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John Bonus (c 1720-84) was the son of John Bonus of St John Wapping, a waterman and later a slopseller. In 1736 he was apprenticed to William Jesser, slopseller of Billingsgate and freeman of the Merchant Taylors' Company. John Bonus gained his freedom of the Merchant Taylors' Company on 2 August 1749. He married Ann Child on 30 August 1752 in St Dunstan in the East and had one son, John. His business operated from Thames Street, possibly in conjunction with William Jesser and his son, William. He took on as apprentices his niece Elizabeth in 1749, nephew James in 1753 and his son, all of them subsequently becoming free of the Merchant Taylors' Company. James Bonus set up as a slopseller in Tower Hill, but went bankrupt in 1765. He died in 1804. Elizabeth Bonus married Stephen Child (presumably a relative) in 1758 in St Botolph Aldersgate. John Bonus joined the Court of Assistants on the Merchant Taylors' Company on 19 July 1780. He died in 1784, his will being proved on 29 April.

NB-a slopseller produced and sold cheap, ready-made clothing.

The company was established by Stratten Boulnois in 1891 as a firm of tea brokers. It changed its name in 1897 to Drew, Kerr and Company; in 1903 to T.A. Kerr and Company; and in 1915 to T.A. Kerr and Son. The company's addresses were 3 Love Lane until 1897, 20 Eastcheap 1897 to 1916, and 23 Rood Lane from 1917.

Liverpool Street Station was constructed in 1874. In the 1970s British Rail suggested a number of redevelopment schemes to renovate and update the station. After a public enquiry, redevelopment work began in 1986.

Broad Street Station was built in 1865 as the terminus of the North London Railway. It was closed in 1984 and the Broadgate office development, which covers platforms 11-18 of Liverpool Street Station, was constructed in its place.

Blackfriars Station was opened as St Paul's Station in 1886 by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway; the name was changed in 1937. The District line station of the same name was opened across the road in 1870. The station was rebuilt in 1977.

Information from The London Encyclopaedia, eds. Weinreb and Hibbert (LMA Library Reference 67.2 WEI).

The British Tanker Company were based at Gresham House, Old Broad Street 1916-8, 23 Great Winchester Street 1919-21, 181-193 London Wall 1922-4 and Britannic House Finsbury Circus 1925-56. The company was the marine transport arm of the Anglo Persian Oil Company, later known as British Petroleum (BP). The British Renown was part of their tanker fleet, built in 1928 by Sir James Laing and Sons Limited.

The trust was set up in 1902 to administer the £1,135,000 Government bonds paid by the Government of Brazil on 24 April 1902 when it compulsorily purchased the railway undertaking of the Central Bahia Railway Company Limited. The trust was wound up in 1945.

Thomas D'Aeth senior (d 1708) and Thomas D'Aeth junior (d 1744), were Italian merchants, of the parish of St Dionis Backchurch.

George Dance the Younger was born in 1741, son of architect George Dance (1694-1768). Dance the Younger followed his father's profession, succeeding him as Clerk of Works for the City of London in 1768. He was responsible for the design of numerous London buildings including Newgate Prison, the Old Bailey Sessions House, extensions to the Guildhall, the church of Saint Bartholomew the Less, and the Royal College of Surgeons. He also worked on town planning schemes such as Finsbury Circus and St George's Circus; and helped to formulate the 1774 London Building Act. He died in 1825.

Daniel Harvey (1587-1647), a brother of the William Harvey who discovered the circulation of the blood, was a City merchant trading with the Levant. Among his customers was Henry Garraway (Lord Mayor 1639-40), sometime Governor of the Levant Company, of which Harvey was also a Court member.

The name of Peter Dobree is found in a number of places in these ledgers, perhaps as a partner in the business, but the bank cannot be identified from London directories. Samuel Dobree and Sons (later of 6 Tokenhouse Yard) can be found in directories at 65 Old Broad Street from 1800; Dobree and Aubin, merchants, are found at this address 1798-99.

