Part 24

The Court of Assistants of the Worshipful Company of Barbers having received information that many persons residing within the City of London carry on the Trade of a Barber and Hair dresser without being free of this Company to the great prejudice of the Members and the rights of the Company Do hereby give notice that they have come to a resolution to prosecute all persons carrying on the trade of a Barber or Hair dresser within the said City not being free of this Company and they request the assistance of their Members for that purpose for the benefit of the Company and Trade at large; any information to their Clerk at the Hall will be duly attended to.

By order of Court,

EDW{D} GROSE SMITH,

Clerk.

9th November, 1796. The By-Laws of the Company having been found, on the opinion of Mr. Serjeant Adair, insufficient to enforce the payment of fines for the refusal to serve various offices, a new set was drawn up by the Clerk, and submitted to and approved by the Court, who ordered the Clerk to get the same confirmed and allowed by the Lord Chancellor and two Chief Justices, but this was never done.

5th September, 1797. The Mahogany table now in the Court Room was made about this time. There is a tradition that the bulb-shaped end of it was a portion of the old dissecting table used by the Surgeons. If so, its latter days are more cheerful than its first.

1796 to 1799. Several Barbers were prosecuted for exercising their Trade within the limits of the Company’s Charters and brought to terms, generally they became freemen, and then were compelled to come on to the livery; in other cases the barbers removed out the jurisdiction, and paid the costs.

18th May, 1802. The Commissioners for the Public Lottery having advertised for a place in which to hold the lotteries, the Court decided to send in proposals offering the use of the Hall (under certain restrictions) for the next three lotteries for Six hundred guineas, but the offer was not accepted.

1st August, 1809. A case was submitted to the Attorney General (Sir R. Gibbs) who gave an opinion that the freemen of the Company were exempt from serving on Juries, but not from serving as Constables.

4th February, 1812. A memorial signed by four freemen of the Company was presented to the Court, the purport of which was that the memorialists having been summoned to act as Ward Constables had refused to serve, and that thereupon actions had been brought against them, which, being tried before Lord Ellenborough, the verdicts were against them and they were ordered to pay the costs (£333 9_s._ 0_d._). The memorialists alleging that they defended the actions for the benefit of the Company and really to uphold its privileges, prayed that they might be reimbursed the costs, which, however, the Court declined to accede to, but ordered that £12, which had been paid to the Company for copies of the Charters, should be refunded.

1814. The Churchwardens of St. Olave, Silver Street, having assessed the Hall at £172, they were requested to attend the next Court which they did, and the following delightful method of settling these matters is recommended to the Authorities nowadays.

1st November, 1814. The parish officers of Saint Olave Silver Street attended & stated to the Court that the Vestry of that Parish had taken the subject of the Poor rate into consideration, and considering the great increase of the rate they left it to the Company to say what they were agreeable to be rated at; the Court proposed to say £100 per annum; the gentlemen (having withdrawn) were then called in and informed of such proposal, with which they cordially acquiesced.

2nd April, 1816. Alexander Rowland the younger [of Macassar oil fame] of Kirby Street Hatton Garden, Barber was admitted to the Livery.

3rd May, 1825. The Livery stand, being in a decayed and useless condition, was ordered to be sold.

2nd May, 1826. But as a purchaser could not be found, the Master offered to give £5 for it, which was accepted, and this, together with an additional £5, was ordered to be given to the Committee for the Relief of Distressed Manufacturers.

5th February, 1861. Mr. John Atkinson gave £100 consols for the purpose of distributing the dividends thereof in the purchase of Bibles and Prayer Books for the poor members of the Company.

7th February, 1862. Mr. John Atkinson’s Will reciting a munificent bequest to the Company is set out in the minutes of this date.

3rd February, 1863. A Statement of the property left by Mr. John Atkinson is recorded in a letter from the Solicitors to his Trustees directed to the Court, and entered in the minutes of this date.

