Carpenters' Company , Worshipful Company of Carpenters

The membership or freedom of the Company could be obtained in one of three ways: by apprenticeship (also called service or servitude) on completion of a term of apprenticeship to a freeman of the company, by patrimony, by being the legitimate child of a male freeman born after his admission to the freedom, or by redemption, which entailed the payment of a fee. The consent of the Masters and Wardens of the Company was required to become an apprentice carpenter, and the 1455 Ordinances stated the cost of becoming bound was to be 1 shilling. In 1508 this was increased to 3 shillings. If a carpenter had been apprenticed to a master carpenter of the City of London he could join the Carpenters' Company by servitude. Some apprentices did join the Company, but many did not. Once a member of the Company, freemen could be promoted to the livery, the next level of Company membership, which in turn could lead to membership of the Court of Assistants and the offices of wardens and Master. During the sixteenth century, the freemen of the Company not promoted to the livery were termed 'yeomen', being the less prosperous journeymen who worked for wealthier craftsmen (or members of the livery) for wages, but the term had fallen into disuse by the eighteenth century. Members of the livery were required to pay quarterly membership dues, known as 'quarterage', to the Company. Membership of the Company through patrimony no longer exists, having been removed as a method of admission in 2003.