The Dry Docks Corporation of London Ltd, shipbuilders, repairers and marine engineers, was formed in 1886 to amalgamate 28 London graving docks and thereby create a monopoly. One of the Corporation's founding directors was John Denison Pender who had previously become the owner of the West India Graving Dock, latterly through the West India Graving Dock Company registered in 1883. The lease of the West India Dock Graving Dock was transferred to the new company. Business was then slack, however, and the Dry Docks Corporation was voluntarily wound up in June 1888. The Corporation was based at 165 Fenchurch Street.

John Fenton was a wine merchant who was based at 35 Crutched Friars from 1836-40. From 1841-68 his address was 79 Mark Lane.

Hovener and Browne were described the partnership deed of 1665 as joint traders and dealers in all manner of serges, perpetuanas, Norwich wares 'and other stuffs and wares of this kingdom' (serge and perpetuana were woollen fabrics). They had business premises at a messuage in St Swithin's Lane in the parish of St Swithin (described in the title deed of 1635).

William Hurt was a merchant of Bishopsgate and official of the East India Company, while his nephew Thomas Rogers was a factor for the Company. Although Hurt and Rogers were both employed by the East India Company, and Rogers' letters contain much about the Company's business, they appear to be private correspondence.

William Innes and Thomas Clerk formed a partnership from circa 1748 which was dissolved in 1760. From 1750 their office was at Lime Street Square. From 1760-64 William Innes was the elder partner of Innes and Hope. He operated on his own thereafter and a William Innes is listed in London directories at 6 Lime Street Square until 1797.

The Grain and Feed Trade Association (GAFTA) was founded in 1971 when the London Corn Trade Association merged with the London Cattle Food Trade Association. GAFTA is a trade association for those working in the international grain trade. It came to hold the records of various related organisations which it merged with or acquired. For further information see CLC/B/103.

Jenings, Bolton and Jenings were attorneys of 4 Elm Court, Temple. They were taken over, shortly after 1860, by Merriman, White and Company, of 3 King's Bench Walk, Temple.

John Hubbard and Company were Russia merchants of 19 Birchin Lane and from circa 1865 to circa 1900 of 4 St Helen's Place.

The company is first listed in the London trade directories in 1886, with premises at the Coal Exchange in London, and is described as 'coal factors and coal merchants'. It appears to have succeeded Phillips and Lamont which also traded from the Coal Exchange, as coal factors from 1857, and as coal factors and merchants after 1877.

Lamont and Warne traded on the Coal Exchange from 1886 to 1941 and on Arundel Street in Westminster from 1942 to 1963, moving in 1964 to their current (1993) premises on Kennington Road, London.

A magazine entitled Lightning was established in 1891, based initially at Faraday House, Charing Cross Road. At the end of 1891 it moved to 117 Bishopsgate Street. By 1900 it was based at 18 Bream's Buildings. From January 1902 it was titled the Electrical Times, the name it continues under to date (2011). It described itself as the newspaper for 'engineers and technical management'.

Lindsay, Greenfield and Masons were solicitors of 6-8 Clements Lane.

Henry Major and Robert Slade were proctors of Doctors Commons, at 20 Little Knightrider Street.

In law, a proctor represented others in a court of canon or civil law; similar to an attorney or solicitor in courts of equity and common law.

John March (fl 1768-1774) was a Turkey merchant, with premises at 60 Mark Lane. He died sometime between 2 September and 2 December 1774. After that date the firm was taken over by his nephew Thomas March. In the London directory of 1777 the address is given as 58 Leman Street, Goodman's Fields. This is the last reference to the firm traceable in London directories.

The Nassau Phosphate of Lime Company was based at 4 Lothbury.

John Oldbury and Henry Stanley conducted business in Malaga, Alicante, Cadiz, Venice, Leghorn [Livorno], Amsterdam, Portsmouth, Ipswich, Bristol, Falmouth and Chester.

From 1872, Peter Bond Burgoyne and Company acted as wine importers and agents for Tintara, later Australian, Vineyards Association which had been established by a group of Australian wine producers in 1871. Burgoyne and Company had offices and cellars at 50 Old Broad Street.

In January 1886 the company, by then described in directories as "Australian merchants and vineyard proprietors", moved to 6 Dowgate Hill with cellars at the Dowgate Vaults, Cannon Street. It also had premises at 146 Pelham Street (Spitalfields) and in Adelaide and Melbourne.

