Cassell's Latin Dictionary, Merchant & Charles, Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, Category:Organisations based in the City of London, Sutton, Anne F., The Mercery of London: Trade, Goods and People, 1130–1578, Aldershot, 2005. The Worshipful Company of Mercers is the premier Livery Company of the City of London and ranks first in the order of precedence of the Companies. Knighted 6 Jan 1487; Auditor 1475-7; Master Mercers 1472, 1477, 1485, 1492. Sheriff 1472-3. Mercers were formerly merchants or traders who dealt in cloth, typically fine cloth that was not produced locally. It is the first of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies. Although the Company no longer has any trade to control, its modern life is busy and productive. Geni requires JavaScript! The grant blazons the arms: Gules, issuant from a bank of clouds a figure of the Virgin couped at the shoulders proper vested in a crimson robe adorned with gold the neck encircled by a jeweled necklace crined or and wreathed about the temples with a chaplet of roses alternately argent and of the first and crowned with a celestial crown the whole within a bordure of clouds also proper. The Worshipful Company of Mercers is the premier Livery Company of the City of London and ranks first in the order of precedence of the Companies. Mayor 1480-1. It is the first of the so-called 'Great Twelve City Livery Companies'. The Worshipful Company of Mercers is the premier Livery Company of the City of London and ranks first in the order of precedence of the Companies. The Register of Freemen and Apprentice Registers can be freely searched via the Records of London's Livery Companies Online (ROLLCO). The Freemen and Apprentice records are available to search online via the Records of London's Livery Companies Online (ROLLCO), a freely accessible resource. That's it. Died 1 Jan 1498; Will (PCC 18 Horne) 3 Nov 1497; proved 25 Jan 1498. Other people can also become Members by Redemption. Until about 1800, an adult male practising a trade or craft in or around the City of London would almost certainly have been a member (freeman) of one of the City of London livery companies. Back to The Livery Companies of the City of London. The term mercer for cloth merchants (from French mercier, "notions dealer") is now largely obsolete. I use WIKI 2 every day and almost forgot how the original Wikipedia looks like. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. Notable Members who joined the Company by Redemption are Thomas More and Winston Churchill. We have created a browser extension. The Company's links with the active trade died out over the centuries. ➜ Please add apprentices and those who worked as mercers to this project. One other route to membership is by apprenticeship, but this has not happened recently. . Join Geni to explore your genealogy and family history in the World's Largest Family Tree. [1] Although of even older origin, the Company was incorporated under a Royal Charter in 1394, the Company's earliest extant Charter. By the 16th century many members of the Company had lost any connection with the original trade. Freemen of a Livery Company are also Freemen of the City of London, which used to carry certain privileges, such as the right to drive a flock of sheep without charge over London Bridge. By the 18th and 19th centuries apprentices were being bound to Masters who were no longer practising mercers. Sheriff 1456-7. ➜ Please add apprentices, freemen, wardens, and masters of the Mercers' Company to this project. Most other members have a family connection to the Company and obtain their Freedom by Redemption. Unlike most of the City livery companies the Mercers had no early grant of arms but the 1425 charter granted a common seal. The Company's aim was to act as a trade association for general merchants, and especially for exporters of wool and importers of velvet, silk and other luxurious fabrics (mercers). Within the Mercers’ Company archive, the main source of genealogical information is the lists which have been compiled from the Wardens’ Accounts, Acts of Court, Register of Freemen and Apprentice Registers. Michael Lok (c.1532-c.1615) was an English merchant and traveller, the main backer of explorer Martin Frobisher. Membership is sometimes granted because the Company wishes to honour the individual. He was appointed Sheriff of the City of London in 1329 and elected Mayor of London in 1345. Children whose father or mother was a member of the Company at the time of their birth have an automatic right to become Mercers by 'patrimony'. [9] The building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The Company's motto is Honor Deo, Latin for "Honour to God". The Worshipful Company of Mercers is the premier Livery Company of the City of London and ranks first in the order of precedence of the Companies. Under this process applicants are recommended for membership after an interview and, if approved, they pay a sum of money called a 'fine'. London 1459, 1469, 1472; Auditor 1453-5, 1464-5; Master Mercers 1459, 1464, 1471, 1476. It is the first of the so-called 'Great Twelve City Livery Companies'. In 1911 the College of Arms confirmed the arms and granted the Company a crest and motto, ‘Honor Deo’ (Honour to God). London once had a Worshipful Company of Mercers and, among many others, a Worshipful Company of Skinners. Further Charters granted the Company the authority to set standards and regulations regarding the products of its members. Welcome to Geni, home of the world's largest family tree. The origin of the Mercers’ Maiden, the heraldic emblem of the Company, is not known. The Hall was extensively refurbished during the period 1877 to 1881 (the porch of the 1676 building is now incorporated into the facade of Swanage Town Hall). Michael Locke (son of William Locke and Katherine Cook) was born in London, M... After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540, Henry VIII granted the manor of Parham, which had belonged to the Abbey of Westminster, to a London mercer called Robert Palmer.