PRECEDENCE.

The Barbers’ Company is ranked the seventeenth in order of the City Companies, and is the fifth after the “Twelve great Companies,” the thirteenth being the Dyers, fourteenth Brewers, fifteenth Leathersellers, sixteenth Pewterers, seventeenth Barbers, eighteenth Cutlers, etc.

The question of precedency in former times gave rise to many contentions between the City Guilds, and the Barber-Surgeons seem to have had some experience in these quarrels: the City pageants, processions, and public attendances at church, were numerous in the days of the Tudors and Stuarts, and at most of these the Livery Companies attended, each guild jealously striving to keep its place, and no doubt to advance its position whenever opportunity arose.

There are extant, lists of the Companies in the City books, in which our Company takes various positions; and Stow, having incorporated one of these lists in his Survey, has given it an authority as a table of precedence which it was never intended to possess; he furnishes a list of the Companies attending the Lord Mayor’s feast, 23rd Henry VIII (1531), and places the Barbers as the thirty-second, whereas at that time they were undoubtedly the twenty-eighth.

1516. The first authentic reference to our Company’s standing is found in _Letter-Book N._ leaf 5 (January, 1516), where it is ordained that the Barbers, although they claimed of their ancient right to be the seventeenth Company, yet were adjudged to take the twenty-eighth place, following the Cordwainers, and preceding the Paynter-Stainers.

1532. This order was probably in force until February, 1532, when the Barbers got back their old position (_Repertory_ 8, leaf 272) and an officer was directed to wait on the Pewterers to “shewe theym that the seyd Company of Barbours Surgeons be Restored ageyn to their olde Rowme.” Three months later (May, 1532), the Barbers were “taken down one,” and directed to occupy the eighteenth place.

1533. In February, 1533 (_Letter-Book O._ _fo._ 213), is a record which is somewhat puzzling, as, altogether ignoring the orders of February and May, 1532, it is stated that the Barber-Surgeons had petitioned to be restored to their old place of seventeenth Company, from which it is said they were dispossessed about sixteen years back (evidently alluding to the order of January, 1516), “so that they be nowe the xxix or xxx{th} Companye yn thordre of such goynges,” etc.

Perhaps the orders of February and May, 1532, had been disregarded by the other guilds, and our Company forcibly ousted from their rightful position, so that this is in effect an application for a confirmatory order, which was granted, and thus they were again fixed as the seventeenth Company.

1534. The Barbers must have given some offence to the Civic authorities in 1534, for in October of that year (_Repertory_ 9, leaf 79) the last-named order was repealed, and they were put back again to the twenty-eighth place, and further the Company were ordered that they “shall no more goo yn pˀcessyons, standyngꝭ, Rydyngꝭ, goyngꝭ, and other assembles from hensfurth, tyll it be otherwyse ordered by thys coˀrte.”

1535. This vacillation on the part of the Court of Aldermen in settling our position, was not yet at an end, for in March, 1535, we were again placed seventeenth, to come before the Cutlers and after the Pewterers, and this order was confirmed no less than four times in 1535, and twice in 1536.

1604. At a Royal Procession on the 15th March, 1604, our Company got misplaced by some of the Marshals, and this led to another application to the Court of Aldermen, whereupon a peremptory order was made that the Barber-Surgeons should stand sixteenth in precedence. This order is set out in full elsewhere (see page 195); the sixteenth place was then accorded to us in consequence of the Stockfishmongers, who formerly held the twelfth place, having been dissolved, whereby the Barber-Surgeons went up one: the Clothworkers who, at that time were the thirteenth Company, then became the twelfth.

Some short time afterwards, the Dyers, who had been the eighteenth Company, got the thirteenth place, and we reverted to our old position of seventeenth Company in which we still continue.

1606. An attempt to misplace us was made in July, 1606, but this was successfully resisted. (See p. 116.)

COURT OF ASSISTANTS.

