Barbers’ Historical Society

The Barbers’ Historical Society was started in 1987 as the Historical Group, under the chairmanship of Past Master Sir Francis Avery Jones. The aim of the Group was to expand the knowledge of the history of the Company by involving members in original research thereby encouraging greater use of its ever-expanding library and remains its aim today. The Group meets 4 times a year and meetings either take the form of a presentation either by a BHS member or visiting speaker and buffet supper in the Hall, or an outside visit.

Upcoming events:

July 17 2025 11am-3.30pm. BHS Summer Outing led by Liveryman Richard Pusey, with a walk around the historic sights of Ingatestone in Essex, lunch in the Summer Parlour of Ingatestone Hall and a guided tour of the house, occupied by the Petre family since the mid-1500s.

September 8 2025 11am-2.00pm BHS walk led by Reverend Canon Jack Noble, around the site of London’s medieval Jewish cemetery at Barbican and St Giles Cripplegate. Followed by a pub lunch.

November 10 2025 6.30pm-9pm. BHS meeting with:

Liveryman Richard Pusey on 'John Freke and Hogarth’s Reward of Cruelty.' Hogarth's engraving is set in an Anatomy theatre incorporating some elements of the old Barber Surgeons' Hall, and:

Philip Ball on 'Mudlarking on the Thames.' It’s not what you find, it’s what you find out - what the recovered objects tell us about people’s lives through London’s history

The Society has 3 main aims:

To commission a programme of research and presentations for its quarterly meetings
To encourage members of the Company to use the archives and library for research and to assist the Archivist
To publish at intervals folios of research and to record public presentations and other work done by members

The current officers of the Society are:

Chairman: Sara Cooke
Secretary: Richard Pusey
Treasurer: Derek Adams