Roger Cunliffe, a Manchester manufacturer and merchant, opened a London branch in 1815 and traded from 1821 as a discount banker under the style "Roger Cunliffe, Son and Company" at No 33 (later No 24) Bucklersbury. In 1827 the firm became Cunliffes, Brooks, Cunliffe and Company, although after a split in 1836 this firm was to form two distinct parts-Roger Cunliffe, Sons and Company (who continued trading at 24 Bucklersbury) and Cunliffes, Brooks, Cunliffe and Company, who moved to 29 Lombard Street.

Roger Cunliffe, Sons and Company traded at 24 Bucklersbury until 1866, 6 Princes Street (1867-1890), 22 Finch Lane (1891-1906) and 28 Clements Lane (1907-41). In 1941 the firm was absorbed by Cater and Company, discount bankers of 5 Bishopsgate Street London.

Edwin Robert Sills (d 1943) was a watch and chronometer finisher of 21 Foyle Road, Tottenham. His father, William Sills, was a noted finisher of marine chronometers; his grandfather, also William Sills, was a Coventry watchmaker who came to London in 1840 and took up marine chronometer finishing. When demand for marine chronometers fell off after the First World War, Edwin Sills turned to watch and pocket chronometer finishing, producing work for Victor Kullberg in particular.

At the time of the 1901 census, Edwin Sills was working with his father as a watch finisher from their home at 31 Cressington Road, Stoke Newington. By 1942/3, and almost certainly earlier, he was working at 21 Foyle Road, Tottenham.

The firm of Toye and Bromley, yarn, hemp and fibre merchants of 132 Fenchurch Street, has its origin in a business established by Samuel Toye.

Toye first appears in trade directories in 1864 as a bass broom maker with premises in Worship Street (1864-74) and 15 Mile End Road (1874-79).

In 1874, Samuel Toye is also listed as an importer of coir yarn and other fibres, hemp, jute and fibre merchant, with premises at 132 Fenchurch Street. He appears to have entered into partnership with Frank Charles Bromley, a fibre merchant, and from 1877 this part of the business was carried on under the name of Toye and Bromley. C B Smith and T K Cleghorn, a hemp merchant, whose names are mentioned in the ledger, may also have had an interest in the firm.

The broom business at Mile End Road continued under the name of Samuel Toye until 1880, when it was absorbed by Toye and Bromley. The firm retained the premises, but brush manufacture appears to have been abandoned.

Toye and Bromley were based at 132 Fenchurch Street, and 15 Mile End Road from 1880 (1877-83), 116 Fenchurch Street and 15 Mile End Road (1884-90), and 15 Mile End Road, (1891-95).

The firm of Toye and Bromley disappears from trade directories after 1895 but seems to have been succeeded by Samuel Toye and Company, importers of coir yarn, cordage and brush fibres, hemp, jute, fibre bristle and coir yarn, merchants, bass and fibre dressers of 15 Mile End Road. By the following year this firm are described simply as bristle merchants.

Samuel Toye and Company had premises at 15 Mile End Road (1896), 3 Mitre Street, Aldgate (1897-1901), 18 Heneage Lane, Bevis Marks (1902-56), and 27A Victorian Grove, London N16 (1957-73). The firm does not appear in directories after 1973.

Meetings were held at 176 Tower Bridge Road.

William T. Storer and Company was acquired by British Borneo Timber Company in 1970.

Willis, Fairthorne and Clarke, afterwards Willis, Clarke, Coates and Watson, and subsequently Willis and Company were solicitors and attorneys at law, of Warneford Court, Throgmorton Street and later of Tokenhouse Yard.

Thomas Wood (fl 1705-1746) citizen and carpenter, was a builder, of Beech Lane, Red Cross Street in the parish of St Giles Cripplegate. Wood was from 1717 carpenter to the Draper's Company and tenant of their estate in Cripplegate Without Ward (source: Drapers' records).

The Worshipful Company of Actuaries was formed on 6 March 1979. Its members are qualified actuaries who deal with problems involving finance and probabilities. They are involved in all forms of insurance, pensions arrangements and investment.

