Leathersellers` Federation of Schools

Transcription

Leathersellers’
Review 2010-11
C O N T E N TS
2
Master's Review
4
Court and Livery News
6
Obituaries
7
Staff News
8
Charities Review
10
Estates Report
12
Wine Committee Trip
13
ICLT (University of
Northampton)
14
Garlick Hill Offices
14
Art Acquisition: painting
by William Marlow
16
Richard Thornton,
Entrepreneur &
Benefactor
19
Royal Charter Artist
Identified
20
Colfe’s School
21
Leathersellers’ Federation
of Schools
22
Election Day Service
23
A Tale of Two
Benefactors: our
almshouses
26
Queen’s Dragoon Guards
26
HMS Cornwall
27
A Battlefield Tour of the
Ypres Salient
27
HMS Tireless
28
Sport
30
Young Livery
31
Committees - Calendar
The Leathersellers’ Company
21 Garlick Hill
London EC4V 2AU
Telephone 020 7330 1444
www.leathersellers.co.uk
Printers: Trident Printing, Hastings
Telephone: 01424 858267
2
hen I addressed the Installation Court
twelve months ago, I said that I wanted
to emphasise the importance of fellowship
amongst the Livery during my year. I am not
sure that I meant to imply that 2011 should
be a year of weddings, but many Leathersellers seem to have taken “fellowship” onto
a new plane, and on page 7 are listed some
of the marriages which have taken place on
my watch, with several more imminent.
These have included pastmasters, liverymen,
and freemen, and the sons and daughters of
our staff. Maybe it was the William & Kate
effect! I wish them all a very happy future.
By the time my year began, it was clear
we were soon to be on the move out of St
Helen’s Place, and of course this was to have
something of an impact on the year. We
were still able to enjoy our usual cycle of
business meetings and dinners throughout
2010, but then began the period of ‘the last
of this’, and ‘the first of that’. It made for a
fascinating year for the Master, and I hope
for the Livery, as every event became, in its
own way, unique in the history of the
Leathersellers.
It would be fun to list them all, but space
precludes this! Maybe two stand out. On
Wednesday 9th February we held the very
last dinner in the (now) old Hall. All liverymen were invited, and happily the great
majority were able to come to this very
special occasion. Of course, this meant there
were far too many to be seated in the Livery
Hall (dining room)! With great imagination,
and a lot of hard work, our staff rose to the
challenge, and we all sat down to a very
memorable meal – which gave a nod to the
menu enjoyed by our predecessors at the
first dinner, in the then new Hall, exactly 61
years earlier. The speech I made proved the
easiest of the year: there were a lot of thank
you’s to be given, and each named member
of staff received thunderous applause, welldeserved in every case.
A couple of months later, we had successfully completed the move to our smart
new offices in Garlick Hill, and aside from
W
regular Court and Committee meetings and
lunches across the road at Vintners’ Hall, our
peripatetic wanderings for the various livery
dinners began. And the first – with a bang –
was to entertain the Lord Mayor in his own
home at the Mansion House on 27th April.
This was notable in many ways: the first time
“since records began” that Leathersellers had
dined at Mansion House; the largest gathering of liverymen at dinner that anyone could
remember; and liverymen were invited to
bring a guest of their choice – of either sex!
We also welcomed the Lady Mayoress, as
well as the consorts to accompany the
Sheriffs. Will it become an annual event?
This is not for me to say ... but I think not!
Apart from the social and fellowship side,
the business of the Company continued as
usual throughout the move. Much extra work
was required to acquire the freehold for the
whole of the site which will eventually become
the new development at 100 Bishopsgate,
and this was successfully completed in March.
Similarly we have now achieved vacant
possession and planning permission at 5-7
St Helen’s Place, where the new Hall will be
built to architect Eric Parry’s now welladvanced designs.
Elsewhere, as is reported in more detail in
C OV E R I L L U S T R AT I O N S
Front cover: the
silver trowel with
ivory handle, used
by Richard Thornton
to lay the first stone
of the new almshouses at Barnet in
1837.
Back cover: the inscription on its
reverse, added later, recording
Thornton’s generosity. The trowel
remained in the Thornton family
for 110 years until his descendant,
Major Robert Lawrence Thornton
(Master 1933-34), kindly donated
it to the Company in 1947.
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 1 0 / 2 0 11
See articles on pages
16-18 and 23-25. The
portrait on page 17 shows
Thornton holding the plans
for the new almshouses,
this trowel lying on the
table beside him.
T H E
M A S T E R ’ S
this Review, our charitable giving continues
across a wide spectrum of good causes,
and recently the Court agreed to increase
our grants next year from £1.15 million to
£1.5 million. This significant increase was
not undertaken lightly, but the Court are
confident that the new level is sustainable,
and better matched to the income of the
Charitable Fund. During the year, I visited
Northampton to see the new Museum of
Leathercraft, Treloar College in Hampshire
to see the inspirational work undertaken
there educating some of the country’s
most severely disabled young people, and
to the Mary Rose in Portsmouth, shortly to
be re-housed in its splendid new museum.
These are just three examples of some of
the many charities which the Leathersellers
are proud to support.
The Company’s commitment to education has increased significantly in recent
years, most notably with the now wellestablished partnership of Colfe’s with its
neighbouring comprehensive secondary
school, Conisborough College; and at the
Leathersellers’ Federation of Schools in
Lewisham, where the third school,
Prendergast Vale College, opens its doors
to pupils later this year. As a long-serving
governor at Colfe’s, I have been proud to
take a particular interest in this aspect of
our Company’s work. The mutual support
between the maintained and independent
school sectors is a hot topic at the
moment, and the Leathersellers are in the
top tier of livery companies playing a very
significant role in this – something in
which we can and should take pride. My
thanks to all liverymen who give their
time as Governors, and if you wish to
consider offering your services at any of
our schools in this most worthwhile of
duties, please make yourself known.
The question I am most often asked,
towards the end of my Master’s year, is:
what was the highlight? Well, of course
there have been a great many, often very
different. But if only allowed one, it would
be my memory of the Last Post ceremony
at the Menin Gate in Ypres. As the report
on page 27 explains, we toured the Ypres
Salient war graves and sites on our way
home from Epernay. However, over 54,000
Allied dead have no known grave, and
each of their names is recorded on the
impressive memorial at the Menin Gate
(a further 34,984 names are inscribed on
the nearby Tyne Cot Memorial, which we
also visited). Ever since it was first built in
1927, each evening, at 8 pm, the Last Post
has been sounded. The ceremony also
involves the laying of wreaths and reading
of prayers, these days with a large
gathering of on-lookers. It
was my privilege, as
Master Leatherseller, to
undertake these solemn
duties which included
reading the moving
R E V I E W
epitaph attributed to John Maxwell
Edmonds:
When you go home, tell them of us, and say:
For your tomorrow, we gave our today.
Throughout my year I have had the
constant support of the Court, the Livery,
the staff, and my Wardens, not to mention
my daughter Laura and various Mistresses.
I thank them all, and know that Miles
and Tessa Emley will enjoy the
same huge honour that it
was my privilege to have
bestowed on me as
Master Leatherseller.
Nigel Pullman
The Master with his daughter Laura,
who joined the Livery in June
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’
R E V I E W 2 010 / 2 011
3
MATTHEW PETER ETTIENNE
PELLEREAU
Second Warden
atthew, the elder
son of a MajorGeneral in the Royal
Engineers, was born in
Aldershot in 1951.
After attending
Wellington College
and seeking to become
a Chartered Surveyor,
he gained a BSc at the
College of Estate
Management, Reading
University.
In 1976 his uncle,
Tony Garnar (Master,
1982-83) and Sir
Kenneth Newton
(Master, 1977-78)
supported his application to become a
Freeman by Redemp-
M
MILES LOVELACE BRERETON EMLEY
Master 2011-2012
orn in 1949, Miles Emley was educated In
Oxford, at St. Edward’s School followed by
Balliol College. He became a Freeman of the
Leathersellers’ Company by Redemption in 1976
and was admitted to the Livery in 1979.
On leaving Oxford in 1972, Miles worked for
N M Rothschild & Sons Limited as a corporate
financier, becoming a director of the firm in 1982.
In 1989 he joined UBS Phillips and Drew to head
up the firm’s UK Corporate Finance Department.
He left UBS in 1992 to join St Ives plc, one of the
UK’s leading printers, of which he became
Executive Chairman the following year. He became
non-executive in 2007 and retired from the board
in April 2011. Since 1998, he has also been a
non-executive director of Marston’s PLC, the
leading regional brewer and pub company.
His leisure interests include reading, the visual
arts and music, and he is a keen follower of
hounds. Miles has been married since 1976 to
Tessa, daughter of the late R E C (‘Copper’) Powell
(Master 1975-76), and has three children: Oliver,
Katie and Alexander. Oliver and Alexander were
admitted to the Livery in 2005 and 2009
respectively. Miles and Tessa have lived on the
Hampshire/Berkshire borders since 1986 and have
a holiday home in Umbria.
B
4
tion. He
joined the
Livery in
1978.
A career in
Commercial Consultancy followed, initially
in London with Jones
Lang Lasalle, Drivers
Jonas and Donaldsons.
Then after moving to
Hampshire he became
Senior Partner of
Pilgrim Miller and
Partners Fleet in 1985.
Matthew Pellereau Ltd
in Camberley was
established on Bastille
Day in 1995.
Matthew married
Philippa in 1977 and
they have
three
children,
Liveryman
Thomas (Tom,
The Apprentice winner
2011 - Lord Sugar’s
Partner), Liveryman
Harriet and Sarah.
His interests include
tennis, golf, cricket,
history and politics.
Matthew is currently
President of the
Winchester Conservative Association, having
been the Chairman
when Steve Brine MP
regained the seat for
the Conservatives at the
2010 General Election.
returned
to Cullompton,
Devon,
where he
and his
father developed the
Padbrook Park
Golf and Country Club
on the site of the
family farm. Together
they built and ran this
business until 2004
when it was sold to
new operators. Whilst
now managing rental
properties in the
Exeter area, Richard
has also returned to
his farming roots and
set up a
successful smallholding
enterprise
rearing
specialised
breeds of traditional British pigs
and sheep.
