Records of the Worshipful Company of Masons, 1550? - 1955. The records were compiled from around 1550, but they include a schedule of deeds 1463-1676. They also include registers of freedom admissions and apprentice bindings from 1663; and records relating to the Irish estates, 1609-1910.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING ACCESS: These records are stored at the Guildhall Library site rather than the LMA Clerkenwell site. Researchers wishing to access these records should do so at the Guildhall Library Rare Books table. The Library is open Monday to Saturday, 9:30 to 16:45. Researchers will need to have an Archives History Card or a Library Readers Card. An archivist will be available at Guildhall Library on Thursday mornings to answer any queries.

Records of the Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks. The 1940 bombing destroyed much of the archive. However, there is a biographical index of Company members from 1400 (Ms 3704) and extracts from court minutes, 1610-1926 (Ms 3706), both compiled by William MacMurray from Company records before 1940. Also weekly reports of baptisms and burials in City parishes; papers relating to property and scrapbooks of collectanea for the history of the Company.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING ACCESS: These records are stored at the Guildhall Library site rather than the LMA Clerkenwell site. Researchers wishing to access these records should do so at the Guildhall Library Rare Books table. The Library is open Monday to Saturday, 9:30 to 16:45. Researchers will need to have an Archives History Card or a Library Readers Card. An archivist will be available at Guildhall Library on Thursday mornings to answer any queries.

The records of the Worshipful Company of Silkthrowers comprise a grant of arms, ordinances and charter of incorporation, all dated 1629.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING ACCESS: These records are stored at the Guildhall Library site rather than the LMA Clerkenwell site. Researchers wishing to access these records should do so at the Guildhall Library Rare Books table. The Library is open Monday to Saturday, 9:30 to 16:45. Researchers will need to have an Archives History Card or a Library Readers Card. An archivist will be available at Guildhall Library on Thursday mornings to answer any queries.

Records of the Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers, including registers of freedom admissions and apprentice bindings from 1551, and title deeds dating from 1249.

The archives held in the Library have been compiled from the early 16th century. However they include photographic negatives of charters dating from 1462 (Ms 24947) (the original charters have been retained for display by the Company). Access to the negatives will not normally be granted - they are to be used only for making photographic prints.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING ACCESS: These records are stored at the Guildhall Library site rather than the LMA Clerkenwell site. Researchers wishing to access these records should do so at the Guildhall Library Rare Books table. The Library is open Monday to Saturday, 9:30 to 16:45. Researchers will need to have an Archives History Card or a Library Readers Card. An archivist will be available at Guildhall Library on Thursday mornings to answer any queries.

Records of the Worshipful Company of Tobacco Pipe Makers and Tobacco Blenders, comprising: copy of the 1663 charter and bye-laws 1821 (Ms 1712 and Ms 2821), and miscellaneous papers relating to Company administration, 1799-1846 (Ms 3601).

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING ACCESS: These records are stored at the Guildhall Library site rather than the LMA Clerkenwell site. Researchers wishing to access these records should do so at the Guildhall Library Rare Books table. The Library is open Monday to Saturday, 9:30 to 16:45. Researchers will need to have an Archives History Card or a Library Readers Card. An archivist will be available at Guildhall Library on Thursday mornings to answer any queries.

Records of the Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers, compiled from around 1400, but including deeds dating from ca. 1200, and copies of the ordinances of 1359 and 1371. They also include registers of freedom admissions and apprentice bindings from 1596; charters; Court and Committee minute books; account books; papers relating to charity and charitable bequests; and records relating to property owned by the Company including estates in Ireland.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING ACCESS: These records are stored at the Guildhall Library site rather than the LMA Clerkenwell site. Researchers wishing to access these records should do so at the Guildhall Library Rare Books table. The Library is open Monday to Saturday, 9:30 to 16:45. Researchers will need to have an Archives History Card or a Library Readers Card. An archivist will be available at Guildhall Library on Thursday mornings to answer any queries.