The Worshipful Company of Basketmakers of the City of London was constituted by the Court of Aldermen in 1569 to regulate and control basketmaking in the City of London, although there are earlier references to the craft. A grant of a livery of thirty was obtained in 1825, and a Royal Charter was granted by King George VI in 1937.

The company existed from at least 1333 when it produced a book of ordinances, a copy of which is held by The National Archives. Further ordinances were drawn up in 1455, 1487 and 1607 (the Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library has a copy of the 1607 ordinances, the original of which is retained by the company). The company received a grant of arms in 1466 (again the Manuscripts Section has a copy of the original at Carpenters' Hall) and charters in 1477, 1558, 1560, 1607, 1640, 1674, 1686 and 1944 (the Section has copies of the charters of 1560, 1607, 1674 and 1686, while the charters from 1607 are held at the Hall).

The Company's activities include management of the Building Crafts Training School, providing bursaries for carpentry education, and the running of almshouses in Godalming and Rustington Convalescent Home.

The company has used a hall on London Wall from 1429, which was bequeathed to the company in 1481. The hall was rebuilt in 1876-80 and 1960. The company, from 1622 until ca. 1625, also leased a timber wharf at Whitefriars (see Mss 4328 and 4333).

The Worshipful Company of Combmakers was incorporated by charter on 16th July 1635. It is now defunct.

The Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters were granted a charter in 1657. Their 1663 charter covered the whole of England and Wales and the Company established subsidiary courts at Nottingham and Leicester. The Company had a hall in Redcross Street which was sold in 1821. A framework knitter used machinery to create woollen clothing, principally hosiery.

The Framework Knitters' Company maintained almshouses in the City of London from 1770. They were sold in 1906, and new cottages were built in Oadby in Leicestershire.

The foundation of the Company can be traced back to the Red Cross Agriculture Fund which raised over £8 million from the agricultural and horticultural industries during World War II. On 23 September 1946 the Company of Agriculturalists was formed, but the name was changed to the Company of Farmers in the following year. The Company received its grant of livery in 1952 and charter of incorporation in 1955.

One of the Company's initiatives is the advanced course in Agricultural Business Management (originally called Farm Business Management), which started in 1963. The course is administered by Wye College (which became Imperial College Wye in 2000), University of London, and is held at Ashford in Kent. A leading role was likewise undertaken by the Company in the establishment of the Centre for European Agricultural Studies at Withersdane, near Ashford, which opened in 1975. The Company also maintains two trust funds: the Lord Lonsdale Fund, set up in 1985, and the Geoffrey and Isla Parsons Fund, in 1987, which offer grants to students on the courses.

A site was purchased for a livery hall in 1970 and 1976 in Newbury Street and Middle Street. In 1983 it was decided to build a joint hall with the Fletchers. The foundation stone of the hall was laid in 1986 and it was opened in 1987 at 3 Cloth Fair.

The Worshipful Company of Fuellers is a modern livery company which was established in 1981 and granted livery status in 1984. It represents all sectors of the energy industry although its origins are in coal. Various bodies represented the interests of the coal trade until the combined efforts of The Society of Coal Merchants of London, The Society of Coal Factors, and the Coal Meters formed a City Livery Company - the Fuellers - in 1981. Many members of the Fuellers' Company work in the energy industry. The Company continues to support and promote that industry, but its activities are predominantly charitable.

An organisation of glaziers was mentioned as early as 1368. The first charter was granted in 1637. The first mention of a hall (in Five Foot Lane off Queen Victoria Street) is dated 1601. It was destroyed in the Great Fire and not rebuilt. A new hall was opened in 1978. The modern Company gives prizes for stained glass design and assists churches with the repair of their stained glass.

The Goldsmiths' Company is one of the twelve Great Livery Companies of the City of London. It received its first charter in 1327 from Edward III. In 1339 a house in Foster Lane was purchased which became the site of the Company's hall. A second royal charter was granted in 1393. The hall was destroyed by the Great Fire in 1666 and rebuilt, and then rebuilt again in 1835. The Company had responsibility for the quality of gold and silver items. After 1478 these had to be marked in the Goldsmith's Hall (the origin of the term 'hallmark'). The Company founded Goldsmith's College.