Away from this,
Richard’s interests
include wildlife conservation, adventure travel
(he recently made a
successful ascent of Mt
Kilimanjaro), and he
can regularly be found
in the local antique
auction rooms finding
hidden treasures!
RICHARD JOHN CHARD
Third Warden
ichard Chard was
born in 1961 and
is the son of Past
Master John Chard
(Master 1991-92). He
became a Freeman by
Patrimony in 1983 and
was admitted to the
Livery in 1987. He
was educated at
Blundells School,
Tiverton, Devon, and
from there went on to
study Hotel and
Institutional Management both in the UK
and the USA.
After several years
working within the
industry around the
country, he finally
R
ANTHONY WATSON
Fourth Warden
ony Watson was
born in 1945 and
educated at Campbell
College in Belfast. He
went on to study for a
BSc in Economics at
Queen’s University,
Belfast, obtained a
Diploma in Security
Analysis from the New
York Institute of
Finance and then
qualified as a barrister
at Lincoln’s Inn,
becoming a Bencher
there in 2002. He was
admitted a Freeman
and Liveryman of the
Leathersellers’ Company by Redemption in
2007. In 2009 he was
T
awarded
the CBE
for services to the
economic
re-development of Northern
Ireland.
Tony is currently a
Company Director of
several Companies
including Lloyds Banking Group, Vodafone
Group, Hammerson
plc and Witan
Investment Trust, and
is also Chairman of
Lincoln’s Inn Investment Committee.
He lives near Bishop’s
Stortford in
Hertfordshire
and is
married
with three
grown-up
children, Edward,
Tom and Tilly, and
four grandchildren,
Anna, Chloe, Wilfred
and Sebastian. He
enjoys golf, tennis and
ski-ing, and in former
days played rugby for
London Irish. A sports
watching enthusiast,
he is a member of the
MCC, and also has an
interest in history,
particularly military
and Irish history.
N E W A R R I VA L S
e are pleased to announce the births of the following four babies:
W
On 26 September 2010, Georgia Natasha Katie, daughter of Liveryman
Robert Pound and Tess
On 1 October 2010, Henry Michael, son of Liveryman James Boston and
Gwendolen
On 6 December 2010, Samuel Barnaby, son of Liveryman Oliver Nicholson
and Karen
On 31 January 2011, Scarlett Amelia Scott, daughter of
Liveryman Hugh Skinner and Kirstie
S T E WA R D S
ictured above (left to right) are three of our
four Stewards for the year, Patrick Hollis, Tom
Carter and Alistair Tusting. Patrick Hollis is the
younger brother of Nick Hollis and a greatnephew of Sir Claud Hollis (Master 1945-46).
He became a Freeman in 1986 and lives in
Sutton, Surrey. Tom Carter is the son of David
Carter (Master, 1997-98), and was made a
Freeman in 1987. A Training Manager, he lives
near Presteigne in Wales. Alistair Tusting is the
fifth generation of his family to work for the wellknown leather manufacturing firm of Tusting.
The son of John Tusting OBE (Master, 1990-91),
he was admitted to the Freedom in 1985, and
lives near Bedford. The fourth Steward is Martin
Phillips, but his work as an airline pilot prevented
him from being present when this photograph was
taken. Martin is the son of Tim Phillips and
grandson of Alderman DRH Hill (Master, 196465), and lives in Putney. All four Stewards were
admitted to the Freedom by
Patrimony and all have been
Liverymen now for 21 years.
P
MASTER’S GIFT
surprise gift to the Company from the Master, Nigel
Pullman, was this superbly-executed artwork by Martin
Millard. Nine intricate watercolour vignettes capture the
essence of our Sixth Hall, including a view of the Livery Hall
set out for dinner and of a Court meeting in the Reception Room.
Smaller scenes show the Library, the Assembly Room with our Royal
Charters on display, the entrance lobby, two of our display cabinets
containing a selection of our treasures, the stained glass window of
King Henry VI, and the exterior of the main entrance flanked by the
Company’s ‘beasts’. This makes a wonderful, unique and permanent memento of our Sixth Hall. Currently on the wall of the
Meeting Room in our Garlick Hill premises, we intend to place it
in a suitable position in the Seventh Hall.
A
5
A D M I S S I O N S & R E T I R E M E N TS
his year we
welcome one new
member onto the
Court of Assistants,
Gavin Bacon. Gavin
comes from the wellknown family of
tanners and was
admitted as a Freeman
by Servitude in 1981,
proceeding onto the
Livery in 1985. He is
the son of the late
Colin Bacon (19322010), who was a
Liveryman for forty
years. Gavin is a
solicitor working for
Farrers, and lives in
Dorset with his wife
Joanna and their two
children.
Two distinguished
Assistants retired from
the Court this year.
George Nicholson
was admitted to the
Livery in 1961 and
succeeded his father,
Joe Nicholson (Master
1973-74), on the Court
in 1990. He repres-
has also played an
active part in our local
Ward Club, the
Bishopsgate Ward
Club, of which he was
President in 2009.
T
George Nicholson
ented the Company on
the City & Metropolitan Charity for over
twenty years. He has
also been a Trustee of
the Colfe Almshouses
in Lewisham and a
Governor of Bacon’s
School in Bermondsey.
Elected Master in
2002, George was
able to initiate the
Company policy of
acquiring works of art
for the Hall. He was
delighted when his old
Regiment, the QDGs,
was adopted by the
Company, and was
recently appointed a
Trustee of the Regimental Museum. He
Master for
1987-88, and
it is now our
sad duty to
report the
death of his
younger
brother, John
(‘Tim’) Robert
Douglas
Scriven. Tim
died peacefully on 14th
April, shortly
before his
79th birthday. Our
condolences go to all
his family.
The son of leather
merchant Charles
Douglas Scriven
(Master 1961-62), Tim
Four of our new Freemen proudly display their
City of London Freedom Certificates at the
Guildhall. Left to right: Jessica Hardy, Camilla
Bacon, Murray Craig (Clerk of the Chamberlain’s
Court), William Wapshott and Thomas Barrow.
David Curtis has
also served on the
Court for 21 years,
and was elected as
Master for the year
2000-01. His financial
acumen and experience as a banker have
made him an invaluable member of the
Finance Committee
and Investment SubCommittee for many
years. He has also
played a key role in our
Company’s involve-
ment with education,
in particular through
Colfe’s School, where
he was a Governor for
over thirty years
(1977-2008) and
Chairman of the Board
of Governors for seven
years.
David’s twin brother,
the Revd Peter Curtis,
is also retiring after 53
years on the Livery. For
many years our
Company’s Honorary
Chaplain, Peter served
as Warden in 1983.
We wish George, David
and Peter a long and
very happy retirement.
We welcome eight
new Liverymen this
year: Jonathan Blott
(son of James Blott);
Arabella Cooke
(daughter of our previous Clerk, Jonathan
Cooke); Aisling
Shannon (daughter of
Bill Shannon); Laura
Pullman (daughter of
Nigel Pullman, Master
2010-11); Toby Barrow
(son of James Barrow);
Jonathan Loxston,
who is a leather
manufacturer based in
Somerset; Serena
Cheng (a Governor of
Colfe’s School) and
Victoria Bailey
(daughter of David
Bailey).
We have had a
was born in May 1932
and educated at
Winchester College,
going on to study
History at Magdalene
College Cambridge.
Tim continued his
interest in education
through his appointments as a Governor of
three prestigious
schools: Colfe’s,
Malvern Boys College
and Malvern Girls
College. His working
career was spent with
Morgan Crucible and
Spencer Stuart.
Tim was made Free
by Patrimony in June
1953 and became a
Liveryman later the
same year. In 1979 he
was admitted to the
Court, and served as
Master for 1994-95.
He will be particularly
remembered for his
erudite, insightful and
humorous contributions
during his time on the
Court. His knowledge
of wine made him an
asset to the Wine
Committee, and his love
of music enriched our
Election Day services.
Tim’s engaging
personality and sense
of fun prevailed in spite
of prolonged illness
during his life, and he
will be sorely missed by
all who knew him.
Charles Hugh Towers
(1931-2010)
David Curtis
O B I T UA R I E S
John Robert
Douglas Scriven
(1932- 2011)
ast year’s Review
included an obituary
for Richard Scriven,
L
6
e regret to report
the death of
retired Liveryman Hugh
Towers on 8th December
2010, at the age of 79.
Admitted a Freeman by
Patrimony in 1952, he
followed his father,
uncle and two elder
brothers onto the Livery
in 1953, and served the
office of Steward in
1971. For much of his
life Hugh worked for
the family firm of glass
bottle manufacturers,
Lewis & Towers Ltd, at
Edenbridge in Kent. We
send our condolences
W
WEDDINGS
bumper crop of new
Freemen in the past
year, with no fewer
than eleven being
admitted. Ten of these
became Free by
Patrimony: Amy and
Jessica Hardy
(daughters of Alan
Hardy), Samuel and
Zoe Strong (son and
daughter of our Honorary Chaplain, Revd.
Christopher Strong),
John Tusting (son of
William Tusting), Lucy
Williams (daughter of
Mark Williams),
Camilla Bacon
(daughter of Julian
Bacon), Thomas
Barrow (son of Christopher Barrow), William
Wapshott (son of
Nicholas Wapshott),
and Alastair Russell
(son of Ian Russell).
Alliott Cole, a venture
capitalist and work
colleague of Past
Master Anthony
Collinson, was admitted a Freeman by
Redemption.
to all his family, including his brother, retired
Liveryman Captain
Alexander Towers RN.
Stephen Geoffrey
de Clermont
(1942-2010)
y sad coincidence,
Liveryman Stephen
de Clermont also died
on the same day as
Hugh Towers, 8th
December 2010, following a short illness.
He was 68. Made Free
by Patrimony as the
son of Geoffrey de
Clermont, he joined
the Livery in 1971
B
n last year’s Review we
only had one wedding
to report. By contrast,
matrimony seems to be in
the ascendant this year,
and not just in royal
circles! From amongst
those on the Livery, we
know of three weddings
where, in each case, it is the bride who is a
Leatherseller: Sophie Williams married Anthony
Collett at Alderbury, Wiltshire, on 4 June 2011
(pictured above); Victoria Bailey married Robert
Arnold in Winksley, North Yorkshire on 2 July
(pictured below); and Kate Swanson is due to
marry Paul Hogarth on 8 October in Hampton,
Middlesex. In addition, on 4 June, the same day
that Sophie Williams got married, another Sophie,
Sophie Barrow, daughter of Past Master Charles
Barrow, married Bahbak Miremadi at St James the
Greater church in Eastbury, Berkshire. Victoria
Bailey’s brother, Andrew Bailey, also got married
this year, in Brazil on 4 March, to Marielle Marques.
