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Carpenters' Company

Administrative records of the Carpenters' Company

IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 2812 F

Held at: Carpenters' Company

Title: Administrative records of the Carpenters' Company

Date(s): 1862-2003

Level of description: sub-fonds

Extent: 8 volumes, 16 boxes

Name of creator(s): Carpenters' Company | Worshipful Company of Carpenters

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

The first mention of a Clerk to the Company appears in the records in 1483, and the appointment of a Clerk first appears in 1487, at an annual fee of 33s 4d in order to deal with the increasing administration of the Company. Aided by the Beadle, the Clerk supervised the day-to-day running of the Company, as is still the case today.

In 1751 the duties of the Clerk were clearly set out in the Court minutes. He was responsible for taking Court and committee minutes, attend the Master and Wardens when they collected rents, keep the Wardens' accounts, to go on the annual visit to Godalming, make out bonds and rentals for the Renter Warden and pay an assistant on Court days to fill up indentures. He was also required to write up annually the names of the Master and Wardens on vellum to be put up in the Hall. For this he received a salary of £40 a year, lodgings at the Hall and a Christmas gift of £10.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Administrative records of the Carpenters' Company, kept or created by the Company Clerk, 1862-2003, (note that the older records of these series, from c.1250, are held at the Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section, see Related material for details) comprising Clerk's Notes, 1978-2003; out-letter books, 1862-1888; reports to the Livery, 1901-1951; records relating to Company entertainment and events, namely minutes of Entertainment and Wine Committees, 1902-1929; menus, programmes, and orders of service, 1876-2003; general personnel files, 1940-2003; files concerning recruitment of staff, 1936-1983; individual staff files, 1939-2003.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

As outlined in the scope and content.

Conditions governing access:

Access to the archives is at the discretion of the Company. The records are available for consultation by prior appointment only. Contact The Archivist, Carpenters Hall, Throgmorton Avenue, London EC2N 2JJ.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies of material can be supplied, subject to copyright restrictions and suitability of the item for copying.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Catalogue available at Carpenters' Hall.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Created by the Carpenters' Company. Some records in the series were transferred to the Guildhall Library in 1948.

Immediate source of acquisition:

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

See also Provisions Books [section D: Finance]

Records in the series held at the Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section, Aldermanbury, London, EC2P 2EJ: bond by the Clerk, 1686 (ref: 8333), Bible extracts, [1250], comprising six leaves from a mid-thirteenth century English manuscript of the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, found in the binding of the Warden's Accounts for the years 1614-1647 (ref: 4345).

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Archivist's note: Sources: A History of the Carpenters' Company B W E Alford and T C Barker (Allen & Unwin, 1968). Compiled by Julie Tancell and Alison Field as part of the London Signpost Survey Project.