Records of the Worshipful Company of Wheelwrights, including charter, 1670 (Ms 5868); ordinances, 1670, 1714 (Ms 5869-70); grant of arms, 1964 (Ms 19596), court minutes, 1766-1967 (Ms 3847), and a declaration book of masters, wardens, assistants and freemen, 1883-1940 (Ms 3848).

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING ACCESS: These records are stored at the Guildhall Library site rather than the LMA Clerkenwell site. Researchers wishing to access these records should do so at the Guildhall Library Rare Books table. The Library is open Monday to Saturday, 9:30 to 16:45. Researchers will need to have an Archives History Card or a Library Readers Card. An archivist will be available at Guildhall Library on Thursday mornings to answer any queries.

Records relating to Livery Companies, 1644-1985. IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING ACCESS: These records are stored at the Guildhall Library site rather than the LMA Clerkenwell site. Researchers wishing to access these records should do so at the Guildhall Library Rare Books table. The Library is open Monday to Saturday, 9:30 to 16:45. Researchers will need to have an Archives History Card or a Library Readers Card. An archivist will be available at Guildhall Library on Thursday mornings to answer any queries.

• Abstracts from the minute book of the Company of Surgeons, 1745-1783.

• Scrapbook of miscellaneous printed items, facsimiles and copies of documents relating to the Barber Surgeons' Company, 17th-19th centuries.

• Transcripts of original charters, bye-laws etc relating chiefly to various London livery companies, made for Sir Francis Palgrave as Commissioner of Enquiry into the Municipal Corporations.

• Various legal documents including apprenticeship indentures and leases.

• Rules or bye-laws for the government and regulation of the freemen of the Company of Watermen and Lightermen of the River Thames, their widows and apprentices and the boats, vessels and other craft to be used or worked by them, set down by the court of Mayor and Aldermen; official copies, signed by the Town clerk and examined by a High Court judge.

• A complete list of the apprentices bound to the freemen of the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London; also a complete register of the freemen of the same, with index.

• Catalogue of the pictures and statuary in Drapers' Hall, with descriptions of the stained glass windows and biographical notices of benefactors of the Company, 1884.

• An account of the Worshipful Company of Drapers and its benefactors, 1885.

• Parish clerks' certificates of searchers' reports on viewing dead bodies, stating the name of the person and the cause of death, 1815 - 1834.

• Notes, press cuttings and extracts from books, articles, statutes and Founders' Company archives relating to weights and measures, with special reference to the right of the Company to size and stamp brass weights, compiled ca. 1854.

• Alphabetical list of freedom admissions and apprenticeship bindings within the Worshipful Company of Poulters, 1620-1694.

• List of the Master [sic] Wardens and Court of Assistants and Livery of the Worshipful Company of Drapers, 1831.

• Extracts from records of the Skinners' Company and from minutes of Court of Common Council relating to the interests of the Skinners' Company in the Irish plantation, late 17th century.

• Notes on parish clerks and the Parish Clerks' Company, ca. 1321-1940, by Harry McClintock Harris (1857-1959), parish clerk of St Stephen Walbrook and past master of the company. Compiled ca. 1940. Much of the source material for these notes was destroyed by enemy action in 1940.

• Alphabetical list of apprentice bindings in the Coachmakers' and Coach Harness Makers' Company, 1677-1800, compiled in 1937 by G. Eland and F. Wall.

• Index of apprentices bound, freemen and liverymen admitted, and assistants, wardens and masters elected in the Coachmakers' and Coach Harness Makers' Company, 1803-93; compiled 1985.

• Notes on the Wardens' accounts of the Founders' Company, 1497-1681 (now GL Ms 6330/1-2). Include an analysis of company income and expenditure throughout the period.

• Fellowship Porter badge, issued October 1873, of a Robert Slaymaker, with an acknowledgment of his payment of the association's admission fee and a copy of his freedom certificate of the City of London (September 1873).