Last but by no means least, Michael Biscoe
(Master, 2003-04) married Joan Harper in New
York, with a celebratory party in London on 3
February – one of the final events to take place in
our old Hall.
Congratulations to all the above – and apologies
if any other weddings have escaped our notice!
I
and served as Steward
in 1987. Stephen was
the son and grandson
of leather merchants,
but chose a different
career path himself,
initially in property
development and then
running a well-known
coin dealing business.
A keen coin collector
himself, he became
one of the country’s
leading numismatists,
with a particular expertise in coins of the
Middle East. He also
had a lifelong interest
in cricket and was the
founding Chairman of
the Sussex Cricket
Museum and Educational Trust. He leaves
a wife, Jane, and
three daughters, to
whom we offer our
condolences.
n going to press
we were sorry to
hear of the death on
24 August of Neil
MacEacharn, Clerk
from 1981 to 1993.
We send our condolences to his family,
especially Maureen his
wife. A full obituary
will appear in the next
Leathersellers’ Review.
O
Staff at the Mansion House dinner
S TA F F N E WS
uring the past year we said goodbye to four
members of staff: our Head Chef, Patrick
Moureau; Assistant Chef, Oumar Sarr; Barbara
Rougvie, one of our Hall cleaning staff; and John
Clayton, Assistant Maintenance Engineer. We wish
them all well for the future. Three staff members had
additions to their families: Edwyn Claude Michael
was born to Becky Vincent in January; in April
Geoff Russell-Jones and his wife Demi had a
third child, Katherine Summer; and Toni Hearnden
gave birth to Ruby in August. Lynne Smith joined
us to cover for Becky and Toni’s periods of
maternity leave. Our Clerk’s daughter, Zoe SantaOlalla, is getting married in Marrakech in
September, while Carole Smythe’s daughter Kerry
and her fiancé Jonathan have fixed a wedding
date of 1 October.
D
Patrick’s cuisine being inspected!
Rt. Hon. Owen
Paterson MP
T
he political care
er of one of ou
r Liverymen,
Owen Paterson,
has continued to
rise with his
appointment in M
ay last year as th
e
Se
cretary of
State for Norther
n Ireland and hi
s subsequent
appointment as a
Privy Councillor.
Owen has been
MP for North Sh
ropshire since 20
07. Born in
Shropshire, he stu
died History at
Co
rpus Christi
College, Cambrid
ge before goin
g
on to the
National Leather
sellers’ College at
No
rthampton
(now the ICLT). He
then joined the fam
ily leather
business, the Briti
sh Leather Compa
ny
,
be
coming
Managing Directo
r in 1994. He wa
s President of
COTANCE, the Eu
ropean Tanners’
Confederation,
from 1996-98. Ow
en has been a Liv
eryman for 21
years and despite
his many politica
l
co
mmitments,
entailing frequen
t trips to Norther
n
Ireland, he
was able to atten
d this year’s Serv
ices Dinner.
7
CHARITIES REVIEW
Leather! Leather! Leather!
ow can we do more to support the
leather trade? This is a question the
Charities Department has been asking. Of
course, the Company has made great
investments over the years in the
British School of Leather Technology [now the Institute for
Creative Leather Technologies] at the University of
Northampton, as well as the
Leather Conservation Centre,
also in Northampton. That
both these institutions lead
their field of expertise is
thanks in good part to our
financial support and governance. Over the past year,
however, we have been
seeking out other areas
H
where the Company can proactively
encourage the development of specialist
leather working skills, and entirely new
funding programmes which focus on this
have been agreed with
the London College
of Fashion, University of Northampton and De Montfort
University in Leicester. Each will offer
master classes and
lectures in leather
working given by
industry professionals, prizes to motivate and inspire
which will recognise outstanding
and innovative use of leather, and visits to
British tanneries and leather manufacturers to help students make the step into the
workplace. Some funding has also been
made available to form a small permanent
representative collection from the most
impressive leather items designed each year,
which we plan to exhibit in our new Hall.
The University Exhibition scheme is
also doing its bit, with an ever-increasing
number of applications from students
working with leather. The Company is now
Laura Amstein (pictured) is an up-and-coming leather
designer whose ‘sculptural bags’ have been much praised.
We supported her MA at the Royal College of Art
Here are just a few of the many grants we have awarded this year:
BeatBullying
£60,000 over 4 years
Empowers young people to
support each other against
bullying through a range of
peer mentoring and activism
programmes.
British Museum
To fund the post of
Conservator for Organics to
work on a range of organic
materials and specialise in
the conservation of leather
artefacts, which include some
of the Museum’s most fragile
objects.
Live Music Now
Bringing live music to those
with limited access to
conventional music-making,
and helping develop the
careers of young talented
musicians.
8
Thomley Activity Centre
A recreational facility for
disabled children giving
parents and carers opportunities to meet others, lessening
their isolation and supporting
disabled children through
recreation and access to
information.
Treloar Trust
Provides education, care,
therapy, medical support and
independence training for 250
young people with physical disabilities from all over the UK.
Wide Horizons
Outdoor Education
Helps transform young lives
– some 32,000 young people
in the past year – by delivering inspirational outdoor
education through five centres.
Centre of the Cell
The first science education
centre in the world located
within biomedical research
laboratories. Offers a science
education experience through
digital technologies and realworld science so participants
can learn how to grow virtual
cells for experiments in HIV
research, understand how
stem cells help in treatments
for burns, diagnose cancerous
tissues using microscopes, etc.
National Youth Ballet
of Great Britain
Educates children about the
importance of fitness for life
and provides professional
opportunities for young
dancers.
MediCinema
MediCinema brings the magic
of cinema into hospitals. The
charity has formed a unique
partnership with the health
sector and the film industry
by installing and running
state-of-the-art cinemas in
hospitals around the UK,
enabling patients in beds and
wheelchairs to benefit from
relief from the wards, escapism,
and some precious normality.
World Wide Volunteering
for Young People
WWV’s online search and
match database of volunteering opportunities now has over
1.5 million volunteering placements in the UK and worldwide, provided by more than
2000 organisations. A team of
Volunteering Project Managers
(VPMs) go into schools and
colleges to inspire and assist
the students to become
volunteers.
Centre of the Cell
CVQO members visit number 10, Downing Street
supporting postgraduate students in each
of the top British fashion colleges and this
year we sent our three most promising
students to the Lineapelle trade fair in
Bologna, Italy, where Liveryman William
Tusting helped them develop their
industry contacts.
In addition, we are very pleased to
report that, in partnership with the UK
Leather Federation and Scottish Leather
Group, a new apprenticeship scheme for
the leather industry has been developed.
The first Leather Production Apprenticeship
Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQs)
are due to be awarded this year. The
Scottish model will then be used to roll out
a system of NVQs in England and Wales.
Geoff Russell-Jones
Charities in numbers:
82 students awarded University
Exhibitions
£177,279 awarded in University
Exhibitions
228 charities awarded a grant
£1,226,461 – the total amount
awarded to charities and students in
2010-11
The residents of
Leathersellers’ Close were
treated to entertainment on
a VE Day celebration theme
at our Hall last September –
enjoyed with gusto by all!
Step Up
Supports families where
children have been sexually
abused or raped. Offers a
befriending service, telephone helpline and a weekly
drop-in, plus assistance with
court attendances, police
interviews and social services.
Venture Trust
Provides personal development
outreach support and a 10-day
wilderness course in the Scottish
Highlands to a minimum of 48
young homeless people. This
project has a strong track
record of helping young homeless people make positive,
concrete changes in their lives.
Cadet Volunteer
Qualification Organisation
CVQO offers vocational
training for young people
aged 14-19, tackling underachievement and social
exclusion through developing
practical skills which give
young people greater
opportunities in the
classroom and workplace.
Vauxhall City Farm
Riding Therapy Centre
Helps children and young
people with disabilities,
special needs or mental
health problems, through
horse riding and other
‘equine therapy’ activities.
Society of Mary & Martha
£20,000 capital grant
Gives care, support and
therapy in a residential
setting for clergy and/or
spouses at times of stress,
crisis, burnout or breakdown.
The grant will enable obsolete guest accommodation in
Devon to be transformed into
an environment conducive to
rest, healing and recovery for
people in ministry.
Foundation for
Social Improvement
£10,000
Provides small charities with
learning, capacity building,
profile raising and fundraising opportunities so they
can deliver better services to
more beneficiaries in a
strategic, stable and sustainable manner. More than
1,000 small charities are
currently supported, 33%
of these based in Greater
London. All small charities
applying for a charitable
grant from the Leathersellers’
Company are now encouraged
to access the excellent
services provided by the FSI.
9
Estates Report
nyone who has visited St Helen’s Place
this summer would have seen that the
redevelopment has now commenced. The
proposals have been in discussion for over
ten years and the plans have been redrawn many times; the final scheme comprises three buildings with 825,000 sq ft of
lettable space. The centrepiece is a 40storey office block which will be 614 feet
tall; the other two buildings will be seven
storeys high. The tall building is designed
to be highly functional, rather than iconic,
and is known simply as 100 Bishopsgate.
The building replacing the Hall in St
Helen’s Place will retain the existing façade
and once the development is completed
the roadway will be restored to its traditional style.
The demolition of the 100 Bishopsgate
site started in May with completion scheduled for late autumn 2014. The building
work is being carried out by Brookfield
who, jointly with Great Portland Estates, is
the developer of the scheme. The Leathersellers’ Company is not a partner with the
developer but has retained its freehold of
15-16 St Helen’s Place which form part of
the 100 Bishopsgate site. In return, the
developer has transferred to the Leather-
A
sellers its freehold of the buildings on the
rest of the site, fronting Bishopsgate and
Camomile Street. The Leathersellers have
granted a lease to the developer for the
entire site. The result of these land
transfers is that the Leathersellers’ City
estate has now increased substantially,
from the original 2.04 acres it acquired in
1543, to 3.34 acres – representing a 60%
increase in the freehold land we own.
