464
NOTES AND QUERIES. tn s. vi. DEC. 14, 1912.
started his side -profession of slaver, and
wrote to Winthrop as follows :
" Wee have heard of a dividence of women and children in the bay and would be glad of a share, viz., a young woman or girle and a boy if you thinke good. I wrote to you for some boyes for Bermudas, which I think is considerable." C.M.H.S., Series IV., vol. vi. p. 95.
J. B. WILLIAMS. (To be continued.)
THE RECORDS OF THE CITY
LIVERY COMPANIES.
'THE subjoined references, giving the dates .at which the Wardens' Accounts, Court Minutes, and Admission Registers of many of the City Livery Companies commence, so far as I have been able to ascertain them, may be deemed of sufficient value to be set out in the pages of ' N. & Q.'
These valuable records, now gradually and all too slowly being made available by means of printed volumes of excerpts and transcripts, have in the past formed the subject of several communications. Thus at 4 S. ii. 415 TEWABS inquired (in vain !) as to the records of the Brewers' Company, drawing attention to Herbert's unfortunate omission, in his ' History of the Twelve Great Livery Companies,' to give " the precise dates at which the extant registers of apprenticeships and freemen in each Company respectively begin." At 9 S. i. 285 MR. C. MASON made a general inquiry, and suggested that the Companies should have their Registers printed, or at least render them uniformly easy of access to inquirers by means of MS. transcripts ; while at p. 412 of the same volume ESSING- TON referred to the appearance of extracts from the Skinners' Company's archives in serial form.
These correspondents confined themselves uniformly to the Registers, while I have sought, in the present instance, to deal with the Accounts and Minutes also, as being of at least equal value with the Regis- ters themselves ; and have in addition noted the fact if successional lists of Masters, &c., of each individual Company have appeared in print.
Apothecaries. Barrett remarks at p. 2 of his ' History ' (1905), in regard to the incorporation of the Company in 1617, that " the Minute Books are perfect as far as they go." The date of commencement of the Accounts does not appear to be given. Passing mention of the officers is made from year to year.
Armourers and Brasiers. Morley's ' Ac-
count ' (1878), p. 38, sets out that
" the earliest Court book commences with about
twenty pages of scanty memoranda picked out
chiefly from a thin old folio of vellum leaves,
which are followed by consecutive Minutes. The
earliest date is 1413. The early entries, being
much damaged, are therefore very obscure.
The Accounts commence with 1497."
Bakers. From Young's ' Catalogue ' (1895) it appears that the Accounts date from 1491, the Minutes from 1537, and the Registers of Apprentices and Freemen from 1565 and 1631. (Mr. Young has issued a list of the Masters from 1481 during the present year.) Further, in regard to the now obsolete Brown Bakers' Company, the same author sets out that the Bakers' Company possess their Audit Book for 1570- 1613 and their Minutes for 1615-46.
Barber Surgeons. - The Accounts date from 1603 onward (gap 1674-1715), and the Minutes from 1551 (gap 1651-89), as appears from Young's 'Annals' (1890), a list of the Masters being given for 1375-91, and of the Masters and Wardens from 1415 onward.
Basket Makers. It appears from Bobart's 'Account' (1907) that the records of this Company date generally from the period of the Great Fire.
Broderers. The Minutes date from 1679, as appears from Holford's ' Chat ' (1910), no mention of the commencing date of the Accounts being apparently made.* A list of the Masters from 1679, and of the Free-, men from 1694, is set out, as is a complete list of the Court and Livery for the indi- vidual year 1688.
Butchers.
" The oldest Book of Records in the possession of the Company, rescued with others from the disastrous fires which have destroyed their premises and property, dates from 1592 [to 1646], It is a book of Accounts." Daw's ' Sketch,' 1869, p. 22.
Carpenters. The Accounts date from 1438 onward, with the exception of breaks for the periods 1448-52 and 1517-45, and the Minutes from 1533, as appears from Pocock's edition of Jupp's ' Account,' 1887, p. 358, a list of the Masters being given from the period of the earliest record.
Clockmakers. From the ' Account ' of Atkins and Overall (1881) it appears that the Company's Minutes and Registers date from the foundation in 1632, though whether the Accounts are likewise perfect
- They probably begin no earlier than do the
Minutes.
