Worshipful Company of Shipwrights

The Shipwrights' Company is derived from the medieval Fraternity of St Simon and St Jude.

The Fraternity of St Simon and St Jude was founded in 1456 by the 'artificers of shipwrights in the city of London'. Ordinances of that year show that the Fraternity, which was open to men and women, was governed by a master and one warden. New members had to be of 'good name and fame', and paid 6s 8d or 40d on entry. Attendance at the annual mass and four quarter days was compulsory and members contributed towards the cost of dinners. A common box was maintained, from which loans could be made and alms given to poor brothers and sisters. Those receiving the livery were expected to bequeath a piece of plate or other valuable gift to the Fraternity. Members were not to tempt away another's apprentice or employ a stranger, and disputes were to be taken to the master in the first instance before resorting to the courts

Due respect was to be shown to all who had held office within the Fraternity, although this respect seems not always to have been mutual: additions made to the ordinances in 1483 talk of the decay of the Fraternity caused by 'simple and slothful wardens'. Further pronouncements were made in 1512 and ca. 1524. In this year, a list of wardens and members names eleven individuals, of whom two were women. In common with other predominantly religious bodies, it seems likely that the Fraternity of St Simon and St Jude was swept away as a result of the Chantries Act passed during the reign of Edward VI. However, new ordinances for the reform of the society of shipwrights dated ca. 1594 speak of the power of the master and wardens to search the brethren 'of that fraternity', suggesting that some sense at least of the brotherhood remained.

In 1605, the Company received its first charter and its grant of arms. At the same time, a Hall was established at Ratcliff, in Stepney, where the Company remained until ca. 1794