The Leathersellers moved out from the
Hall in February 2011 and the Company
now rents temporary office space at 21
Garlick Hill (see page 14). On vacating, we
put our Hall furniture into store and have
stripped out those fixtures and fittings that
are to be re-used in the new Hall. These
include the stained glass windows, some
panelling, the scagliola columns and some
of the chandeliers.
The demolition stage of the main site is
well under way. The existing buildings are
being demolished from the top down,
floor by floor, and are now down to the
third floor. The work is being carried out
by a dozen heavy duty demolition breakers
which resemble large tracked JCBs, each
with a pneumatic drill on an articulated
arm. The rubble is cleared away by mini-
St Helen's Place in July 2011
10
How 100 Bishopsgate will look (with
St Helen’s Place bottom right)
bulldozers called bobcats. These machines
are making short work of the demolition,
which will be finished by November.
There is not a wheelbarrow or pickaxe in
sight. Jerome Farrell (our Archivist) has
found an old photograph from 1911
(opposite) which shows the demolition of
17 St Helen’s Place exactly 100 years ago.
It is fascinating to see how such work used
to be carried out – all entirely by hand,
with horse-drawn carts to take the rubble
away.
The work has had a major impact on
the St Helen’s Place roadway. Heavy duty
steelwork has been erected in front of
numbers 15-16 St Helen’s Place to support
the retained front façade. All the cobblestones have been removed so work can be
carried out to the sewers and other services,
and an underground electricity sub-station
will be installed. On completion of the
redevelopment the cobblestones will be
reinstated.
However, there are not one, but two redevelopments. The second is 5-7 St Helen’s
Place, which is located on the opposite side
of the road to the old Hall. In October
2010 the Leathersellers successfully completed a new agreement with the developer
to include this building. These negotiations took a year to complete, but were very
worthwhile. Nick Baucher, our Company
Surveyor, headed the negotiations under
the instruction and guidance of the Re-
Demolition work in St Helen’s
Place exactly 100 years ago
development Working Group chaired by
Pastmaster Tony Lister, who took over
from Pastmaster John Curtis on his retirement. Charles Barrow (Master, 2009-10)
played a major role during these negotiations and his experience as a property
developer was invaluable. The photograph
(far right) shows this new agreement being
signed by Nigel Pullman, Master, on 8
October 2010.
The redevelopment of 5-7 St Helen’s
Place will start next spring. Again, the
building will be demolished but with the
façade retained. The new Hall will be
located on two floors, with the floors
above being used as offices. Planning
consent was obtained in March 2011 and
the design of the Hall has been prepared
by Eric Parry Architects, in liaison with the
Hall Design Working Group chaired by
Pastmaster Michael Biscoe. The new Hall
design is contemporary in style, but
materials will be carefully chosen to retain
the intimacy and warmth of the old Hall,
with wooden panelling once again a
predominant feature in several of the
rooms. Glass and stainless steel will also be
used to create a modern light feel, with a
grand helical staircase and floor-to-ceiling
windows at the rear so as to open up the
backdrop against St Helen’s Church. Other
features of the Hall will include a grand
entrance lobby and a permanent Courtroom. The new, seventh Hall should be
ready for occupation in 2015 and will
definitely be worth waiting for.
Ray Coleman
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11
Wine
Committee:
champagne tour, 2011
ne Sunday morning in early April,
eleven Liverymen plus three staff –
the Clerk, Carole and Malcolm – met up at
Garlick Hill for coffee and croissants (to get
us in the mood for France) prior to
boarding the monster coach which was to
take us on our trip to the Champagne region.
After a smooth crossing from Dover to
Calais and a comfortable three-hour journey
we arrived at our hotel, l’Hostellerie La
Briqueterie in Vinay, just south of Epernay.
Once changed, we went out onto the lawn,
overlooking some handsome gardens and
fountains. Here, appropriately, we had a
champagne reception courtesy of Pol
Roger, before proceeding indoors for a
five-course French meal – magnifique!
After breakfast on Monday, preceded in
some cases by a dip in the pool, we set off
for the Gosset champagne house in Aÿ,
just east of Epernay. Reputedly the oldest
champagne house in the region, established in 1584, Gosset was a favourite drink
at the French court in the time of François
I and Henri IV. The Director, Philippe
Manfredini, took us round and then we
tasted the first champagne of the day,
Gosset Grande Réserve Brut. Like most
champagne, this is a blend made from
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes plus reserve wines from exceptional years, with very crisp citrus and
apple notes – it certainly went down très
bien.
To follow this we had lunch at the
recently renovated Restaurant le Théâtre in
the centre of Epernay. Here the scallop
crowns washed down exceptionally well with
O
12
Gosset Millésime 2000. The steamed salmon
was then accompanied by the memorable
Gosset rosé made from a blend of Grand
Cru Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes.
In the afternoon we walked in warm
sunshine to the Pol Roger champagne
house in Epernay. Pol Roger is a familyowned company, although their President,
Patrice Noyelle, is not himself a member
of that family. Patrice gave us an interesting, amusing, and largely subterranean
tour of the winery and cellars (seven kilometres of them, twenty metres below
ground). The grapes are supplied by
tenant growers from 32,000 hectares of
vineyards. Annually, some 1.8 million bottles
of champagne are produced here, more
than at Gosset, but still relatively small. We
then had seven tastings. Sir Winston
Churchill’s words might help us remember
Pol Roger: ‘The magnum is the perfect
bottle for two gentlemen – provided one
is not drinking’!
On the Tuesday morning we visited the
church of Dom Pérignon, the Benedictine
monk who died in 1715 and who is said
to have been the discoverer of champagne,
though this is disputed by some. Then on
to Reims, capital of the Champagne region,
with its fine 13th century cathedral where
many kings of France were crowned.
In the afternoon we visited our final
champagne house, one of the most
renowned of all: Bollinger. This is located
in Aÿ and still cultivates a small area of
‘old’ vines in the traditional way.
Our host, Christian Dennis, gave us a
tour full of interesting anecdotes and wanted
us to be under no illusion about their
premier brand status. Bollinger took over
from Dom Pérignon in the James Bond
films, and Christian emphasised this was
on Bollinger’s terms. We learnt that
Bollinger sell all the champagne they
produce and have no need to advertise.
Two-and-a-half million bottles a year are
aged in 5 km of cellars. 40% of all production is exported to the UK, most of
which is sold in London. We then sampled
Bollinger Cuvée, Bollinger Vintage and
Bollinger Rosé. All three were exceptionally
good in their own way.
We had a scrumptious meal in Epernay
that evening. One of the specialities was
‘Pluma de Pata Negra’ (Iberian black pig’s
neck), grilled in front of us on a large
open fire. Pudding was washed down with
an excellent 2007 Sauternes. After that, it
was a taxi ride back to La Briqueterie for
‘stirrup cup’ – in true Leathersellers’ style.
Nick Hollis
Technologies
Leather
tive
ea
for C
r
Institute
ICLT
University of Northampton
he establishment of the
new Institute for Creative Leather Technologies (ICLT), the successor to the British
School of Leather
Technology, was
formally approved
by the University
of Northampton
Senate this academic year. The Institute,
with Dr Mark Wilkinson as its first Director,
reflects the broadening of
our focus to include not just
the manufacture of leather, but
the whole leather and leather products
supply chain from raw material to end of
life, recycling and re-use.
This broader focus increases the relevance of our activities to the UK leather
sector and this year we have successfully
offered eight short courses, ranging from
one day to a week, and attracting over a
hundred delegates from the UK industry
and universities.
Our range of short courses is expected
to increase in 2011-12 and we are implementing a number of changes to our
taught provision, to make it attractive to a
wider audience, through the introduction
of a four-week Masters-level course in
Leather Design and Colour (offered by the
School of the Arts in collaboration with
ICLT) and the separation of the existing
T
Products of the ICLT tannery
degree programme into
three discrete years:
Certificate, Diploma
and top-up to BSc.
The programmes
will be structured
in “bite sizes” to
enable members
of the industry
to use them for
CPD (Continuing
Professional Development) purposes.
During the final
phase of investment
funded by the Leathersellers’ Company we have completed the replacement of out-of-date and
unserviceable machinery in the tannery
(some of which came from the Leathersellers’ Technical College in Bermondsey),
and upgrading the finishing area to make
it more appropriate and accessible to our
current markets, particularly fashion and
design students and UK finished leather
and leather goods manufacturers.
Whilst these works have been taking
place, the University commenced restructuring and refurbishing all of the laboratories to the rear of the Leathersellers’
Centre to bring them up to modern specifications and suitable for current needs.
This work will be completed by the start of
the new academic year.
Last October, prior to the Bologna leather
fair, the Master and Clerk accompanied Dr
ric Huggins, who was Master in 197879, seen at the Final Dinner held in our
old Hall in February. Now aged 93, Eric is
the oldest of our current Liverymen.
Behind him is his step-son Michael Binyon
OBE (Master 2008-09), who was awarded
an Honorary Fellowship by the University
of Northampton this summer, in recognition
of his longstanding contribution to
journalism in his capacity as Leader Writer
and former Diplomatic Editor of The Times.
Mark Wilkinson and Dr Jeffry Guthrie
Strachan on a tour of the leather cluster
around Santa Croce (Florence) to develop
our networks there, which are not as strong
as in other regions of Italy. The Leathersellers’ name is widely recognised in the
context of the highest quality education in
leather technology and the support of the
Company in this way adds significance and
meaning to these interactions.
The Master and Clerk also travelled to
China (en route to the Asia Pacific Leather
Fair) on behalf of ICLT and had a very
successful meeting with Arthur Jones,
President of ECCO Leather Xiamen,
alumnus of the National Leathersellers'
College (graduating 1st Class in 1967).
Following the meeting we have agreed a
3-month postgraduate programme for
fifteen ECCO students each year, with the
prospect of a further fifteen students a
year from the ECCO Shoe Academy taking
shorter courses and working with Fashion
and Podiatry as well as Leather. The end of
our academic year was marked by the
annual Leathersellers’ Awards and Prizes
Ceremony, which this year took place at
the Northampton Guildhall. The ceremony
ranks alongside the Corium Club Reunion
in Hong Kong as one the most important
events of the leather calendar for those
associated with leather education at
Northampton.
