It is thereupon resolved Nemine Contradicente by this Court, That the Master and Wardens of the Company together with the late Master William Cotesworth Esqr be, and they are hereby desired forthwith to wait on the Right Honb̃le The Earl of Burlington, and in the most gratefull manner to assure his Lordship in the name of the whole Company.
That they do receive this noble instance of his Lordships bounty and generosity as a most distinguishing & illustrious mark of honour shown by his Lordship to the Company & Profession.
And that this Court will take care so to record & transmitt the remembrance of this magnificent action of his Lordship to their successors That the gratitude of the Company to his Lordship’s person and memory may be for ever preserved among them.
13th August, 1730. A marble Bust of the Earl of Burlington was ordered to be set up in the Theatre.
27th April, 1739. “The Court taking into their considerac͠on that several of their By-Laws, which had been confirmed by the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justices for the time being, were in want of alteration, by reason of the variation of the times and circumstances of the Company and their Members since such By-Laws were made, and several new By-Laws being also wanting for the better government of the Company in times to come,” It was ordered that a Committee of six should consult and draw up fresh By-Laws, to be submitted to a future Court of Assistants, but in the result no action was taken.
1744. The long slumbering animosity between the Surgeons and the Barbers had now reached a climax, and indeed it is a matter of surprise that an union which had become grotesque should have existed for as many years as it had. The Surgeons, many of whom had attained to great eminence, naturally chafed under a system which required their diplomas to be signed by Governors, two of whom were always Barbers, or members of some trade or profession other than that of a Surgeon, and with the rapid progress of science and of surgical skill and knowledge, they felt their alliance with the Barbers a restraint upon their advancement, as also that the exercise of their profession under Charters and By-Laws, antiquated in form, and more adapted to the times in which they were framed, a hindrance rather than an incitement to further proficiency.
There is little in the records as to this disagreement, it being tacitly agreed that neither side should place their arguments or grievances in the books, which were their joint property.
20th December, 1744. This day the gentlemen on the Surgeons side having made known at this Court their desire of being separated from the gentlemen on the Barbers and that each may be made a distinct and independent Body free from each other, and producing a Case intended to be offered to the Honourable House of Commons praying such separation, which being read at this Court It was agreed that the following gentlemen on the Barbers side vizt.—
Mr. Warden Negus Mr. Parker Mr. Maurice Mr. Truelove and Mr. Haddon.