• Petition from the Watermen on the Thames to Oliver, Lord Protector, and the Privy Council. The petition is on behalf of the watermen and many hundreds of poor men complaining that the ballast officers are preventing watermen and many others who gain a living thereby from providing river ballast for ships. It further alleges that the ballast engines used by the ballast officers are harmful to the river. The document includes circa 700 names, roughly half of which are signatures and the other half are names and marks (of illiterate men). The petition is not dated but it can be dated between 1653 and 1658 as it is addressed to the Lord Protector.

Records of Tower Ward, Corporation of London. The records comprise minutes and accounts, rate assessments, wardmote papers and other administrative and legal papers, and papers of the benevolent fund. The records were catalogued by members of Guildhall Library staff at various dates.

Papers of the Peachey family, consisting of official and family correspondence and papers, financial records, legal papers, and artefacts.

Papers of the Timms family of West Dulwich, comprising confirmation card; Church of England Temperance Society (West Dulwich Branch) membership card; and pen and ink drawings by a pupil of JG Timms.

Records of the Time and Talents Association, also known as the Time and Talents Guild. This collection dates mainly from 1903 to the 1950's although it does include annual reports up to 1977. The records relate to the activities of the original London branch of Time and Talents. Reports from other branches can be found in issues of Time and Talents News (A/TT/140-151). The Review and the Time and Talents Newsletter were both suspended during the war and replaced by a printed newsletter from Nov. 1939 (A/TT/203-216).

Records include minutes of the Executive committee, Council, Association committee and Settlement management committee (known as war emergency committee 1939-1943); correspondence and papers relating to the Bermondsey settlement; minutes of the Matfield Court Committee; photographs of the Matfield Court Rest Home (also known as Bermondsey Rest Home); minutes and papers of the Thatched cottage committee; deeds relating to premises in Bermondsey and Dockhead; annual reports and accounts; publications, publicity material, scrapbooks and memorabilia.

Legal documents, acquired by the solicitor's office in the course of their work, relating to the Manor of Stanwell, including: abstract of title for the Manor of Stanwell, parties: Lucius Cary, Viscount Falkland and John, Earl of Dunmore, 1576-1725; abstract of title for lands in the parish of Stanwell, parties: Richard Willshaw and Lord Dunmore, 1677-1726; abstract of title for arable lands in the common fields of Stanmore, parties: Richard Blunt and the Earl of Dunmore, 1714-1737; abstract of tithe for copyhold lands in Stanwell, some belonging to the Earl of Dunmore, 1712-1780; and memorial of release for lands in the parish of Stanwell, 1736.

Also deed of company to establish a bank, to be called the 'Middlesex and Surrey Bank' at Staines, 1810; marriage settlement for lands in Staines, Highgate, Hornsey and Shenley Bury (Hertfordshire), 1844; copy of probate of will, regarding a house at Stamford Hill belonging to Thomas Gudgeon and copy of information at the Exchequer relating to a prosecution for evasion of stamp duty on bottles of soda water, 1813.

Printed sheet of orders issued by the Committee for the Militia of the County of Middlesex, ordering lists of able-bodied men to be made, and 'watches' to be raised and armed when necessary.

Return of volunteers of the Royal Spelthorne Volunteer Infantry; giving the number of companies, the number in each rank and the number of 'effectives'. Signed by William, Duke of Clarence, Colonel, Bushy House Headquarters.

Lease of premises in Bethnal Green by Henry Merceron for use as an arms and clothing store by the Queen's Own Light Infantry Regiment of Tower Hamlets Militia. Includes schedule of fixtures and fittings and a marginal plan.

Maps of the parish of Harrow on the Hill, surveyed for the purposes of the parochial assessment, 1851-1852.

Papers relating to a bazaar held to raise funds for the Convalescent Home for Children, Highgate.

