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Worshipful Company of Fishmongers

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File:Fishmongers-arms.gif
Arms of the Company

The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Company ranks fourth in the order of precedence of the Livery Companies, making it one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies.

History

The Company has an unbroken existence of more than seven hundred years - although it probably existed earlier, it received its first Royal Charter in the year 1272. A predecessor guild was fined as adulterine in 1154. It took the name the Stock Fishmongers' Company as the result of another Royal Charter of 1508. Then, in 1537, it combined with the Salt Fishmongers' Company into the Company of the present name.

The most famous Fishmonger is Sir William Walworth, who as Lord Mayor of London in 1381 ended the Peasants' Revolt by stabbing the rebel Wat Tyler to death at Smithfield in the presence of King Richard II.

In 1383 John of Northampton, Lord Mayor of London, persuaded the City's Common Council to declare that the Fishmongers had no power to monopolize the trade in fish, and that was confirmed by Parliament. However, in a Royal Charter granted to the Fishmongers by Richard II in 1399, all their privileges were restored. By the same Charter, they were to elect six Wardens, the number which continues to the present day.

Until the end of the fourteenth century the Fishmongers had their own Court of Law, called Leyhalmode, at which disputes concerning fish were judged by the Wardens of the Company.

From 1555 to the present day, the Company has acted as the trustee of Gresham's School, Holt.

In the early 17th century, the Company was granted lands at Ballykelly and Banagher in Northern Ireland, by the Crown. It remained a major landowner there until the 20th century, and the villages contain some of the most interesting buildings erected in Ulster by the Plantation companies (see The History, Architecture, and Planning of the Estates of the Fishmongers' Company in Ulster by James Stevens Curl).

In the year 1714, the Irish actor Thomas Doggett gave money to endow a boat race called Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race in honour of the new king, George I of the house of Hanover. The race was originally to be rowed annually on August 1 on the River Thames, by up to six young watermen who were not to be out of their apprenticeship by more than twelve months. The prize for the champion oarsman is a fine red coat with a large silver badge on one arm, bearing the white horse of Hanover and the word 'Liberty'. Since Doggett's death, the Fishmongers Company has organised this event annually, and it is now believed to be the world's longest continually-running sporting event and also the world's longest boat race - 4 miles, 5 furlongs, or 7,400 metres.

Functions

The Company is governed by a Prime Warden, five other Wardens and a Court of twenty-eight livery members.

Early in its existence, the Company acquired a monopoly of the sale of fish in the City of London. Today, this monopoly is no longer absolute, but under powers established by a Charter of James I in 1604, the staff of the Company (known as 'fishmeters') still inspect all fish coming into the City of London. This applies especially to Billingsgate Market, which is the largest fish market in the United Kingdom.

The Company is intimately concerned with salmon and fresh water fishing as well as shell fish throughout the waters of the United Kingdom, and it supports research and publishes books on fish, such as Fish and Shellfish and The Fishmongers' Company Cook Book. Thus, the Company continues many of its original trade duties, unlike some other City Livery Companies which have become entirely charitable or ceremonial institutions.

The Company is also a significant educational charity, and in particular is closely connected to Gresham's School (see below). It has long supported the City and Guilds of London Art School and the City and Guilds of London Institute.

The Livery numbers nearly three hundred and continues to include a good representation of working Fishmongers.

Liverymen of the Company are members of the City of London's Common Hall and thus can vote in the election of the Lord Mayor of London each year on Michaelmas Day (29 September) or on the closest weekday, and also in the election of two Sheriffs on every Midsummer's Day. Voting is by show of hands, but if any liveryman demands a ballot, this is to be held two weeks later.

Fish Hall

The Company's home in London is called Fish Hall, and the earliest recorded Hall was built in 1310. A new Hall, on the present site, was bequeathed to the Company in 1434. Together with forty-three other Company Halls, this one was burnt down in the Great Fire of London (1666), and a replacement Hall designed by the architect Edward Jarman opened in 1671. This Hall was taken down when the new London Bridge was constructed in 1827. The next Hall opened in 1834 and was designed by Henry Roberts, but his assistant Gilbert Scott made the drawings for the new building. After severe bomb damage during the London Blitz in December 1940, Fish Hall was restored by Austen Hall and reopened in 1951.

The Hall contains many treasures, including the dagger with which Lord Mayor Walworth killed Wat Tyler in 1381, Annigoni's first portrait of H.M. the Queen, a fine collection of seventeenth and eighteenth-century silver, an embroidered fifteenth-century funeral pall, two portraits by Romney, and river scenes by Samuel Scott.

Gresham's School

Since 1555, the Company has acted as the trustee of Gresham's School, in Norfolk, in accordance with the wishes of Sir John Gresham (1492-1556), Lord Mayor of London. Among other things, the Company provides more than half of the school's governors, including the Chairman of the Governing Body, which meets at Fish Hall in London.

Some Liverymen of the Guild and Company

Arms

The Arms of the Company are blazoned -

Arms: Azure three Dolphins naiant embowed in pale argent finned toothed and crowned or between two pairs of Stockfish in saltire argent over the mouth of each Fish a Crown or on a Chief gules three pairs of Keys of St Peter in saltire or

Crest: Upon a Helm on a Wreath argent and sable, two Cubit arms the dexter vested or cuffed azure the sinister vested azure cuffed or the Hands argent holding an Imperial Crown proper

Supporters: On the dexter side a Merman armed and holding in his right hand a Falchion and with his left sustaining the Helm and Timbre, and on the sinister side a Mermaid holding in her left hand a Mirror and supporting the Arms with her right hand, all proper

Motto: Al Worship Be To God Only

Note: In heraldry, naiant means swimming to the viewer's left, while embowed means curved like a bow. For the meaning of azure, argent, sable, and or, see Tincture.

The Company's motto is shared with Gresham's School.

See also

Sources

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