Worshipful Company of Butchers

A guild of butchers was first mentioned in 1179/80, but no reference definitely links this guild with the later mediaeval mistery of butchers. Entries in the City of London Corporation's Letter Book D (held with the records of the City of London Corporation) show binding of apprentices and admission of freemen (both named) for 1309-11. Despite its early existence, the Butchers' Company is 24th in livery company precedence. The Butchers' Company's first charter was granted in 1605. A further charter in 1637 gave the court power to fine any person trading as a butcher in the City and within 2 miles of it, who was not free of the company.

The predominant membership of the company has continued to be persons connected with the butchery trade. The first hall was the parsonage house of St Nicholas Shambles which was destroyed in the Great Fire. Thereafter the company decided to build on their freehold land in Pudding Lane. The second hall, built there in 1668, was destroyed by fire in 1829 and replaced by a hall in Eastcheap whose site was bought by the Metropolitan and District Railways in 1883. The company then bought new premises in Bartholomew Close near Smithfield Market. The hall there was bombed in 1944 and a new hall opened in 1960.