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In the year 1333, in London England, a group of carpenters founded their own labour organization. They called it the Carpenters' Guild of London and it is now one of the oldest existing social institutions in Great Britain. Part of it's charter reads as follows: "Guild of Carpenters of London. This is the Book of Ordinances of the Brotherhood of Carpenters of London made the first day of September, in the seventh year of the reign of our King Edward III after the Conquest." It continued saying that, "the good men carpenters had arranged a Fraternity to be held in the churches of St. Thomas of Acon and of Saint John the Baptist of Holywell beside London." The guild required each member to attend mass in midwinter, to pay dues amounting to one penny per man. The ordinances also provided for attendance at funerals of deceased members and made provisions for the guild to pay for the services for poor members. Sick members were to be assisted , as were those who were out of work. The guild was to be governed by four wardens, elected annually, who would assess dues four times a year. The Carpenters' Guild received a formal charter from the Crown in 1477 - 144 years later. The carpenters made themselves a coat- of- arms which is shown on this page. The full title of the brotherhood was now "The Master Wardens and Commonality of the Mistery of Freemen of the Carpentry of the City of London." It was reorganized to consist of a Master, three Wardens, and a body of Freemen. In order to guard against any attempts to treat this Royal Grant as being void or out of date, the members had the charter reaffirmed by each subsequent ruler. This was customary at the time, for in the reign of Charles III, all city companies were declared illegal, including that of the carpenters. However, the charter was reaffirmed by Queen Mary. The guilds of London, came, in time, to be called "companies." The duties of the Carpenters' company as defined in its charter were to superintend the construction of wooden buildings and to prevent the use of substandard materials. |
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