8th November, 1638. The Court of Aldermen having assessed the Company to furnish 80 quarters of corn in lieu of 60 as heretofore provided, it was resolved to petition against it. This would be a very important matter to the Company as the assessments for all public purposes were made upon the City Companies pro rata with their corn quarterages, and if the 80 quarters were allowed to stand, it would raise all the future assessments 33 per cent. The result however, of the protest does not appear in the minutes.
28th October, 1640. On receipt of a precept from the Lord Mayor, it was ordered that three barrels of Gunpowder should be bought and stored.
1640. The Company unwillingly agreed to lend the King £400, and were put to great inconvenience in raising the money, which was required by Charles for his campaign in Scotland.
After several skirmishes with the Scots, the English Army was at length disbanded, and the King went himself to Scotland to negotiate the difference which had arisen by his attempted interference in Church matters in that Kingdom; he returned to London in November, 1641, and the following minute refers to the preparations made by our Company to meet him.
22nd November, 1641. Upon reading the Lord Maiors precepts for the Companyes enterteyning the King upon his returne from Scotland It is ordered that the Mar and Wardens, Mr. Serjeant Clowes, Mr. Richard Wateson, Mr. Woodall, Mr. Powell, Mr. Burgin, Mr. Heath, Mr. Henry Wateson, Mr. Bignall, Mr. Dye, Mr. Arris, Henry Boone, and Thomas Turner, shalbe attendant on Twesday next well mounted on Horseback in plush or Velvett with Chaines of Gold, and that John Perkins shall beare the Pendon with our Coate of Armes on Horseback and that these 18 ffree men shalbe Decently cladd in the Companyes Colours of White and Greene, each of them with a greene flatt Cap with a white Ribbon about it, a greene Cassock and Drawers of the same Stuffe Whiffler like laced with a white Lace a white ribaning and a greene Ribbin athwart theire Brests, and each of them a Truncheon in theire hands in the forenoone, and in the aftˀnoone each of them 2 Torches, and these 18 to attend perticulerly one of them to each of the Horsemen, vizt.
(Then follows a list of the freemen chosen.)
The “Riding out” on this occasion must have been a magnificent sight, if all of the Companies spent proportionately to the outlay of ours, which was no less than £39 17s. 10d. upon decorations, etc., for those taking part in the procession. Strype informs us that—
The Lord Mayor on horesback wearing a gown of crimson velvet & a collar of SS, and attended by his suite, rode in the front of the procession to meet the King. Then followed the Aldermen in scarlet gowns and the City council and chief officers in black gowns. Upon reaching Moorfields, there waited in a readiness to attend his Lordship and the service, about five hundred horsemen selected out of the Liveries of the several Companies, being Masters, Wardens, and prime men of each Company in velvet or plush coats and suits, with chains of gold, being well horsed and gallantly furnished, every Company having a horseman in the front carrying a pendant with that Company’s arms to which he did belong (for distinction sake), and a footman to attend each horseman of the Livery with truncheons and torches as before, both horsemen with the pendants and footmen being suited cap-a-pee with the Company’s colours on which they waited. There were also fourteen Trumpeters, with trumpets, banners and scarfs, who were placed two between every hundred of the horse, and four at the head of the troop. The procession moved on to Kingsland, where the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and the Companies awaited the Kings approach, while the Sheriffs attended by seventy-two men in Scarlet Cloaks trimmed with silver lace (the colours of the City) with javelins and feathers and four trumpeters, rode as far as Stamford Hill, and there met their Majesties and escorted them to Kingsland.
His Majesty was accompanied by the Queen, the Prince, the Duke of York, the Princess Mary and the Prince Elector Palatine, and after receiving an address, the Royal party joined the civic procession to London, entering it at Moorgate, and proceeded through London Wall, Bishopsgate Street, Cornhill and Cheapside, to the banquet at Guildhall, amidst the City Companies in their formalities and stands on each side of the streets, the City conduits running with a diversity of wines.
1643. The relations between the King and the City having become estranged in the fearful distractions of these times, Charles endeavoured to conciliate the citizens with a message, which was publicly read at Guildhall on the 13th January, and later on he sent a circular letter to the Masters of the several Companies requiring them to call their freemen and apprentices together, to read to them a copy of a letter which he had sent to the City on the 17th January. The Court of the Barber-Surgeons met on Tuesday, 24th inst., and cautiously record that they would have summoned their freemen for the next day, but that it was a fast day and that in the interim an order had come from the Committee of Safety that the letter, etc., should not be read.