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London Metropolitan Archives

WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF DYERS


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0074 CLC/L/DC

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF DYERS

Date(s): 1578-1997

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 218 production units

Name of creator(s): Worshipful Company of Dyers

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Dyers' Company is long established in the City with mediaeval origins in the trade of cloth and leather dyeing. Hazlitt's "Livery Companies of the City of London" mentions a reference to the company in 1362 and also says that the Dyers are held to rank as the first of the Minor livery companies. The Dyers' Company shares the distinction, with the Vintners' Company, of being the only institution, apart from the Crown, which may keep swans on the Thames. The company's original hall was in Upper Thames Street and was destroyed in the Great Fire. A subsequent hall was also seriously damaged by fire in 1681 and the company suffered in the bombing raid of December 1940 when many records were destroyed (though Hazlitt commented in 1892 on the scarcity of Dyers' Company historical documents).

The Dyers' Company had almshouses at Ball's Pond Road, Islington (1851-1938) and at Crawley in Sussex (1938-).

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Worshipful Company of Dyers, 1578-1997, including freedom admissions from 1650 and lists of apprentices from 1649; as well as charters and ordinances; Court minute books; financial accounts; Clerk's diary and memoranda books; Clerk's letter books; swan upping books; papers relating to charities; deeds and other papers relating to property and estate management.

Also records relating to the Company almshouses, comprising: register of applicants for admission, 1881-1980 (Ms 32847); register of almspeople, 1883-1981 (Ms 32848); and gatekeepers' diaries, 1906-38 (Ms 32849). Further references may be found in other Dyers' Company records such as minutes and accounts.

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.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English and Latin.

System of arrangement:

As the archive is large and complex, and to assist the user, the catalogue has been arranged in sections representing sub-groups each with an archival classification code as follows:
CLC/L/DC/A Constitutional records,
CLC/L/DC/B Court records,
CLC/L/DC/C Membership records,
CLC/L/DC/D Financial records,
CLC/L/DC/F Clerk's records,
CLC/L/DC/G Charities and estates.

Conditions governing access:

These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 1998.

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. For further information please see LMA Research Guide "Consulting Archives at Guildhall Library", available at http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Records_and_archives/Visitor_information/free_information_leaflets.htm

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright: Depositor.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Almost all of the company's records were deposited in the Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library in 1953 and 1997, though the charters are retained in the present hall on Dowgate Hill (photographic copies are available in this collection). The Manuscripts Section merged with London Metropolitan Archives in 2008. The records were catalogued by various members of staff over many years.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Publication note:

For further information relating to Livery Companies, particularly using the company records for family history, please see Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section "Livery Company Membership Guide" and Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section "Leaflet Guides to Records: Searching for Members or those apprenticed to Members of City of London Livery Companies" (both available online).

For a general introduction to the history of the City of London Livery Companies please see entry in The London Encyclopaedia, ed Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert.

DESCRIPTION NOTES Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Oct-09


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Almshouses | Residential buildings | Buildings | Architecture
Apprenticeship records | Documents | Information sources
Dye industry | Chemical industry | Manufacturing industry | Industry
Dyeing | Textile industry | Manufacturing industry | Industry
Dyers | Manufacturers | Industrial personnel | Personnel | People by occupation | People
Freedom admissions | Documents | Information sources
Freedom of a city | Rights and privileges | Administration of justice
Freemen | People by roles | People
Swans | Wild fowl | Birds | Animals | Zoology
Trade guilds | Guilds | Associations | Organizations
Dyes
Vertebrates

Personal names

Corporate names
Worshipful Company of Dyers

Places
City of London | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Crawley | Sussex | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Islington (district) | Islington | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe