On this day
A look through the Barbers' Company archive and library to highlight important and interesting events during the Company's history.
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On this day in 1722 the Court Minutes recorded that ‘The Court takeing into their Consideration Whether they wou’d renew the Lease of their Bargehouse at Lambeth of the ArchBishop of Canterbury by Virtue of a Lease which will expire in Aprill next The Court in regard the Company have no barge And That the […]
June 30, 2023
On this Day
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 […]
July 31, 2023
On this Day
On this day in 1676 Edward Arris, distinguished surgeon and Master of the Company in 1651, died two years after his wife Mary. Their marriage had lasted 60 years and produced 23 children, only one of whom (Thomas) survived their mother. A 1651 portrait of Arris and Sir Charles Scarborough performing an anatomical dissection remains […]
July 31, 2023
On this Day
On this day in 1747, after the separation of the Barbers and Surgeons it was recorded in the Court minutes that “The Master…had employed Mr Whiston the Bookseller to putt the Company’s Library in order and to make a Catalogue and valuation thereof. And that Mr Whiston had appraised the same at Twenty Guineas And […]
July 31, 2023
On this Day
On this day in 1635, the Court ordered that £10 be paid to the Churchwardens of the Church of St Alban, Wood Street, towards its rebuilding. This payment is recorded in the Wardens’ Great Accompt Book covering 1603-1659 (archive ref: D/2/1) and a photograph of the entry can be seen at the bottom of this […]
March 20, 2023
On this Day
On this day in 1709, the Company received the Ordinances which were compiled in January 1708 and examined, approved, signed and sealed by Lord Cowper, Lord Chancellor; Sir John Holt, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench; and Sir John Trevor, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. A transcript of the Ordinances can be read here […]
March 20, 2023
On this Day
On this day in 1645, “Mr. William Kings … freely gave for the ornament of this House a giant Tortoiseshell whereon at his own charge he hath given order for the Company’s arms to be painted”. This tortoise or turtle shell now hangs in the Reception Room at Barber-Surgeons’ Hall. Curator Emeritus, Liveryman Richard Palmer, […]
March 6, 2023
On this Day
On this day in 1733 it was recorded in the Court minutes that Ambrose Dickins, Claudius Amyand, William Petty, John Shott, William Parker and Luke Maurice should receive proposals for building a cupola in the Hall parlour and report the same to the next Court of Assistants. There is no further mention of the cupola […]
March 7, 2023
On this Day
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, […]
March 6, 2023
On this Day
On this day in 1617 a letter to the Company from King James I, was read out in the Court meeting. The minute reads: Upon the receipt of His Majesty’s letter under His Highness’s signet to this Company directed dated 13th of this instant month of January which being read at this Court thereby desiring […]
January 30, 2023
On this Day