more than elections and civic activity. It has witnessed the trials of traitors, remonstrances to kings and parliaments, clamours for reform, brilliant receptions for Emperors, Presidents and Royal Personages, Lord Mayors’ banquets, international gatherings and the conferment of the Freedom of the City on statesmen, heroes and patriots.

In the City of London local government developed from the ancient Court of Husting to the modern Common Council, and the pattern of municipal government at Guildhall has served as a model upon which the civic administration of many cities and towns has been based. The first mayor was installed here in 1192 and the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs are still elected and admitted to office each year within its walls. The foundation of the present Guildhall, as seen in the crypt, was begun about the year 1411 and was completed by 1440.

In 1666 and again in 1940 major fires devastated large areas of the City, but the crypt, porch and mediaeval walls of Guildhall emerged from the flames on both occasions without irreparable damage. The roof has twice collapsed, a mass of burning timber, on to the floor beneath. In 1940 the fire damaged walls, monuments, windows and galleries and Gog and Magog were destroyed, but the Guildhall, protected from the weather by a temporary roof, continued to be the centre of civic activity. Since the destruction of the council chamber in 1940, the Court of Common Council has held its fortnightly meetings in Guildhall, the original meeting place of the early administrative assemblies of citizens.

Restoration of Guildhall was completed in 1954, to the design of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. Then, by 1972, the west end was re-modelled and the west crypt restored.

The present roof of oak panelling between stone arches is the fifth to rest upon the mediaeval walls. The introduction of stone arches made it possible for clerestory windows to be included, allowing the full character and new design of the oak roof and the coloured shields of the Livery Companies of the City of London to be seen clearly.

Further development of Guildhall took place in the 1990s, and a major refurbishment programme, which is estimated to last over two years, is now in progress.

Known in Elizabethan times as Gog and Magog and Conneaus, legend has it that Gog and Magog (seen at either end of the gallery) represent the conflict between the ancient inhabitants of Britain and the Trojan invaders, a conflict resulting in the founding, 1000 years before the Christian era, of Albion’s captial city New Troy, upon which site London is said to stand. The giants were eventually set up in Guildhall in 1708. Before that time, especially in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, their predecessors were paraded through London in the mid-summer pageants.

The new giants, the gift of Alderman Sir George Wilkinson, Bt., KCVO (Lord Mayor 1940-41), replaced their predecessors, which had been destroyed in 1940. The figures, carved in limewood by David Evans, FRBS, stand nine feet three inches in height, Gog to the north and Magog to the south.