| |
| | Freedom of the City and the London Livery Companies |
 | | London research reports are men termed drapers, merchant taylors, mercers (general merchants), grocers, fishmongers, skinners (fur traders), leathersellers, butchers, cordwainers (shoemakers, fine leathers), haberdashers (hatmakers), watermen, scriveners (writers of court letters and legal documents) and goldsmiths. |
 | | Drapers Company research, examination of these records, some going back to the 1400s, can result in a treasure trove of information, both genealogical and historical. |
 | | Although the scope of their activies was more varied than those of labor unions, the guilds were essentially "closed shops" until a variety of "reformation" acts were passed in the 1800s, and until 1835, anyone wishing to become a City Freeman first had to become a member of one of the City livery companies. |
| www.combs-families.org /combs/records/england/lnd/freedom.htm (1398 words) |
|