Dr Mark Wilkinson
E
Michael Binyon with Nick Petford,
Northampton University’s new Vice-Chancellor,
and Deirdre Newham, outgoing Chairman of
the Governing Council.
13
A Very fine
fine art acquisition!
n November 2010 the Company purchased a second painting by William
Marlow (1740-1813), A view of Lambeth
Palace with St Paul’s Cathedral in the distance
beyond. This serene view of the Thames
looks north-east from Vauxhall, downriver
towards Lambeth, Westminster and the City.
Marlow was inspired by the Italian
artists he had studied during travels in Italy
in the 1760s, and his debt to Canaletto is
evident in his artistic output. Born in
Southwark, he was a pupil of the artist
Samuel Scott and studied at the St Martin’s
Lane Academy, later becoming best known
as a prolific painter of river scenes. Today
his works can be found in major art galleries here and in the USA. His remarkable
painting of Vesuvius erupting at night, one
of the earliest representations of this
subject, is in a gallery in Denver, Colorado.
He was fond of painting fictional views as
well as real ones, a genre known as capriccio
– a famous example is his view of St Paul’s
Cathedral transposed to a Venetian canal,
now in Tate Britain.
From a careful perusal of 18th century
maps, in particular those by John Rocque,
it is possible to pinpoint the precise spot
from which our newly-acquired picture was
painted, probably in the 1770s. Marlow’s
standpoint was a few yards south of Vauxhall Stairs, the usual place for passengers
to embark or disembark when visiting the
famous Vauxhall Gardens. Boat transport
was the quickest and easiest way to reach
these pleasure gardens from central
London and a boatman can be seen ferrying two well-dressed people there, whilst
in the foreground another boatman is
waiting for returning passengers.
Vauxhall Gardens, several acres of land
laid out in shady walkways with vendors
selling food and drink (including the
legendary Vauxhall ham, cut so fine you
could read a newspaper through it), were
popular for over two centuries until they
closed definitively in 1859. The gardens
really came to life after dusk, with illuminations and various musical and theatrical
attractions. As the sun appears to be going
down in Marlow’s painting, perhaps there
is a hint that the couple being rowed there
are about to embark on a romantic evening
together. Vauxhall Gardens held a particular private significance for Marlow himself,
as this is where he first met and became
infatuated with a butcher’s wife, Mrs Curtis.
I
his is the address of our new temporary
offices, situated on the fourth floor of a
modern building a few yards from Mansion
House Underground Station. After the
final Livery Dinner in the old Hall on 9th
February, our offices were closed and the
move took place over the following
fortnight. Paul Jupp was tasked with this
project and made good use of all the
organisational skills he had honed in the
Army, planning and co-ordinating the move. He also
spent many hours supervising the removal men as
T
Leatherseller
Apprentice Hired!
lthough we have had
no new apprentices in the Company
this year, an Apprentice with a capital A
has been entertaining millions of BBC1
viewers recently. Most people who
watched the immensely popular reality
TV show The Apprentice will be unaware
that the ultimate winner of the seventh
series, Tom Pellereau, is a Leatherseller.
Tom, the son of Matthew Pellereau,
Second Warden for 2011-12, was
admitted to the Freedom by Patrimony
in 2001 and became a Liveryman in
2006. His sister Harriet is also on the
Livery. After twelve weeks of grappling
with a wide variety of tasks on screen,
Lord Sugar chose Tom, described as a
‘non-stop ideas factory’, to be his
business partner, which will enable him
to benefit from £250,000 of investment and Lord Sugar’s guidance and
business expertise.
Congratulations Tom!
A
14
they transported all our office furniture to
Garlick Hill and other teams of specialist
packers and removers who took care of
most of our antique furniture, paintings
and other treasures, most of which have
gone into storage at Uckfield in Sussex
whilst our new Hall is built.
Staff quickly settled into their new
home at Garlick Hill, airy and light
premises compared with those above our
old Hall, and by the end of February it was
back to business as usual. The Company’s archives have been re-housed
in a vault at 3 St Helen’s Place until
they can be transferred into a new
Muniments Room in the new Hall.
Thanks to an arrangement with the
Vintners’ Company we are now using
nearby Vintners’ Hall for Court and
other meetings; our Dinners are taking
place at various other Livery Company
Halls while our own new Hall in St Helen’s
Place is being built.
iveryman
James Blott
is shown here
with the Bishop
of Portsmouth,
Rt Revd
Christopher
Foster, in
Portsmouth
Cathedral in
September
2010, on the occasion of James being
admitted and licensed as a Reader. In his
capacity as a Reader, James can preach
and lead worship in the Church of
England; he preached his first sermon
the following day in his home church at
Hambleden in Hampshire.
L
The same view in 2011
He subsequently lived with her and her
husband at Twickenham for over twenty
years – the diarist Joseph Faringdon visited
them there and recorded that Mrs Curtis
had ‘six or seven children – some of them
very like Marlow’!
No capriccio
This part of the Thames has changed
enormously since Marlow’s time and the
river itself has become narrower as a result
of the Millbank and Albert embankments
constructed in the Victorian period. The
river twists and bends more than many
people realise; there is no capriccio here St Paul’s Cathedral really is in the right
place in this picture and was visible from
Vauxhall at this time. The mass of tall
buildings in between today make this hard
to imagine without Marlow’s painting.
Vauxhall Bridge now spans the river
near this point and the distinctive MI6
building dominates the south bank here.
The house seen on the north bank, in the
left part of this picture, was Grosvenor
House, the main London residence of the
Grosvenor family before they moved to
Belgravia. It was built in 1735 and replaced Peterborough House, on the site of the
original mill from which Millbank takes its
name. Millbank Prison was later built here
and the Tate Gallery, now Tate Britain,
(which holds 38 works by Marlow) stands
here today.
The sail of a barge obscures Westminster Abbey and the old Houses of Parliament, which would also have been visible
from Vauxhall then. The densely-populated buildings and wharves of Lambeth
can be seen stretching south of Lambeth
Palace, the London residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury. Alongside the Palace
is the church tower of St Mary’s Lambeth,
now the Museum of Garden History. In the far distance Westminster
Bridge can just be made out, which
apart from London Bridge and the
newly-built Blackfriars Bridge (shown
close-up in our other Marlow painting) was the only bridge across the
Thames in London at this period.
Today, Lambeth Bridge further
obscures any view downriver
towards Westminster.
As well as having intrinsic artistic
merit and considerable historical
and topographical interest, this painting
very fittingly complements the larger
painting by Marlow which we acquired in
2007, Blackfriars Bridge and St Paul’s
Cathedral. Together, both pictures present
us with a beautiful and intriguing
impression of how the River Thames
appeared in the Georgian period, both in
the built-up environs of the City and in the
then more open stretches between
Westminster and Vauxhall.
For the duration of the redevelopments
at St Helen’s Place, both paintings have
been loaned to the Royal Courts of Justice.
We look forward to being able to admire
these two exceptionally fine paintings by
Marlow when they return in due course to
grace the walls of our new, seventh
Leathersellers’ Hall.
Jerome Farrell
15
&
Richard Thornton
Entrepreneur
ometimes fortunes can be made, and
reputations won, by being the right
person, in the right place, at the right
time. In the winter of 1812, Napoleon and
his defeated troops were retreating
through the snow from Moscow. In Memel,
in what is now Lithuania, an English
trader, Lawrence Thornton, heard of this
momentous turn of events, and immediately wrote to his brother Richard in
London. The French blockade of trade
between Britain and the continent had
meant that many valuable commodities
needed by the Royal Navy – including
tallow, hemp and hides – were in short
supply and commanded record prices.
Richard Thornton immediately grasped
the significance of this news: if the
Napoleonic wars were, finally, about to
end, prices would plummet. Such was the
erratic nature of postal communication in
those times, that he knew this, but the
British Government did not. Richard
immediately secured large contracts for
the supply of these goods at blockade
prices. It was only three days later that
news of the French dictator’s comprehensive humiliation at Moscow became
known, and prices began to fall.
It is estimated that Richard Thornton
netted £100,000 from deals made in those
three days - around £4 million in today’s
terms.
Richard Thornton (1776-1865),
Master of the Leathersellers’ Company
for the year 1836-37, began life in
provincial obscurity. He was born in
Burton-in-Lonsdale on the edge of the
Yorkshire Dales, the third son of a
yeoman farmer. His parents, Robert and
Ellen Thornton, had ten children in all,
five boys and five girls. The young Richard
was sent down to London at the age of
eight to attend Christ’s Hospital, the
famous charity school which then occupied a site in Newgate, not far from St
Paul’s Cathedral.
Richard began his long connection with
the Leathersellers when he left school at
the age of fifteen and was apprenticed to
Joseph Knowles, a corn factor by trade, but
a Liveryman of our Company who became
Master in 1798. Location in London gave
S
16
Benefactor
the young Richard opportunities he could
never have had in Yorkshire and, showing
evidence of the enterprise and initiative he
was to display throughout his life, by 1798
he had moved into the insurance business
as a member of Lloyd’s. He also became
involved in the trade between Britain and
Russia, a hazardous business during the
long period of war with France but one
which, nevertheless, presented opportunities for large amounts of money to be
made.
The Duke of Danzig
Richard’s first big break came in 1810
when he volunteered, at considerable personal
risk, to take
an armed
ship into
the Baltic
Sea with his
brother Lawrence and try
to procure hemp
and other items needed by the navy. To do
this he had to dodge enemy ships which
were attempting to isolate Britain from
trade with Europe, Napoleon having
coerced Denmark and Sweden into joining
the anti-British blockade. Richard was successful in this venture, returning triumphant
and making a large profit as a result which
earned him the affectionate nickname
‘The Duke of Danzig’. Lawrence stayed
behind in the Baltic region to find out,
discreetly, if further trading behind the
backs of the French might be possible. This
led to Richard’s stroke of luck in 1812.
