Shield of the Ironmongers’ Arms
This Indenture Witnesseth that Clement Aleyn, Sonn of Clement Aleyn, of Welton, in the County of Northampton, Gentleman, doth put himself Apprentice to Samuell Clerke, Citizen and Ironmonger of London, to learn his Art: and with him (after the manner of an Apprentice) to serve from the day of the date hereof unto the full end and term of Seaven Years from thence next following to be fully complete and ended. During which term the said Apprentice his said Master shall faithfully serve, his secrets keep, his lawful commandments everywhere gladly do. He shall do no damage to his said Master, nor see to be done of others, but that he to his power shall let or forthwith give warning to his said Master of the same. He shall not waste the goods of his said Master, nor lend them unlawfully to any. He shall not commit fornication nor contract matrimony within the said term. He shall not play at Cards, Dice, Tables, or any other unlawful Games, whereby his said Master may have any loss with his own goods or others during the said term without license of his said Master, he shall neither buy nor sell. He shall not haunt Taverns or Playhouses, nor absent himself from his said Master’s service day or night unlawfully. But in all things as a faithful Apprentice he shall behave himself towards his said Master and all his during the said term. And the said Master his said Apprentice in the same Art which he useth by the best means that he can, shall teach and instruct, or cause to be taught and instructed, finding unto his said Apprentice meat, drink, apparel, lodging, and all other necessaries, according to the custom of the City of London during the said term. And for the true performance of all and every the said Covenants and Agreements either of the said parties bindeth himself unto the other by these presents. In witness whereof the parties above named to these Indentures interchangeably have put their hands and Seals the Three and Twentieth day of Maye, Anno Dom. 1676, and in the xxviijth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King Charles the Second over England, &c.
Clement Aleyn.
Sealed and dd. in the pres. of Tho. Heatly, Clerke.
By the Act of Common Council, passed March, 1889, apprentices can now be bound for four years instead of seven, and instead of the master being compelled (as of old) to make the apprentice an indoor servant, he is to pay wages sufficient to keep the boy in food, clothing, &c., elsewhere, as may be arranged. This term of four years also entitles the apprentice to his freedom if the bindings are to citizens, and effected by the Chamberlain and the Companies. The Ironmongers so long ago as January, 1863, had (when desired) adopted the five years’ term, but then, while it gave the boy the Company’s freedom, it did not confer that of the City. Thus, at last, in this official four years’ term, we have arrived at a most satisfactory settlement of a long and often heart-burning grievance.
The Ironmongers’ Hall, where the bindings take place and the Company’s business transacted, is situated in Fenchurch Street, one house westward of Billiter Street. The original ground upon which the premises stand was purchased by nineteen ironmongers, members of the ancient Guild, in October, 1457, and the original purchase deeds still exist to prove that the site is the private property of the descendants of those nineteen brethren of the Guild—if there is really any law extant that freehold property belongs to the “root and branch” of a true-born Englishman. The Hall is mentioned in 1479 as being in the parish of All Hallows Staining, in the Ward of Aldgate. Between the parochial authorities and the Company long existed a dispute upon the burning question of tithes, until some twenty years ago it reached the crisis. A warrant was issued, and four of the candelabra and two of the loving cups were “in a friendly way,” in order to test the case, placed on a table in the Hall and momentarily seized by the official, and as quickly restored upon the usual bonds being given for the superior Court’s decision. A few years before—in 1862—some beautiful specimens of ornamental ironwork, which the company had erected in the Corporation pew in the church as rests for the sword and mace, suddenly disappeared, but upon question raised as suddenly returned. There is a funny entry in the church-wardens’ accounts of this parish for the year 1494: “Payd for a kylcherkyn of good ale, which was drunkyn in the Yrynmongers’ Hall, all chargis born xijs. ijd.” We should like to know what brought about this merry-making 400 years ago. Could it have been “a parochial settlement” of the dispute of 1479?
In Aggas’s map of the City, of the reign of Elizabeth, Ironmongers’ Hall is depicted as a range of buildings (among which was the clerk’s residence). There was no entrance from Fenchurch Street, but only through a long garden having entry from Leadenhall Street. That there was a garden to the Hall is certain, because in the records, about the year 1540, there are numerous interesting entries similar to these:—
| ffor a gardener ffor a daye and a hallffe ffor cuttyng of vynes and dressing of rosses | xijd. |
| to a gardener for V dayes worke | iijs. iiijd. |
| ffor cutting of the knotts of yᵉ rosemarie in the garden | xd. |
The first Hall remained until 1585, when, being found “ruinous and in greate decay,” it was rebuilt, and a kitchen erected. The cost was large—something like 600l.—but the ground covered was somewhat extensive. Tapestry was ordered for the Hall in 1590, and in 1629 further additions were made. In 1686 new sundials were erected, and in 1701 a new wall was put up to prevent the persons in the tavern next door looking across the Company’s garden into the private apartments of the Company. In 1707 a mulberry tree was planted in the garden, and in 1719 some new lime trees, so that the Ironmongers’ garden was quite a rural retreat, and like the Drapers’ garden, which has only of late years been covered over by bricks and mortar.