The constitution of the governing body of the Company has grown up in the course of time from one Prime Master or Ruler to a Master with three Wardens and twenty Assistants, forming a Court of twenty-four members.

We gather from the earliest records, that the business of the Company was then transacted by the meeting together in Common Hall, of the whole fraternity (which probably included both freemen and liverymen), under the presidency of a single Master, who, as in the case of Richard le Barber in 1308, was invested with the supervision of the craft, and power to make search and scrutiny, and to punish offenders.

In 1376 two Masters were appointed to rule the craft, while in 1388 we find that two Masters and two “Surveyors” formed the governing body.

In 1416 is recorded the admission of five Masters, three of whom are described as “Barbitonsores” (_i.e._, Barbers proper) and two as “Masters of the Barbers exercising the faculty of Surgery.” In 1428 there were four Masters, two of each class, and this number was the governing body at the time of Edward IV’s Charter of Incorporation, in 1462.

As has been elsewhere remarked, this Charter provides for the appointment of two Masters only, and they to be skilled in Surgery, to be chosen by twelve Electors taken from the Commonalty; but as our records preserve the names of four Masters elected in that year, and so on ever since in unbroken succession, there cannot be any doubt but that (the Charter dealing almost entirely with the regulation of matters surgical) the two Masters of the “Barbers side” were left to be elected in accordance with old custom, or under the By-laws which the Company were, by their Charter, empowered to make.

At what period a Court of Assistants was created in our Company is unknown, but I am inclined to think the date is about 1480 to 1500. The four “Masters or Governors” (answering to our “Master and three Wardens”) were chosen out of the Commonalty by twelve electors yearly, and do not, as seems by the lists preserved, appear to have gone up annually by seniority as now they do, _i.e._, from third Warden to second, and so on. Those who had served as second, third, or fourth Governors, if not chosen to higher office the next year, as a general rule took their places again as simple liverymen; whilst those who had served as Prime or Chief Governor were, at the expiry of their term of office, designated “Ancient Masters,” and these, with some past Wardens, having become qualified by experience in the affairs of the Company would naturally be consulted by the ruling Governors who sought their “assistance” and advice, and thus grow up into a Court of Assistants[168] (nearly always in early time spelt “Assistance”) and be recognised to a great extent as a power in the direction of the Company’s business.

[168] This theory is confirmed by the Ordinances made in 1566, whereby it was enacted that a liveryman _might_ be chosen an Assistant without having ever served the office of Governor.

The earliest mention of Assistants is in the By-laws settled by Sir Thomas More in 1530, though throughout these By-laws the actual ruling power was evidently in the four Masters or Governors. The Assistants are here twice referred to, in one case where it is enacted that the Masters shall not admit a “fforen” to the freedom without the assent of the “xxiiij{ti} assistentes,” and in another place they are to have, with the Masters, the election of the Livery.

The Act 32 Henry VIII is silent as to Assistants, vesting all power in the Masters or Governors. In 1557 at one of the Courts twenty-one Assistants and four Masters attended, and at a Court held 19th July, 1595, the names of twenty-five Assistants are recorded. The number seems to have varied with the times, the full Court, however, never exceeding four Masters and thirty-two Assistants. The Assistants have always been elected by the Court, and the custom became in time to choose the senior liveryman whenever a vacancy occurred, though there does not appear to have been at any time a by-law to that effect, and indeed this practice has been departed from on very many occasions.

The Election of Masters prior to the year 1633 was on the Monday next before the feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle (Aug. 24); from 1633 to 1745 it was held on the third Thursday in August, and since 1745 it has been held on the second Thursday in August.