Richard’s astute grasp of the balance
between opportunity and risk enabled
him to use his capital to go from strength
to strength. He went on to become the
biggest player in the marine insurance
market, and also underwrote huge loans
such as those to the new governments of
Spain and Portugal. By the 1840s Richard
Thornton was the leading merchant, financier, ship owner and marine insurance
broker in the City. He owned a fleet of
around seventy vessels, based at Rotterdam, and his ships carried much of the
lucrative East India trade, and later took
many of the French troops to the Crimea,
a service which led to Richard being
awarded the Légion d’Honneur.
Thornton the Leatherseller
Richard played an active part in
the Leathersellers’ Company,
being a Liveryman from
1799 until his death 66
years later. He was elected
Master for the year 1836-37
and is particularly remembered
for his generosity in personally
funding the cost of the Company’s
new almshouses at Barnet in 1837
and a further extension there in
1850 (see page 23). His name has remained associated with these almshouses,
now called Leathersellers’ Close, ever
since; his bust can still be seen there and a
nearby road is called Thornton Road.
Some idea of the esteem with which
Richard Thornton continued to be held
within the Company, long after his death,
is suggested by the survival of his portrait,
His ‘other family’
Richard had never married, but in
his will he implicitly acknowledged that he had four children –
three daughters and a son – whose
surname was Lee, their mother
being one Alice Lee. His son, in a
nice touch of humour, had been
named Richard Napoleon Lee,
after himself and the great
national enemy whose downfall
had triggered Richard’s early
good fortune. Little is known
about Alice, but she was under
twenty years of age when she
©
Cannon Hill House in 1825 from a watercolour by G. Yates
gave birth to his first child, and so is most
unlikely to have been his ‘housekeeper’ as
stated by the historian W G Hoskins in an
article published in 1962. This oftrepeated claim may stem from a misreading of the 1861 census, just released
to public view when the article came out;
the housekeeper shown living with
Richard was, in fact, his widowed sister.
Whether Alice had originally been one of
his servants or not we shall probably never
know, but the evidence suggests he set her
and their children up in a modest but
comfortable house in South Island Place,
near Stockwell, and ensured
that the children were well-educated
(Richard Napoleon went to Oxford
University). Alice disappears from view
after 1841 and probably died at a
relatively young age.
Richard’s £400,000 bequest to Richard
Napoleon Lee came with one condition:
that he change his surname to Thornton
within a year of Richard’s death. Richard
Napoleon immediately complied, and
used his inheritance to buy a large house
in Devon, the Knowle at Sidmouth. He was
a well-known cricketer who played at
county level for Surrey, but died aged 43.
His son later sold the Knowle, which
became a hotel and is now used as the
office HQ of East Devon
District Council.
Richard Thornton’s unconventional family life probably
explains why no great national
‘dynasty’, like those of the
Baring or Rothschild families,
was established after his death.
One of his nephews and principal heirs died only five years
later, and the other retired from
business and built a large mansion on the outskirts of Exeter,
now Reed Hall, which with its
park forms part of the campus of
Exeter University.
Within the Leathersellers’ Company, however, the name Thornton
has remained prominent for over
two hundred years. There have
been many Thornton Liverymen, a
confusing number of Richards and
Roberts among them, descending in
the main from Richard’s brother
Lawrence. These include two 20th
century Masters: Major Robert
Thornton, Master 1933-34, and
▼
Family life
Though Richard lived for a while in
Clapham, no family link has been traced
with the other notable Thorntons there,
who belonged to the ‘Clapham Sect’ of
evangelical supporters of the slavery
abolitionist, William Wilberforce. Richard’s
residence for well over thirty years, however – from 1832 until his death in 1865
– was Cannon Hill in Merton, Surrey, a
house he shared with his sister and brotherin-law. Richard never favoured ostentation
and did not go in for an extravagant
lifestyle. Cannon Hill (which was demolished in the late 1800s) was imposing, but
by no means on the grand scale of many
country seats or town mansions.
Richard lived to be 88 and is buried
in West Norwood Cemetery. His marble
tomb there was recently found to be
overgrown but has now been cleaned
and restored. He left 25 separate
charitable bequests to orphanages,
hospitals and other good causes, but
much of his vast fortune was left to
his two nephews and business partners (his brother Lawrence having
predeceased him by almost 30 years),
Thomas Thornton and Richard
Thornton West.
Museum of Wimbledon
commissioned by the Company from the
artist Frederick Yeates Hurlstone in 1838
at the considerable cost of £52. This seems
to have been the only one, out of seventeen large portraits of Past Masters, which
was moved from the Hall down into the
basement strongroom for extra safety
during World War II. Thus it survived,
when the other sixteen portraits of similar
size were lost during the worst night of the
Blitz in May 1941.
17
This 1823 satirical cartoon
by Richard Dighton shows
Thornton conducting frantic
deals on the Baltic
Exchange, pursued by bitter
competitors. A demon above
calls those who fawn on
Thornton hypocrites.
Richard Thornton, Master 1943-44. There
are still two Thorntons on the Livery today.
Our current Master, Nigel Pullman, is also
– coincidentally, as his Leatherseller family
credentials principally stem from his
Pullman ancestors – a Thornton descendant through his maternal grandmother,
Mildred Alice Thornton, who was a
granddaughter of Richard Napoleon
Thornton.
A citizen of the old school
Following Richard’s death, obituaries and
assessments of his character appeared in
the Pall Mall Gazette and other publications. He was described as “all his life a
citizen of the old school, constant in
business, rigid in details, always denouncing the wastefulness of the new generation … he once censured a relative,
himself immensely rich, for keeping a
brougham [carriage], saying that the way
for a young man to be certainly ruined
was to indulge in the ‘luxuries’ fit only for
the old”. There are many anecdotes of his
fondness for betting, whether on major
issues such as the outcome of a military
campaign or a ministerial crisis, or on
more unusual issues – such as the unlikelihood of Queen Victoria giving birth to
twins. He would, apparently, frequently
offer a handsome bet to his fellow passengers in a railway carriage on the
probability that the train would reach its
terminus on time!
Even in old age, Richard remained
active in Leathersellers’ affairs. He enjoyed
going to Barnet for the annual ‘Barnet
View’, shaking hands with the almspeople
there and comparing their ages with his
own. At 86 he still went daily to his counting-house at Old Swan Wharf.
Richard retired from active trading in
the 1850s and died in 1865, a little short
of his 89th birthday. When his will was
proved his assets were valued at
£2,800,000, one of the largest private
fortunes amassed up to that time. A book
18
published under the auspices of the Sunday Times in
2007, The Richest of the Rich:
the Wealthiest 250 People in
Britain since 1066, ranks
Richard Thornton at number
165 on the list. His fortune is
calculated as the equivalent
in modern times of just
under four billion pounds.
This fortune became
dispersed among a number of other relations as
well as Richard’s four
children – many of
whom lived much
more extravagantly than
Richard had ever done. His daughter Ellen,
for example, received £300,000 and by
1881 was living in some style in Devon,
with a retinue of fifteen resident servants
including a butler, footman, two grooms
and a lady’s maid. In contrast, Richard
and his sister appear never to have
employed more than three resident
servants at Cannon Hill.
For all his vast wealth, his canny trading
on the stock market, his underwriting of
enormous loans and bonds, his dominance of the insurance world and the fleets
of ships he owned and controlled, it is
mostly as a benefactor and charitable donor
that Richard Thornton is remembered
today. Both during his lifetime and through
legacies in his will he made generous donations to many good causes. Within the
Leathersellers he is recalled as the greatest
friend of our almshouses at Barnet.
A mince pie and a shilling
Merton, now part of south-west London,
was still a village when Richard lived at
Cannon Hill and he took an interest in
village life, funding the building of the
south aisle in St Mary’s Church. When he
drove around the area it was not in a
grand carriage but in a modest chaise
pulled by a white
cob, in which he is
known to have offered villagers a lift. On
Christmas Eve he gave
local people each a mug
of ale, a mince pie and two
shillings and six-
pence, and to children a
shilling and a mince pie.
Richard recognised the immense value
of a good education and that his own
schooling at Christ’s Hospital had helped
him prosper in later life. He left large
bequests to Christ’s Hospital (now in
Sussex) and to schools in Merton (where a
road is named Thornton Road after him,
and the Priory Church of England Primary
School is still owned by the Richard
Thornton Foundation), but also never
forgot his roots in Yorkshire. During his life
he founded a school back in his native
village of Burton-in-Lonsdale, which
opened in 1854. He left more funds when
he died to ensure its continuance and this
voluntary aided school, called Richard
Thornton’s Church of England Primary
School, is still operating successfully over a
century and a half later.
Richard would undoubtedly be pleased
that his almshouses still play a valuable
role in Barnet and that the children of his
home village are still getting an education
in his school. It is also fitting that he
should now be remembered in an educational context in London, where he spent
most of his life: one of the six Houses at
the newest school within the Leathersellers’ Federation of Schools in Lewisham,
Prendergast Vale College, is to be called
Thornton House, in honour of this remarkable Leatherseller, entrepreneur and
benefactor.
Jerome Farrell
Royal Charter artist identified
after 567 years
O
ur first Royal Charter (Letters Patent) is
the most ‘iconic’ item in our entire
archive collection. Its practical and historical importance is undisputed: issued by
King Henry VI in 1444, at a cost of £10,
this Latin document gave the Leathersellers of London (fifteen of whom are
named in the Charter) what they really
wanted: ‘incorporation’. They had already
existed for some time as a fraternity of
skilled craftsmen, sharing common interests
and concerns; the Charter refers back to
Ordinances governing aspects of the
leather trade which they had obtained in
1398 from ‘Ricardus Whityngton’, the only
medieval Mayor most people have heard
of today. However, the Charter represented a big leap forward in status, power and
prestige. The most important phrase in the
whole text is when the King forms the
Leathersellers into unum corpum et una
Communitas perpetua et corporata (one
body and one community perpetual and
corporate). This brought the new Livery
Company into existence. It now had the
legal right to own property corporately,
including a Hall, and to defend its rights
in a court of law as a corporate entity.
The Charter’s significance is reflected in
its exceptional appearance. The top lefthand corner is particularly eye-catching.