The Haberdashers' Company was formed from a combination of the small wares business of the Mercers' Company and from the Fraternity of Hurers (the Cappers and Hatters). The first ordinances of the company date from 1371 and the first charter from 1448 (to the Fraternity of St Catherine the Virgin of Haberdashers of London, i.e. to the Fraternity created from the business of the Mercers' Company). The two fraternities were united by a charter of 1502. The company inherited the site of its hall on Gresham Street (formerly Maiden Lane) in 1478. The first hall was destroyed by fire in 1666 and rebuilt in 1668; damaged by fire and rebuilt in 1840; damaged by fire and rebuilt again in 1864; and completely destroyed by enemy action in December 1940. The present hall was completed in 1956.

Robert Aske (1619-89), a prosperous City merchant and member of the Haberdashers' Company, died without children. He left the bulk of his estate to the Haberdashers' Company for charitable purposes, including money to buy land in Hoxton, near the City of London, on which the Company was to build almshouses for 20 poor members of the Company, and a school for 20 sons of poor freemen of the Company. The remainder of the money formed the Haberdasher Aske's Foundation, a charity of which the Company is a trustee. Building work on the almshouses in Hoxton, Shoreditch, started in 1691, to designs by Robert Hooke, and the first pensioners entered in 1695. The almshouse buildings were demolished in 1824 and rebuilt in 1825. The almshouses were closed in 1873 to allow the school to expand, and become a school for girls and boys. The girls school was opened in 1875. At the same time land was purchased by the Foundation at Hatcham, and another boys school built. A girls school was added to this site in 1889. In 1944 these Hatcham schools became voluntary controlled grammar schools, in 1976 comprehensive schools, and combined in 1991 as a City Technology College. In 2004 the Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College and Haberdashers' Aske's Knights Academy were established. In 1898 the schools in Hoxton moved to two new sites, in Hampstead for boys, and in Acton for girls. In 1974 the two schools were reunited at a new site in Elstree. They became independent schools in 1976.

Thomas Aldersey established by letters patent a free grammar school in Bunbury, Cheshire, and endowed it with a preacher, master and usher, drew up the statutes of the school, and gave money to the poor of Bunbury and the Haberdashers' Company, who he entrusted with the running of the school. He also endowed the school with lands in Cheshire. The school was rebuilt in 1812. In 1902 it became a public elementary schol, and in 1958 a voluntary assisted primary school. It is now known as the Bunbury Aldersey Primary School, and has about 230 boys and girls. See the Charity Commissioners' Reports vol.X, pp.193-5.

William Adams, a wealthy London Haberdasher originally from Newport, founded a free grammar school in Newport in 1656. He appointed the Master and Wardens of the Haberdashers' Company to run it and provided estates in nearby Knighton to support it. It provided an education for 80 local boys, and it was equipped with an impressive library. The school currently has about 780 pupils. The Haberdashers' Company still maintains an active role, and nominates a significant number of the governing body.

In 1613 William Jones (d.1615), a prosperous merchant and Haberdasher, gave the Haberdashers' Company money for charitable works, and later bequeathed further sums. Monmouth Grammar school for boys was established, as well as an almshouse at Newland, Gloucestershire. The school was rebuilt in 1865, and the original foundation re-organised in 1891 to support a new girls' school and elementary school, as well as another boys' grammar school in Pontypool. The elementary school and the Pontypool school were transferred to County Council control in 1940 and 1955 respectively. In 1953 the almshouse was converted into 10 flats. Monmouth School and Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls acquired direct grant status in 1946. They became independent in 1976.

By his will of 1663 Throckmorton Trotman bequeathed £2000 to the Haberdashers' Company to build and endow a school. The Company purchased land in Bunhill Row and built a school, but borrowed back much of the bequest as a mortgage to rebuild their Hall, burnt in the Great Fire. The school took boys from the parish of St Giles Cripplegate, and, after its establishment as a parish, from St Luke's Old Street. In 1819 there were only 12 boys being educated. In 1883 the Metropolitan Board of Works took possession of the site, and the school moved to City Road. It was closed in 1899, and money from the bequest diverted to other schools supported by the Company.