Papers of the Rycaut, Shorediche and Churchward families, including histories of the families; family letters; despatches and notices; press cuttings; historical notes on Ickenham church; papers and photographs relating to Ickenham manor house; and papers of Paul Rycaut Stanbury Churchward relating to his military service in South Africa and India.

Records of the Canons Park Estate Company Limited, 1640-1929, including printed copy of the abstract of title of the Canons Park Estate Co to "all that capital messuage or mansion house called "Canons" with the park gardens, pleasure grounds, lodges, stables and outhouses, buildings, lands and hereditaments thereto belonging situate in the parishes of Little Stanmore and Great Stanmore", 1860-1898; lease of Canons Manor by Sir Robert Stone, 1640; various assignments of term and conveyances; letter from James Drake of Canons Park to the Parish Overseers suggesting that 100 poor children of the parish of Little Stanmore should be employed in the lace making industry, 1813; report on local charities by Committee appointed by Great Stanmore Parish Council to Sir John Fitzgerald, Chairman of Great Stanmore Parish Council, 1929; legal documents and accounts relating to land in Wirksworth, Stafford, Derbyshire and Lincoln.

This collection comprises the title deeds of various small pieces of land in Enfield (and also Herts, Essex and Whitechapel) which have, at different times in the past, become the property of the parish of Enfield for charitable purposes, together with leases and appointments of trustees. They were kept in the parish chest until the end of the nineteenth century, as is shown by an old label noting that a bundle of deeds was removed from the parish chest in 1903. The deeds have an exceptional interest and value for the history and topography of Enfield.

Photographs of the Middlesex Civil Defence Corps including exercises, competitions and social events.

Correspondence and papers of the Technical Advisory and Service Company Limited.

Institute of London Underwriters records as follows: General Meetings minutes (Ms 31840); annual reports (Ms 31841); Committee minutes and agendas (Mss 31842-4); minutes of various lesser committes and sub-committees (Mss 31845-62); registers of members (Ms 31863); ledgers and cash books (Mss 31864-7); circulars (Mss 31868-9); clauses books (Ms 31870); out-letter books (Mss 31871-80); and miscellaneous papers (Mss 31881-97). The 1884 Memorandum and Articles of Association can be found in vol. 1 of the registers of members (Ms 31863).

A cut-off date of 1960 was applied, and volumes or series (other than Circulars) continuing after this date may only be consulted by readers who have written permission from the donor: ask a member of staff for more information.

Records of the Institute of Meat, a training body for the UK meat industry, comprising constitutional documents, minutes, annual reports and accounts, administrative and estate papers.

United Tanners Federation sub-committee minutes relating to trade after the First World War.

Records of the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths, 1494-2006. Records include charters; ordinances; court minutes; financial accounts; apprentice bindings registers; freedom admission registers; and deeds relating to Company property. Please note no access is allowed to Ms 2881/27-40 without permission from the Company.

Collection also includes records of the Fraternity of St Eligius (MS 02883 and 05535, ca 1424 and 1496, 2 production units). An inventory of goods belonging to the Fraternity of St Loye at Blacksmiths' Hall dated 1496 survives in a volume of Blacksmiths' Company wardens' accounts [GL Ms 2883/1]. It includes three garlands [caps] bearing an image of St Eligius, which almost certainly were used to crown the incoming master and wardens. This is apparently the last documented reference to the Fraternity and its subsequent history is unknown.

Ms 5535 was deposited in the Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library by the Farriers' Company in 1949. Ms 2883/1 was amongst records deposited by the Blacksmiths' Company in 1929 and 1946. Both volumes now form part of the archive of the Blacksmiths' Company Catalogued at various dates by members of Guildhall Library staff.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING ACCESS: These records are stored at the Guildhall Library site rather than the LMA Clerkenwell site. Researchers wishing to access these records should do so at the Guildhall Library Rare Books table. The Library is open Monday to Saturday, 9:30 to 16:45. Researchers will need to have an Archives History Card or a Library Readers Card. An archivist will be available at Guildhall Library on Thursday mornings to answer any queries.