The ancient practice was for the whole body of the livery to be summoned to the Hall in their livery gowns, hoods and caps on the Monday at 8 o’clock in the morning “at the furthest” to whom the Masters, sitting in Court, declared the cause of their assembling; this done, the Masters retired, and the livery, sitting there, chose twelve of their number to be “Electors,” of whom six were to be “expert Surgeons,” and four at least must never have served the office of Master or Governor. The Clerk then called the twelve Electors out (the rest of the livery remaining in the Hall). The Masters then delivered to the Electors the “Bills of Election,” each Master nominating two Barbers and two Surgeons, so that sixteen in all were nominated, and, after administering to them the oath prescribed, the Electors retired to a private room apart to make their choice. Should the Electors deem that one or more of themselves ought to have been put in nomination, they were to send for the Masters who were bound to withdraw such person or persons, and choose others in their place. The Bills were to be made out in accordance with seniority, but the Electors were not bound to choose by seniority. Having made their choice, the Electors sent for the Masters and delivered to them a Bill with the names of the four persons selected, and these names were (under a heavy penalty) to be kept secret until after the “dener.”

The whole Company then proceeded in state to the Church of St. Olave, Silver Street (after the Great Fire to St. Alban, Wood Street), maids strewing the way with flowers. At Church there was a “goodly masse” celebrated, and in later times a “devyne sˀrvice,” which, being ended, the parson and some of the church officials had customary fees and returned with the Company to the Hall to celebrate the Election dinner. The feast over, the outgoing Masters, according to “auncient order,” walked about the table, each bearing a garland and placing it on the head of the member who had been chosen to fill his place in the year ensuing. If anyone elected happened to be absent, his garland was placed on the head of one of the Ancient Masters as proxy, and the newly-elected Masters were sworn on the Holy Evangelists to the due execution of their offices, absentees being sworn at the next Court.

The Election dinners were held at any early hour in the afternoon (1 or 2 p.m.) and were generally followed by a play or a dance, sometimes both; the wives of the livery and Assistants were present at the dinner, and the latter had their apprentices in attendance waiting at table.

In 1633 the mode of choosing the Electors was varied as follows: a “fair ballating box” with two cells therein, one labelled “Surgeons” and the other “Barbers” was placed upon the table,

Into _each_ cell the Master put the names of two Ancient Masters, and drew one out of each 2

The second and third Governors put into _each_ cell the names of six Assistants, and the Master drew three out of each 6

The fourth Governor put into _each_ cell the names of four liverymen and the Master drew two out of each 4 -- 12 ==

The twelve so drawn constituted the Electors, and the proceedings were then much the same as has been before described.

The new Masters or Governors commenced their duties immediately upon being sworn.

From the earliest period the custom has been to hold the monthly and ordinary Courts on Tuesdays, but the meetings do not seem to have taken place on any definite or fixed days, numerous Courts being held at irregular intervals and frequently on Mondays. “Courts of Assistants,” as distinguished from Monthly and special Courts, were, in early times, for some reason or other, particularly prohibited from being held on Tuesdays, there being several orders and by-laws to this effect, but why, I do not know.

In the year 1557 twenty Courts were held. In 1572 forty-one Courts, the average attendance at which was twelve. In 1599 forty-six Courts assembled. At the intermediate Courts a great deal of important as well as minor business was transacted, including the admissions and presentations of freemen and apprentices, the examination of Surgeons and Sea Surgeons, and a great variety of business connected with the medical service of the army and navy.

Previous to the separation in 1745, the office of Master was supposed to be, and generally was, held by a Barber and a Surgeon alternately, the Wardens being chosen in like manner, any member not practising as a Surgeon being accounted a Barber, whatever his trade or occupation might be.

Great importance has at all times been attached to the question of precedence in sitting at table and in speaking in Court, and many have been the rules enacted, and the disputes and jealousies which have arisen between members of the Court on this question.

Some of the powers executed by the Masters of old and by the Court of Assistants in later times have been those which now are peculiar to Courts of Law, _e.g._, the settlement of disputes upon every conceivable question, the imposition of fines, and their recovery by distress levied by the Beadle, the summary committal of offenders to gaol, and the issuing of orders for their release, the prohibition of actions and suits at common law (if commenced by a freeman without leave of the Court), the inhibition of members from practising their profession, and the infliction of corporal punishment upon unruly freemen and apprentices.

