Carpenters' Company , Worshipful Company of Carpenters

The ordinances and charters of the Carpenters' Company gave the Court of Assistants power to regulate the carpentry trade by inspecting workshops and punishing carpenters who infringed Company regulations. The earliest references to the Company's regulation of the trade appear in the Court minute books (dating from 1533), and cases range from Company members employing "forrens" (carpenters from outside London), to the Court appointing "daysmen" and umpires to adjudicate where serious breaches of workmanship were claimed. The relationship between the Company and organisations representing related trades was also at times difficult, as craftsmen from other trades occasionally took on work reserved for carpenters. The seventeenth century in particular saw rivalries flourishing, and a lengthy and expensive legal dispute between the Carpenters' and Joiners' Companies concerning delimitation of their respective trades continued for over fifty years, until settled in 1672. In 1670 the Carpenters', Joiners' and Shipwrights' Companies all objected to the incorporation of the Sawyers, and the Guild did not establish itself beyond the preliminary stages.

           From the 19th century the Company has worked to promote the carpentry trade, through the support of educational ventures and competitions. The Company's Building Crafts Training School was founded in 1893, and technical examinations, lectures and exhibitions on woodworking and joinery were regularly held at Carpenters' Hall. The Company also helped fund a joint School for Woodcarving with King's College, London under the auspices of Professor Banister Fletcher (Master of the Company in 1893). After the Second World War, interest in the technical examinations declined, and in 1955 the Company launched an annual Carpenters Craft competition "to encourage excellence in practical craftsmanship". A challenging set piece was offered and efforts made to attract high-quality applications from craftsmen in Great Britain and Australia.  In 1972, the award was amalgamated with the competitions run by the Incorporated British Institute of Certified Carpenters, later the Institute of Carpenters, and continues today. 
     The Carpenters' Award was first presented in 1971, as 'an annual award for the very best work in joinery or other woodworking'. Run by Liveryman Terence Mallinson, the Company gave its support to raise the profile of the award and provided a venue for the award ceremony. In 2001 the awards were renamed the 'Timber Industry Awards', reflecting the increasing number of industry related sponsors, and in 2003 were re-launched and renamed the 'Wood Awards'. A Master Certificate Scheme was also launched in 2003 by the Company in conjunction with City & Guilds of London Institute, the Joiners & Ceilers' Company and the Institute of Carpenters.  The Scheme awards the titles of Master Carpenter, Master Shopfitter and Master Joiner as part of a continued effort to raise and acknowledge the level of skill of craftsmen in the construction industry.