Records of the Corporation of Trinity House, including: copies of charters, grants and patents; Court minutes; Board minutes and agendas; minutes of various committees; financial records including ledgers, journals, cash books, salaries; correspondence; administrative files; letters patent to collect tolls; papers relating to lighthouses including committee minutes and inspection books; notices to mariners; reports by Michael Faraday and other scientists regarding improvements to lighthouses; war diaries detailing damages to beacons and buoys; papers relating to pilotage including committee minutes, pilot's registers and examinations in pilotage; reports on collisions; papers relating to management of estates and charity work; lists of elder and younger brethren; photographs; and papers relating to the Royal Trinity House Volunteer Corps.

In the mid 19th century, the Corporation of Trinity House replaced minutes of committees with "agendas". These "agendas" are not agenda papers with a list of items for discussion. They are stripped down minutes which record those elder brethren attending the committee meeting, items coming to committee, the decisions taken and further action, if any, required. They do not record any of the committee's discussions.

The papers have suffered from fire in 1666 and 1714 and from bombing in 1940. Though the court minutes survive from 1660, many other series of records only survive from the nineteenth century. Because of the many ways in which the Corporation of Trinity House has touched on British maritime life, the records which survive are still very rich and extremely varied.

There is a thirty year closure rule on the Trinity House archive and researchers must ask the Corporation for permission to consult any records less than thirty years old.

Lighthouse plans have not been deposited, although LMA holds copy catalogues of the plans which are still held by the Corporation of Trinity House (CLC/526/MS30131A, available on the library shelves in the LMA Information Area). Please ask at the enquiry desk for details or see our leaflet about lighthouse history sources.

Nominal rolls for various City of London and Essex Home Guard Battalions; including:

• 1st City of London Battalion;
• 2nd City of London (Civil Service) Battalion;
• 6th City of London (Silvertown) Battalion;
• 7th City of London Battalion;
• 8th City of London (Hackney) Battalion;
• 9th City of London (Essex: Walthamstow and Chingford) Battalion;
• 11th City of London (Dagenham) Battalion;
• 13th City of London (West Ham) Battalion;
• 15th City of London (Port of London Authority) Battalion;
• 19th City of London (2nd General Post Office) Battalion;
• 20th City of London (3rd General Post Office) Battalion;
• 21st City of London (4th General Post Office) Battalion;
• 72nd City of London Battalion, C Company;
• 102nd City of London (Rocket Anti-Aircraft Battery) Battalion.

Nominal rolls for Home Guard Battalions, comprising:

• 52nd Essex Battalion, M Company;
• 53rd Essex Battalion;
• 54th Essex Battalion.

Records of the 49th (Post Office) Rifle Volunteers, later the 24th (Post Office) Rifle Volunteers, comprising: regimental orders, 1870-1871 (Ms 09408), and muster roll books, 1870-1909 (Ms 09409).

The records of the Accident Offices Association largely comprise minutes (mostly unsigned) with some accounts. The latter also relate to some of the other bodies with which the association was concerned. Initially, the business of the association was conducted through its chairman, the General Purposes Committee and the Rating Committee (from 1907). Committees were subsequently established to deal with particular areas of business, for example the Motor Offices Committee and Fidelity Offices Committee (in 1913). The work of these main committees was often carried out by standing committees; sub-committees were set up to deal with particular issues and aspects of the areas of business concerned. Additional committees were established as time went on, such as the Employers' Liability Committee (in 1947). An Emergency Powers Committee was set up in August 1939 to run the association during the Second World War; it functioned until June 1947. This explains the gaps in the main series of committee minutes between 1939 and 1947.

Records of the British Insurance Association, mainly minutes of General Meetings and Committee meetings. Many of the minutes are unsigned copies. In addition, many minutes are accompanied by related papers, such as agendas, reports and correspondence. The collection also includes extensive correspondence and circulars. The records are held off-site and require 48 hours notice for access.