The area around the large initial letter H,
the beginning of the King’s name, is
beautifully illuminated. Gold leaf and a
rich blue made from lapis lazuli predominate, and we see an exquisitely-painted
miniature picture of the King enthroned
and handing down the Charter, with its
green seal hanging from it, to groups of
kneeling Leathersellers below who are
chanting Domine salvum fac regem (O Lord,
save the King). The Charter has been in
the Company’s custody ever since 1444,
though it was loaned to the Victoria &
Albert Museum for an exhibition in 1964,
and again for their ‘Gothic’ exhibition in
2003-04. Today, it is a much-admired work
of art which will have pride of place in our
new Hall.
The Leathersellers must have employed
a special ‘limner’ or illuminator to carry
out the decorative work on the Charter.
Our accounts might have named him, but
none survive from before 1471. As is so
often the case, the artist’s actual identity
has remained a mystery – until now!
Thanks to a meticulous examination of our
Charter by Holly James-Maddocks, an
expert in the field of 15th century limners
from the Centre for Medieval Studies at
the University of York, we can – finally and
with confidence – give the artist a name:
William Abell.
Though many limners working in London
seem to have come from abroad, notably
the Low Countries, Abell was certainly
English and probably a Londoner. Since
none of his works are signed, we owe his
identification to some accounts at Eton
College, where he is recorded as being
paid £1 6s 8d for work done in decorating
their Confirmation Charter of March 1446.
Stylistic similarities with the Eton Charter
have led to a number of other works being
attributed to Abell, but until now lists of
his works have not included our own
Company Charter.
A firkin of ale at Hocktide
Abell was a member of the Stationers’
Company and he was a Churchwarden of
St Nicholas Shambles, a church near St
Paul’s Cathedral which was closed during
the reign of Henry VIII, though its records
were saved. We know from these that
Abell rented three shops in Paternoster
Row and that he donated some altar cloths
and a ladder to the church of St Nicholas,
as well as money to help pay for a new
lead roof. He also presented his fellowparishioners with a firkin of ale to celebrate Hocktide, a lively medieval festival
of uncertain origin, taking place over two
days in spring (it generally involved the
men of the parish ambushing and tying
up the women on one day, with the women
then tying up the men the next day; they
were released on payment of small sums
of money put into the parish chest – or a
kiss! Hocktide died out centuries ago everywhere except Hungerford in Berkshire,
where a version is still celebrated). We know
that William Abell was married, as his wife
outlived him and continued to rent the
shops in Paternoster Row; he also had a
daughter, ‘Sicily’ (Cecilia), who died before
her father. Abell himself died in 1474.
This is a surprising amount of detail to
know about a 15th century Londoner.
Through extensive research by a number
of renowned scholars, a considerable
corpus of works widely-accepted to be by
Abell has also been established. As well as
the Eton Charter, this includes the Charter
of King’s College, Cambridge (1446), the
Grant of Arms to the Haberdashers’
Company (1446) and an illustration in the
Mercers’ Company archives showing the
deathbed scene of Richard Whittington. It
used to be assumed that the Grant of Arms
to the Tallow Chandlers’ Company (1456)
was another of Abell’s works, but this is no
longer universally agreed.
In contrast, Holly James-Maddocks is
convinced that the figures of Henry VI and
the kneeling Leathersellers on our 1444
Charter are, indeed, the work of William
Abell. Publication of her findings in a
scholarly journal will follow in due course,
presenting the case in depth with all the
backup evidence. This should lead to our
Charter being added to all future lists of
Abell’s artistic output. After centuries of
obscurity, it is very satisfying that we can
finally put a name to the medieval artist
responsible for this beautiful decoration
on our first Royal Charter.
Jerome Farrell
19
Co l f e ’s Scho ol
he highlight of the year was the success
of the U13 girls’ netball team. This
remarkably talented group of girls won
the national independent schools competition in their year group, defeating a large
number of girls-only schools en route to
the final in which they defeated Brentwood School. The significance of this
achievement should not be underrated: it
constitutes a ringing endorsement for coeducation and is very definitely the highest level achieved by any Colfe’s sporting
team in living memory.
Cricket has been the area of greatest
success in boys’ sport this year, with a total
of seven pupils representing their counties.
Tom Chapman has played regularly for the
England U17 rugby team as scrum half.
On the academic front, Colfe’s A-level
results in 2011 were significantly better than
last year. 100% achieved A*-E grades, of
which 71% were A*-B. Despite the rush to
beat higher tuition fees next year, 59% of
pupils obtained places at their first choice
universities. 98% of GCSE pupils gained at
least five A*-C grades including English
and Maths. Fifteen pupils gained all A*/A
grades, with girls outperforming boys.
The Autumn Visitation and Senior Prizegiving was a very special occasion this
year. Prince Michael of Kent, an Honorary
Liveryman and the official School Visitor,
presented the awards. It was delightful to
see how well he knew the school and to
sense his sincere appreciation of all the
good things that have happened since his
last visit several years ago. He managed to
talk directly to a large number of pupils in
the course of the evening and we are
extremely grateful to him for making the
occasion so memorable.
University funding has been much in
the news this year and in future we expect
our pupils to be casting their nets more
widely. Given this likelihood, in January
the Headmaster visited Maastricht University in the Netherlands with the HMC
Universities Committee. Lower tuition fees,
favourable teacher-pupil ratios and the
prospect of work experience in the European Commission in Brussels will no doubt
make the English-speaking faculty of this
university extremely popular amongst future year groups. Colfe’s is already in the
vanguard of this European expansion and
T
20
we will continue to
provide the best
possible guidance
for our students
next year and beyond.
With this in mind,
we invited Dr Angela
Brueggemann
of
Oxford University to
talk to Lower Sixth pupils and parents
about university entrance during the
Summer Term. Dr Brueggemann has
joined the Governing Board this year,
nominated by St Catherine’s College,
Oxford. She is already a key member of
the reconstituted Education Committee,
along with other new governors, Sean
Williams, Sarah Owen and John Guyatt.
Sean Williams, Chair of the Education
Committee, is a Leatherseller appointee.
Sarah Owen, a Classical archaeologist, has
been nominated by Fitzwilliam College
Cambridge. John Guyatt was Undermaster
(deputy head) at Sevenoaks School until
he retired several years ago; he is a current
governor at two other HMC schools and
travels regularly to India and Russia as an
educational consultant.
The cultural highlight of 2011 was
undoubtedly the production of One Flew
over the Cuckoo’s Nest in the Greenwich
Theatre in February. This was the final
production of Gavin Bruce, Head of Drama,
who left at the end of the year to take up
a similar position at Tonbridge School. It
was highly acclaimed by all who saw it,
including the Time Out theatre critic who
lives in Greenwich and attended anonymously. Unfortunately it was his night off,
so he did not review the production in a
professional capacity.
Colfe’s Partnership with Conisborough
College was further reinforced during the
year with the granting of a Power to Innovate order by the Secretary of State. This
will enable us to become more closely
involved in the governance of Conisborough College, a fast-improving Lewisham
comprehensive school. The first three
Conisborough scholars started at Colfe’s
last September. They have settled in well
and three more will follow this autumn.
Joint events involving pupils from both
schools this year included a Legal Careers
Prince Michael of Kent
at the Autumn Visitation
day, hosted by Gregory Jones QC, a
current Colfe’s Governor and a planning
lawyer. Several Old Colfeians spoke
knowledgeably about their experience of
very different aspects of the Law, including
three other Governors, Simon Polito,
Anthony Thornton and Serena Cheng. It is
hoped that this excellent model can be
replicated in respect of other career areas.
The Summer Visitation enabled members
of the Court to find out more about our
building plans for the future. The school
architects reported that a planning
application for the new Sixth Form Centre
has now been submitted and we look
forward to commencing work in the
summer of 2013. This will be the largest
building project at the school since it
moved to its current site four decades ago.
The estimated cost will be in the region of
£6 million and it will comprise not only a
dedicated sixth form facility but also eight
additional classrooms, thus providing
dedicated teaching and working areas for
each academic department.
Plans for the future apart, it was a
pleasure to welcome so many Leathersellers to the school on Visitation Day and
the staff very much enjoyed meeting
Governors and Liverymen over lunch in
the recently refurbished pavilion. The
Visitation also provided an opportunity for
me to thank and congratulate the
headmaster and his colleagues for all that
they continue to do for the benefit of our
pupils. The loyalty and commitment of the
staff have been particularly important in
sustaining the success of the school
through the economic downturn. Their
blend of youth and experience will be a
key ingredient as we aim even higher next
year and beyond.
Ian Russell
Leathersellers’ Federation of Schools
T
Prendergast Vale College (PVC)
Our new school opens for business in September with a full intake of Year 7 (11 year
old) pupils. Indeed it was oversubscribed.
This in itself is no mean achievement,
involving much marketing and visits to
local primary schools to get the establishment on the map, and reflects great credit
on the recently-appointed Head Teacher,
Paul O’Neill. For the first year the school
will be in a separate building on the
premises of Prendergast Ladywell
Fields College (PLFC), giving PVC
staff a good opportunity to work
closely with their colleagues at
PLFC. Lewisham Bridge will
have ceased to exist as a
separate school by the time you read this.
On 1 September it became the primary
section of PVC under an Assistant Head
Teacher, Dawn Venn, who joined last January and has already made major strides
in identifying and eliminating inadequacies in teaching which have led to significant levels of underachievement. The primary is currently on a temporary site which
is working out well.
Meanwhile construction of the new
school at Elmira Street continues at a rapid
pace with the builder, Costain, eight weeks
ahead of schedule. Most of the steelwork
is already in place and the skyline in that
area of Lewisham is undergoing a metamorphosis. Thus we are on track to move
both primary and secondary elements of
PVC into the new building by September
2012. The staff are deeply involved in the
fitting out plan. For those with memories
of last year I can report that the Edwardian
sanitary ware listed by English Heritage
has been incorporated in the new build!
PVC will be organised into six ‘houses’,
each house name having some connection
with the subject specialism of the Director
who is Head of House. Armed with a list of
prominent Leathersellers provided by
Jerome Farrell, the Leathersellers’ Archivist,
the school has chosen as follows:
Perkin House (Science) after Sir William
Perkin (1838-1907), world famous
chemist who invented synthetic dye.
Thornton House (Maths) after Richard
Thornton (1776-1865), entrepreneur,
merchant in the Baltic Trade and leading insurance broker (see page 16).
Cibber House (Art & Technology) after Caius
Gabriel Cibber (1630-1700), famous
sculptor of Danish origin who sculpted
the reliefs on The Monument.
