The Company’s school was founded in 1561 on Lawrence Pountney Hill.
Great Crosby School, near Liverpool, of which the Company are sole trustees and managers, was founded in 1618 by John Harrison.
In 1622 Dr. Thomas White established Sion College, giving to the Company the nomination to eight of the twenty almshouses which he connected with the college.
In 1666 the losses sustained by the Company in the Fire of London obliged them to let their land in the City upon small ground-rents to enable their tenants to rebuild, and their resources were thus much crippled.
The number of the livery is 288. The Corporate Income is £37,000; the Trust Income is £13,000. Their hall is at 30 Threadneedle Street.
Privileges of membership:
(1) The only advantages that a freeman in easy circumstances possesses is eligibility for the livery, and prospectively for the court, and the comfortable assurance that, should he fall into poverty by misfortune and maintain his respectability, he will receive a pension from the Company varying in amount from £5 to £40 a year, and that, should his wife and daughters be left in poverty, they will be assisted by the Company to earn a living. Freemen are eligible for certain gifts and loans of money for their advancement in life.
Poverty from ill-health, old age, or incapacity to earn a livelihood, alone constitutes a claim to a pension or donation.
The only patronage enjoyed by individual members of the court is the power of presenting boys to the Company’s school in London. Each member of the court has two or sometimes three presentations annually, according to vacancies.
The present magnificent hall was built in 1671 by Jerman. It has been altered and improved, but it remains much the same as when Jerman handed it over to the Company.