The Merchant Taylors' Company, originally the 'Fraternity of St John the Baptist...called the Tailors and Linen Armourers of London', is one of the 'Great Twelve' livery companies of the City of London. The tailors received their first royal charter in 1327, and their charter of incorporation in 1408. The Company has been known as the Merchant Taylors since a charter of Henry VII of 6 January 1503. The Company is believed to have lost all direct contact with its trade during the 17th century. The Company's Hall has occupied the same site in Threadneedle Street since at least the 1340s.

The Company appears always to have had a large membership, and the membership records are extensive. There was also within the Company from at least the early 15th century until the late 17th century a separate, but dependent organisation for the Company's freemen (also known as 'yeomen') who had not achieved livery status. This was known from 1488 as the 'Bachelors' Company'. For a surviving minute and memorandum book of the 'Bachelors' Company' see Ms 34020. Membership of the 'Bachelors' Company was automatic for freemen of the main Company, so there were never any separate membership records.

Over the years the Company acquired extensive landed estates, either for charitable purposes (Trust property) or in its own right (Corporate property). The Company established Merchant Taylors' School from its own funds in 1561, for 'bringing up of children in good manners and literature'. It was always for boys only. Richard Hilles, the Master of the Company in that year, gave £500 towards the new school, but was not its founder. The Company has continued to govern the school up to the present day. Until the mid 20th century, there was a specially close relationship between the school and St John's College, Oxford, founded in 1567 by Sir Thomas White, Master of the Merchant Taylors' Company in 1535-6 and Lord Mayor in 1553-4. In particular, there were a number of closed scholarships from the school to the college. The President and Fellows of the college would normally travel to the school on 11 June (St Barnabas' Day) each year to elect suitable candidates. The school's first premises were in Suffolk Lane, in the parish of St Lawrence Pountney, where the Company purchased the Manor of the Rose. The staff in the early years comprised a schoolmaster and three ushers. The first buildings were destroyed in the Great Fire and rebuilt. In 1874 the school moved to Charterhouse Square, to the former buildings of Charterhouse School, which had recently moved to Godalming. In 1933 it moved again, to Sandy Lodge, Northwood, Middlesex. Because the school was funded by the Company entirely from its own resources, it was excluded from the '17th Report' (1827) of the Charity Commissioners which covers the Company's charities.

In 1413 the Company built seven almshouses for decayed tailors and their wives, believed to be the earliest such foundation in London. These almshouses stood in Threadneedle Street, on the west side of the church of St Martin Outwich, and were financed by charitable grants from John Churchman and the Bishop of Norwich. They appear to have escaped the Great Fire, but to have been discontinued by the Company soon after. In 1593 the Company also built almshouses for fourteen women on Tower Hill, on the north side of Rosemary Lane (now Royal Mint Street). The number of places was increased in 1637 to 26, and in 1767 the almshouses were rebuilt. In 1825 they moved to Lee in Kent, to a site then immediately north of Christopher Boone's almshouses, where they continue. The number of places was again increased, to 30. These almshouses were always funded from Corporate income, and should not be confused with Christopher Boone's almshouses, founded at Lee in the late 17th century and for which the Company acted as a trustee. In 1876 the Company in its corporate capacity purchased the redundant 17th century buildings of Boone's almshouses, which had recently moved to new buildings on a new site in Lee. The redundant buildings were then demolished, and the site added to the garden of the Company's almshouses, with the exception of the former chapel of Boone's almshouses, which was preserved in the south east corner of the garden of the Company's almshouses. In 1928 the Company's almshouses were opened to men as well as women. Confusingly, it seems always to have been possible for residents of the almshouses to also receive, on an individual basis, other Company pensions to which no accommodation was ever attached: see Mss 34162-4. For surviving lists of residents see Ms 34159 (1826-47); Mss 34162-3 (1829-1960). Other names may be discoverable from general series such as the Court minutes. The lists of Company almsmen and almswomen 1622-5 in Mss 34018/1 may also include the names of residents of the almshouses. Note that Mss 34100 and 34101, the two series of miscellaneous documents, contain further documents about the almshouses in Rosemary Lane and at Lee: see Ms 34100/147 (no.10), 151, 160-1, 163 and Ms 34101/29 (bundle 298). For plans of the almshouses in Rosemary Lane and at Lee see Ms 34214/2, 19. Further plans may be in the plan books (Mss 34216-23).