Minutes and financial records of the Coal Pool, later the Colliery Pool, an association for sharing colliery insurance claims.

Minute books and circulars of the Consequential Loss Committee, part of the Fire Offices' Committee. Please note that permission must be obtained from the Association of British Insurers for access to records less than 75 years old. Contact details may be obtained from staff.

The records of the South African Accident Council include copy minutes, meetings papers and circulars of several of the South African accident associations, which were sent back to the South African Accident Council in London. These include records of: the Cape Accident Offices Association; the Transvaal Accident Offices Association; the Workmen's Compensation Insurers' Association of South Africa; the Accident Insurance Council of South Africa; the Southern Rhodesian Workmen's Compensation Insurers' Association; and the Accident Offices Association of Southern Africa.

Minute books of the London Continental Fire Insurance Committee.

Minute book of the London West Africa Insurance Committee.

Minute book of the Trading with the Enemy Joint Insurance Committee, 1939-1941.

Records of the Paper Trade Protection Association, comprising a Trade Advisory Committee minute book and prospectuses.

Access is restricted to records less than 30 years old where specified and 24 hours notice is required for access to all the records.

Records of the Bordeaux Agents Association, wine sellers and importers, including minutes and rules of the association.

Minutes of the British Overseas and Commonwealth Banks Association.

Records of the Corporation of Insurance Brokers, comprising constitutional documents, minutes, annual reports and accounts, financial material, membership records and other administrative papers.

Records of the Federation of Commonwealth Chambers of Commerce, which comprise annual reports, minutes and reports of conferences.

Records of the Foreign Banks and Securities Houses Association including minutes, correspondence, annual reports, circulars and newsletters. Many of the correspondence files concern matters of general interest to the Association members, such as fraud and money laundering, taxation, liquidity, securities, mergers, foreign exchange and currency, supervision and regulation, banking codes of practice, legislation, and so on.

Access to records less than 30 years old should be sought from the Association of Foreign Banks (contact details may be obtained from staff).

Records of predecessors of the Grain and Free Trade Association, as follows:

Cattle Feeding Stuffs Central Advisory Committee;
Edible Oil Association;
London Oil and Tallow Trades Association;
London Cattle Food Trade Association;
London Copra Association;
London Corn Exchange Importers' Association;
London Corn Trade Association;
London Port Area Grain Committee;
National Association of United Kingdom Oil and Oilseed Brokers;
National Federation of Corn Trade Associations;
United Associations Limited;
National Lubricating Oil and Grease Federation.

The records include minutes and agendas, financial accounts, cash books, ledgers, papers relating to arbitration and appeals, registers of members and samples books.

Minutes of preliminary meetings of the Cattle Feeding Stuffs Central Advisory Committee.

The records of the London Corn Trade Association comprise minutes of the executive committee, minutes of annual general meetings, minutes of the American grain committee, the Argentina committee, the African and South American Pulse committee, the South African committee, the North African committee, the Persian Gulf committee, the Black Sea grain committee, the Mediterranean and Adriatic committee, the China and Manchurian feeding stuffs committee, the East India grain committee, registers of members, financial material including cash books and ledgers, and papers relating to arbitrations.

Also papers of the London Grain Futures Association, including minutes of the Council, minutes of the annual general meetings, annual reports and registers of members.

National Lubricating Oil and Grease Federation records comprise: minutes, 1921-1922 (Ms 23241), ledger, 1953-1964 (Ms 23242) and audited accounts and balance sheets, 1959-1964 (Ms 23243).

Records of the Shakespear Lodge, Number 99, comprising bye-laws, minutes, accounts, records of members, correspondence and related papers.

ACCESS TO THESE RECORDS REQUIRES THE WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE LODGE, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF MS 29718 AND MS 29728 WHICH ARE FREELY AVAILABLE.