The Court as now existing, consists of four Masters or Governors and twenty Assistants, appointed under the provisions of the Act 18 George II, cap. xv. By this Act the election of the Masters or Governors is in the Court and takes place on the second Thursday in August, but alas! without the ancient ceremonies of attending Church, crowning with garlands, and--may I add?--the Election dinner for the Livery.

As will be seen elsewhere, there have been frequent disturbances at the Courts, and there are numerous entries of Assistants, Wardens, and Past Masters having been expelled the Court and sometimes dismissed from the Livery as well, for their misconduct or quarrelsome behaviour. Instances of impertinence and abuse by freemen and liverymen before the Court, are also by no means rare, and in these cases condign punishment by imprisonment or fine was invariably meted out.

9th March, 1624. This daye Mr. Warden Thornebury made knowne to this Court y{t} one Tanner, a brother of this Companie, hath abused him in words. Whereupon it is ordered by this Court that John Bayard the officer belonging to this Companie shall laye the Lord Maio{rs} comaund on the said Tanner and comitte him to one of the Compters of this Cittye And that imediately upon the said comittm{t} shall acquaint the M{rs} therewith That thereupon the M{rs} maye acquaint the lo: Maio{r} with the reson of his comittem{t.}

19th January, 1626. This daye the letter directed to the Maister Wards and Assistants of the Companie of Barbor Surgions of London from M{r} William Clowes Sarjeant Chirurgion to his Ma{tie} was here in Courte reade in hec verba viz{t} Right worthie Maister and Governors and assistants of the companie of Barbers and Surgions in my true love I wish all health and florishinge goverment of yo{r} Company to the glory of God the honor of the Kinge and the good of Gods people Amen. Now whereas I have bin not only by many Brothers advertised but also of yo{r} Officer legally by letter and otherwise given to understand that you had chosen me Renter warden of the company from the w{ch} Election I desired by M{r} Cooper and M{r} Thomas Allen I might be freed yett could not, I then knewe well that in duty I owed you an aunswer which might well be seeme my reverent respect to yo{r} Authoritye; and my tender regard of the kinge my M{rs} honor which in yo{r} Chusinge and my acceptinge maye be considered, which as much as in me is I desired to doe, And nowe, not once questoninge the troblesomnes of the place, nor other hinderances w{ch} god Almighty did then send I thus aunswer (because I wilbe free of Ambition or pride) that if you can make that appeere upon yo{r} Records that any of my predecessors did beare the office of Wardein after he was sworne Serjeant Surgion to any of the Kˀs or Queenes of England I shall humbly serve it, if not, I Crave yo{r} pˀdon for I might not soe poorely value the Kinge my M{r} as thinke him less mighty, less absolute a Prince then any Kinge whatsoever hath raigned before him, and so as his Servaunt I expect from the Company as good respect as any Sergeant Surgion heretofore hath had, for my M{rs} honor I will not give to any other, And further because I am many tymes summoned to yo{r} Courts and other meetings, w{ch} service I am very willinge to performe, when I shall knowe my place in the Company, which I must leave to yo{r} grave considerac͠on, only if you please to take notice how the Colledge of Phisitions and the Company of Apothecaryes of London have rancked the Kingꝭ Phisitions and Apothecaryes, you may thereby guess what place I expect, but howsoever if by the occasion of back freinds wee may not so well agree as I desire, so as I may personally absent my selfe from the Company yett thus much I ingenuously and religiously profess that I will alwayes in harty love be present and ready press either by the Kinge my M{r} or any other wayes to doe the Companye any loveing Service I may, And so ceasing further troubling you but desireing to heare of yo{r} smoothe acceptance, I rest.