Musicians were employed in the City from 1334, with charitable ordinances from 1350, but the first charter to City minstrels was in 1469 (applying to the whole of England, except the City of Chester, and open to women as well as men). The charter was renewed in 1604, giving the Company protection against foreign and itinerant minstrels, and again in 1950. The text of the 1469 charter is given in Rymer's 'Foedera', available in the Printed Books Section of Guildhall Library, and an 18th century copy of the 1604 charter is contained in Guildhall Library Ms 3101.

The Company now provides a number of grants to students of the major music colleges in London, and membership includes a number of well known professional musicians.

The guild of needlemakers was incorporated by a charter granted in 1656. By the 19th century, the Company had dwindled and was revived by a group of enthusiasts in 1874.

There is evidence of a body of Wax Chandlers in 1330 when it collected money as a gift for the king. In 1348 four men were appointed to investigate the quality of wares, and in 1353 ordinances were entered into the Corporation's Letter Book G (held with the City of London Corporation's own records; also transcribed in Ms 9495). Their first charter was granted in 1484 and the grant of arms was made in 1485 and confirmed with supporters in 1530. The Company's operative charter was granted by Charles II in 1663 and, although it was lost during 'quo warranto' proceedings, a contemporary transcript survives in Ms 9498.

The Company is the oldest chartered livery company in the City of London, receiving its charter from King Henry II in ca. 1155-8 (Guildhall Library Ms 4621). It had control of weaving in the City of London, as well as Westminster and Southwark. The Company had a hall in Basinghall Street, in the parish of St Michael Bassishaw, until its demolition in the mid-19th century. The Company also held other properties in the City of London, as well as estates in Billericay and Shenfield in Essex.

Almshouses: William Watson (d. 1673) gave £200 towards the building of almshouses in Shoreditch. The almshouses (with 12 rooms) were opened in 1670. Richard Garrett of Wandsworth bequeathed £1,000 East India stock for the building of six almshouses at Elder Street, Porter's Fields for poor members of the Weavers' Company. In 1851 these almshouses were sold and new ones were erected at Wanstead. They comprised 24 dwellings (12 for men and 12 for women) and were ready for occupation in 1859.

The City of London was divided into wards for the purpose of government as early as Norman times. The wards had responsibility to keep the peace, supervise trade and oversee sanitation, and each ward has the right to elect an Alderman and Commoners to sit in the Court of Common Council.

One of the twenty-six wards of the City of London, bounded north by Cripplegate Ward Without, east by Coleman Street Ward, west by Cripplegate Ward Within and south by Cheap Ward. The ward contained one City parish church: St Michael Bassishaw.

The City of London was divided into wards for the purpose of government as early as Norman times. The wards had responsibility to keep the peace, supervise trade and oversee sanitation, and each ward has the right to elect an Alderman and Commoners to sit in the Court of Common Council.

One of the twenty-six wards of the City of London, fronting the River Thames, running west from Tower Ward to London Bridge. The ward with its quays on the water front was home to a large fish market. In addition, the ward contained five City parish churches: St Mary At Hill, St Margaret Pattens, St Andrew Hubbard, St George Botolph Lane and St Botolph.

The City of London was divided into wards for the purpose of government as early as Norman times. The wards had responsibility to keep the peace, supervise trade and oversee sanitation, and each ward has the right to elect an Alderman and Commoners to sit in the Court of Common Council.

One of the twenty-six wards of the City of London, divided into two portions Within and Without of the City wall, the gate through which gives the ward its name. Bishopsgate Ward Within contained three City parish churches: St Helen Bishopsgate, St Ethelburga, and St Botolph Bishopsgate, while the whole of Bishopsgate Without Ward is co-extensive with St Botolph Bishopsgate.