On this day in 1600 it was recorded in the Court Minutes ‘…that George Langton apprentice to Mr. Ffrederick shall be committed to the compter for his irreverent behaviour towards his master’
Sidney Young’s Annals of the Barber-Surgeons notes that ‘apprentices always seem to have been a fruitful source of trouble both to their Masters and to the Company, and numerous are the entries of their floggings and imprisonments.’ The ‘compter’ referred to was the place of imprisonment, a small prison used primarily for debtors but also for other misdemeanours such as Langton’s and may have been the one located at Wood Street.
Whilst George Langton it appears did not have an illustrious future Christopher Frederick went on to serve as Master in 1609 and 1616. In July 1607 he was appointed one of the Examiners in Surgery and was Sergeant-Surgeon to James I. His son Sir John Frederick also served as a Master of the Company, as well as Lord Mayor of London. Despite his accomplishments Christopher was, according to Sidney Young, not popular in the Company and a subject of mistrust due to his being foreign-born and an ‘alien’. His portrait hangs at Barber-Surgeons’ Hall.
