THE PLAISTERERS
By charter of 16 Henry VII., March 10, 1501, the King gave power to establish the Company as the Guild or Fraternity in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of men of the Mystery or Art of Pargettors in the City of London, commonly called Plaisterers, to be increased and augmented when necessary, and to be governed by a Master and two Wardens, to be elected annually. The said Master and Wardens and brotherhood were to be a body corporate, with perpetual succession and a common seal, and they were empowered to purchase and enjoy in fee and perpetuity lands and other possessions in the City, suburbs, and elsewhere. And the charter empowered the said Master and Wardens to sue and be sued as “The master and wardens of the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary of Pargettors, commonly called Plaisterers, London.”
The charter of Elizabeth, February 10, 1597, confirmed the privileges of the Company, and extended the authority of the Masters and Wardens to and over all persons exercising the Art of Plaisterers, as well English as aliens and denizens inhabiting and exercising the said art within the City and suburbs and liberties thereof, or within two miles of the said City.
The charter of 19 Charles II., June 19, 1679, confirmed the privileges granted by the previous charters, and having in view the rebuilding of the City, forbade any person to carry on simultaneously the trades of a mason, bricklayer, or plaisterer, and also forbade any person to exercise or carry on the Art of a Plaisterer without having been apprenticed seven years to the mystery. And the jurisdiction of the Company was extended to three miles’ distance from the City.
The present Livery consists of 52; they have a Corporate Income of £1062; a Trust Income of £33. In Stow’s time they had a Hall in Addle Street. This was burnt down in the Great Fire, rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren, and again burnt in 1882. Riley gives an agreement (Memorials, p. 125), dated 1317, between one Adam a Plastrer and Sir John de Bretagne, Earl of Richmond. The Fraternity probably existed at the same time.