The Company’s first royal charter was granted on 24 February 1462 by the King Edward IV to ‘our beloved, honest and free men of the Mystery of Barbers of our City of London, exercising the mystery or art of surgery.’ The charter was very important for the Barbers, for several reasons:
- It incorporated the Company, making it legally separate from its members, and with ‘perpetual succession’
- The Company was given the right to hold land, and to govern its own affairs through two elected ‘Masters or Governors’
- The Company was given the right to make ‘statutes and ordinances’ for barbers in London, and to approve any surgeon wishing to practice in the City, and
- It was given responsibility for the ‘scrutiny, correction and government’ of surgeons within the City and its suburbs, and the superintendence of ‘instruments, plasters and medicines and their recipes’, with powers to direct fines and imprisonment.
More information about the Company's charters can be found here on the members section of the website.
