In the seventeenth century, three instances occurred of noblemen who had joined the Company being elected and serving as Master. These were the Earl of Berkeley in 1685, the Earl of Monmouth (afterwards of Peterborough) in 1690, and the Earl of Romney in 1696. At the Election Court at the conclusion of the Earl of Monmouth’s Mastership (June 18th, 1691), it is recorded in the Minutes that “Ye Rt Honble ye Master appeared and tooke his place;” and after the elections were over it was ordered that a dinner should be given, on which £60 should be expended, “To wch the Rt Honble the Master declared hee would make the same up 100l. But the Cort considering his Lopps extraordinary bounty from time to time shewed to ye Company, wth great importunity prayed his Lopps excuse therein, letting his Honor know a Buck was ye usuall and only prsent made by ye Mastr on ye like occasion. Upon mo’con to know who should preach ye Elec’con Sermon, it was by the Rt Honble ye Mastr declared that he would appoint his owne Chaplaine to performe ye same.” In recent years it has become usual for each Master to leave with the Company some permanent record of his year of office, in the form of a piece of plate, but this is a purely voluntary act.
It is usual for the Master to officiate at public ceremonials—such as laying of foundation-stones, opening of new buildings, and the like, instead of inviting distinguished aliens to act; and a collection of the records of some of such occasions will be found in Appendix III.
It is also usual, in the event of a child being born to the Master during his year of office, for the four Wardens to stand godfathers to the child on behalf of the Company, and for a silver cradle or its equivalent to be presented by the Company to their godchild. It is an understood thing that the child, if a boy, shall be christened “Skinner,” and, if a girl, shall be christened “Pellipar,” or some variant of that name. Such occasions have of late years been far from frequent. In fact, there has been only one within the last quarter of a century, and that happened twenty years ago.
The Hall of the Company is situate in Dowgate Hill, facing the west side of Cannon Street Station, and having the Hall of the Tallow-Chandlers’ Company adjoining it on the north, and that of the Dyers’ Company on the south. In and prior to the fourteenth century, the buildings standing on the site were known as the Copped Hall, but since the fourteenth century the Copped Hall with certain shops adjoining, or the buildings which have replaced them from time to time, have formed the Hall of the Skinners’ Company. The earliest deed relating to the premises which is in the possession of the Company is a grant of the Copped Hall by Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, to Reginald de Thunderley, in December, 1295. The old Hall was consumed in the Great Fire of 1666, after which the present Hall was erected in its place.
One of the earliest members of the Company to arrive at distinction was Thomas Legge, who was Lord Mayor in 1347 and again in 1354, and was the ancestor of the Earls of Dartmouth. His was the age of the wars with France, and he contributed £300 to the expenses of the expeditionary forces. In 1364, the Skinners’ Company supplied a sum of £40 for the same purpose.
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the order of precedence of the Companies was not clearly defined, and struggles took place between them from time to time, in which one Company sought to establish its superiority over another. The Skinners, who always ranked high among the chief Companies, fell out with the Fishmongers over this matter in 1339, and fighting took place, which had to be put down by force.
But the chief of these disputes in which the Skinners were concerned took place at the beginning of the reign of Richard III, between the Skinners and the Merchant Taylors, which again caused fighting, and led to the question of precedence in processions between the two Companies being submitted to the arbitration of Lord Mayor Billesdon and the Aldermen of the City of London, by whose award, dated the 10th April, 1484—1 Ric. III—it was in effect decided that each Company should invite the Master and Wardens of the other to dine with them in their Common Hall once a year, and that the two Companies should take precedence in processions in alternate years, beginning at Easter. This order was only to be disturbed by the event of a member of either Company becoming Lord Mayor, in which case, according to old custom, the Lord Mayor’s Company was to take precedence of all others. The award will be found in Appendix I, together with a supplementary award of the 17th January, 1521—12 Hen. VIII—explaining that the original award was applicable on all occasions.
Lord Mayor Billesdon’s award, which forms the subject of the painting recently placed by the two Companies jointly in the Royal Exchange, has continued to be scrupulously observed down to the present time. The two Companies rank alternately sixth and seventh among the twelve great Companies of the City, and the Master and Wardens of each dine with the other once a year; the Skinners’ entertainment taking place in December, and that of the Merchant Taylors’ in June. The representatives of the visiting Company are received as the chief guests of the occasion, and after dinner the Master of the entertaining Company gives the time-honoured toast, which, when the entertainment is at Skinners’ Hall, is in the following terms:—“The Master and Wardens of the Worshipful Company of Skinners drink health and prosperity to the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors, also to the Worshipful Company of Skinners, Merchant Taylors and Skinners, Skinners and Merchant Taylors root and branch; may they continue and flourish for ever!” To which the Master of the Merchant Taylors’ Company responds in identical form, but transposing the names of the two Companies. When the entertainment is at Merchant Taylors’ Hall, the Master of that Company gives the toast on behalf of his Company, to which the Master of the Skinners’ Company responds.
In the year 1681, some little friction appears to have occurred with respect to the annual visit, as the Court Book for that year contains the following entry under date August 9th:—“Whereas, at a Court holden the 8th of June last, it was ordered that the Mastr and Wardens of the Merchant Taylors should be invited to dine with this Worpl Comp: on their Election Day, vizt, on the 15th of the said month, and whereas the Mastr and Wardens of the said Compa: were invited by the Wardens of this Worpl Comp: at Merchant Taylors schoole at the usuall time, and forasmuch as the Mastr and Wardens of the said Company of Merchant Taylors for severall reasons to their Court appearing did decline the said invitac’on and sent one of their Wardens to excuse their comeing; and since, vizt, on Monday, the 8th of August instant, one of their Wardens with some other p’sons in his Comp: made an invitac’on to the Mastr and Wardens of this Worpl Company to dine with their said Company, on Thursday, the 11th of this instant August. Now, this Court haveing had informac’on from the Mastr and Mr. Warden Key that such their invitac’on was not made by ordr of Court of Assistants of the said Company of Merchant Taylors, but only by one of their Wardens, with the consent and direction of the said Mastr and Wardens—This Court doth therefore desire Mastr and Wardens of this Company now p’sent to decline goeing to their said Dinner or to accept thereof in respect the said invitac’on was not made by ordr of their Court according to their usuall custome.”
In pre-Reformation times, an important feature in the conduct of the Company was the performance of obits and rendering of honour to departed members. The Renter Warden’s accounts, which have been preserved from 1491 downwards, contain numerous references to such matters. Thus, in 1535–6—