The history of the Company is obscure. Hazlitt thinks that it was a branch of the Girdlers, that it was originally the Wire Workers, and that it may also have been associated with the Wire Sellers and the Wire Drawers. It has no Hall.
THE TURNERS
Incorporated by James I. in 1604 for a Master, 2 Wardens, and 24 Assistants, with a Livery of 144. At present there is a Livery of 193; a Corporate Income of £700; but no Hall.
The principal work of the Turners originally was to make wooden measures. It was therefore important that these measures should be true. In 1310 (Riley, Memorials, p. 78) six turners were sworn before the mayor and aldermen, that they would in future make no other measures than gallons, potells (pottles, then a measure of two quarts), and quarts, and that they would not make false measures such as “chopyns” (chopines) and “gylles” (gills). In 1347 (Riley, Memorials, p. 234) some turners were brought before the mayor and aldermen, charged with making false measures. Our earliest introduction, therefore, to the Fraternity of Turners is not much to their credit. It is, however, greatly to their credit that they now hold annual exhibitions of turnery work in the City with prizes for its encouragement.
THE TYLERS AND BRICKLAYERS
This Company was incorporated by Elizabeth in 1568 for a Master, 2 Wardens, 38 Assistants, and 103 Liverymen. At present there is a Livery of 73; a Corporate Income of £610; a Trust Income of £170; but no Hall.
The Tylers were an ancient Fraternity dating from the time when tiles were first employed instead of thatch for roofing houses. As bricks were not used in English architecture before the end of the fifteenth century, there could have been no bricklayers. The connection of the men who put on the roof with the men who built the house was natural.
THE UPHOLDERS
This Company was incorporated by Charles I. in 1627 for a Master, 2 Wardens, and 28 Assistants, with a Livery of 131 members. At present the Livery consists of 20 members; they have a Corporate Income of £284; a Trust Income of £20; but no Hall. The Fripperers, Philipers, or Upholders were the buyers and sellers of second-hand clothes, fur robes, furniture, and other things. There seems to have been a large trade of this kind, chiefly in the parish of St. Michael’s, Cornhill.