Williams House (Humanities) after Dr Eric
Williams (1911-1981), Prime Minister
of Trinidad & Tobago for 25 years and
noted Caribbean historian, who went to
Oxford on a Leathersellers’ scholarship.
Lemoine House (English) after Henry
Lemoine (1756-1812), author and bookseller of Huguenot parentage, who wrote
a major history of printing.
Hall House (Inclusion) after Sir John Hall
(1824-1907), who emigrated to New
Zealand where he became Prime Minister in 1879, and was the key player in
getting women’s suffrage legislation
passed, making New Zealand the first
country in the world to give women the
vote in 1893.
Albeit all male, these figures represent
diverse nationalities and historical periods,
which is both appropriate and a very nice
way to start PVC’s connection with the
Company.
Prendergast Ladywell Fields College
(PLFC)
The big news at PLFC in the last year was
their successful Ofsted inspection in September, which spoke of transformational
change and rapid improvements as well as
highlighting outstanding work in the field
of citizenship. Indeed PLFC won the UK
citizen school of the year
award as well as several
other awards. Improving
academic standards
▼
he third year of the Federation has
finished on a very upbeat note. As I write
this report in early August builders are
making maximum use of the summer break
to carry out improvements at Prendergast
Hilly Fields College, part of the £11 million
building programme which is going full
steam ahead despite the financial cutbacks
in the Education sector. Elsewhere there is
much positive progress to report as the
Federation settles down and evolves. As
always we owe much to our Executive Head
Teacher, Erica Pienaar, whose drive and
energy has maintained our momentum in
a financially-challenging environment. From
1 August she is being supported by a new
Federation Bursar, Keith Surey, who joins
us from a senior position at Brent Council
in time to help welcome Prendergast Vale
College (PVC) and its attendant primary
section fully into the Federation.
Headteacher Sue Roberts with PHFC pupils
21
continues to be the main challenge and
there is steady progress, even if it is not as
fast as we would like. Being part of the
Federation is providing PLFC with the
support it needs in providing a fine
education, embracing the academic, artistic
and sporting potential of their students
and enabling them to fulfil their motto
‘Striving for Excellence’. Important progress has also been made in improving
school discipline and building a better
ethos and pride, as anyone who has visited
the school recently would attest.
Prendergast Hilly Fields College (PHFC)
PHFC remains the core of the Federation
with a thriving Sixth form that draws a
good intake from other parts of the
Federation. The school continues to get a
sizeable proportion of students into leading Universities. They also had an Ofsted
last year which described PHFC as exceptional, with Sixth form results putting them
in the top 15% of schools in the country.
Having been in existence since 1890 they
are proud of their heritage and the school
motto ‘Truth, honour, freedom and courtesy’. The ethos of high expectations is
what they preach and achieve. It is worth
recalling too that PHFC is a specialist
school in Music and Languages, offering
decision because of the small size of the
lower site.
The old and the new: construction
work at PVC
extensive music tuition, choirs, an orchestra and various ensembles.
PHFC is currently in the throes of an
£11 million BSF (Building Schools for the
Future) project which will transform the
lower site. Like PVC this project is due to
complete next summer and has involved
complex organisation to maintain normal
service, brilliantly managed by Sue Roberts,
the Head Teacher. We are fortunate that
the project survived the Coalition Government’s budget cuts, and the end result
should be stunning. A slight sadness is
that the Examination Hall, funded by the
Company and opened by David Dove as
Master in 1997, had to go to make way
for the new science block, a necessary
STOP PRESS – Examination Results
PHFC achieved, once again, 100% ALevel pass rate. Every student received
a confirmed university place. 71% of
students achieved 5+ A*-C GCSE grades
including English and Mathematics.
PLFC improved by 11% achieving 41%
5+ A*-C grades including English and
Mathematics. These results reflect the
hard work and ambition of our students.
My greater focus this year on PVC as the
newcomer is no reflection on the importance of the other schools. They are all
different and bring their own contributions to the Federation table. As the Federation has grown, so have the responsibilities of our outstanding Executive Head
Teacher, Erica Pienaar, and those of the
single Governing Body which remains 15strong. Six of the Governors are Leatherseller nominees, four of whom are also
Company members: James Blott, Mike BradlyRussell, Christopher Barrow and myself.
My grateful thanks go to all my fellow
Governors for their hard work and support
in what has been a busy but fulfilling year.
Jonathan Cooke – Chairman of Governors
Ceremonial Trowel
his silver presentation
trowel of 1889 recently
came up at auction in
Salisbury and has been
acquired
for our
plate
collection.
Underneath
the
Leathersellers’
coat of arms is an
inscription,
surrounded by a
highly decorative
border, which reads:
Presented to R A Routh,
Esq, Master, by the Court of
the Worshipful Company of
Leathersellers on his laying
the Foundation Stone of
Colfe’s Grammar School
Lewisham, 9th July AD 1889
The new school
T
22
buildings opened in 1890,
thanks to a £5,000 donation from the Leathersellers’
Company. They were in
use for around 50 years,
but were destroyed by
enemy action in
1944.
Colfe’s School was then
built in Lee. The much
more modern-looking
silver trowel used by our
Master at the time, Charles
Douglas Scriven, to lay its
foundation stone in 1962
was given back to us by
Colfe’s in 2004. We are
therefore now delighted to
have its earlier counterpart
as well. We plan to put
these eloquent tokens of
our Company’s longstanding commitment to
Colfe’s on display in our
new Hall.
Fortunately the pupils
had been evacuated from
London, first to Tunbridge
Wells and then to Frome
in Somerset. After many
years using temporary
accommodation, a new
ELECTION DAY
SERVICE
his year our Election Day Service was
held at St James Garlickhythe, close to
our offices in Garlick Hill. The pews of this
magnificent Wren church were full for our
service, on Wednesday 15 June, which
began with a welcome by Revd Dr Alan
McCormack from St Botolph’s,
Bishopsgate. Our Honorary Chaplain, Revd
Christopher Strong, led the prayers and a
sermon was preached by the Chaplain to
the Ironmongers’ Company, Revd Nicholas
Leviseur. The Master (pictured above) read
the Lesson. The music, including pieces by
William Byrd and John Ireland, was
beautifully sung by a choir comprising
pupils from Colfe’s School and the
Leathersellers’ Federation of Schools.
T
A tale of two benefactors
t h e s to r y o f o u r A l m s h o u s e s
he story of our almshouses begins in
1543 and is tied up inextricably with
the move into our second Hall, the former
nunnery of St Helen’s. We owe John
Hasilwood a great deal, as he donated
£300 to the Leathersellers to buy the
desirable 2-acre site of St Helen’s – our
home ever since. In return he required the
Company to set up almshouses for ‘vii
pore folkes’, four men and three women,
who were to get eight pence a week each,
plus a winter fuel allowance of two sacks of
coal between Hallowmas (1 November)
and Christmas. It has long been a mystery
why Hasilwood – never, as far as we know,
a Leatherseller himself – chose to favour
our Company. He lived at Waltham Cross
in Essex, studied law at the Middle
Temple, and was an MP for Buckingham in
the 1529 Parliament. A clue has recently
been found, however. Buckingham was
represented by two MPs at that time, and
the other was Edward Lloyd, who certainly
was a Leatherseller (Third Warden in 1544)
– so Hasilwood’s interest in our Company
may stem from this friendship.
These first almshouses, Hasilwood’s
almshouses, lay behind St Ethelburga’s
Church, but no picture of them survives.
After two centuries of administering them,
in 1752 the Leathersellers moved the
seven residents into better premises at
Clark’s Court (see illustration), an alleyway
off Bishopsgate. These were in use until
1866 when it was decided to consolidate
all our almshouses on the Barnet site.
The other great benefactor of our Company almshouses, three centuries later, is,
of course, Richard Thornton (see page
16). In 1837 the Company decided to
build a single row of six new almshouses
at Barnet, on land we had owned since
1603. Barnet in 1837 was still a rural
village, and a much healthier location
than the overcrowded City with its poor
T
Hasilwood’s Almshouses occupied these two houses in Clark’s Court from 1752
to 1866. A watercolour of 1857 based on a drawing by T. H. Shepherd.
sanitation and frequent epidemics. The
almshouses were built by Ward & Sons in
the Gothic style, by then considered the
most appropriate architectural style for
buildings of a morally-uplifting nature.
They were “for the residence of poor
persons of good character” who were over
60 and had a connection with the
Company as Freemen, Liverymen, or their
widows. The first stone was laid on 25 July
1837 by the Master, Richard Thornton,
using the ceremonial trowel depicted
on the cover of this Review. The
buildings cost £1208 and Thornton
immediately announced that he would
fund this entirely himself, which must
have added to the jollity at the dinner for
the Court, builders and contractors held
afterwards at Jack Straw’s Castle in Hampstead. Consequently the Court passed a
resolution that “to perpetuate a grateful
sense of Mr Thornton’s liberality,
these Almshouses be called the
Thornton Almshouses”.
23
Above: The almshouse residents in 1926, with the
Bishop of London flanked by the Master and Wardens
in the back row. This damaged photograph is the only
old picture to show the residents.
Left: The residents with the Master and other
visitors in 2011.
An ‘Asylum for the Aged Poor’
After advertising in The Times and
interviewing 28 elderly applicants at the
Hall on 18 July 1838, the three men and
three women deemed most deserving
were admitted as the first residents of this
new ‘Asylum for the Aged Poor’. All were
Freemen or their widows: Robert Heslop
(aged 86), William Clarke (76), William
Bradley (72), Ann Round (73), Elizabeth
Wood (80) and Comfort Mary Ashman
(79). Of these, the longest to survive was
Clarke, who died in 1851 aged 89, after
13 years at Barnet.
A place in our almshouses was always
highly sought-after. There was no rent to
pay, an iron bedstead was provided, and
each resident received a modest pension –
10 shillings a week per person in 1838 –
plus two tons of coal a year. They had secure tenure and could only be evicted for
misdemeanours, but these were rare. Most
24
residents lived quiet, unremarkable lives at
Barnet, but trouble was occasionally caused
by drinking – the Black Horse inn lay just
across the road – and in 1895 Mrs Catherine Astle, 72, had her monthly allowance
reduced by eight shillings as a penalty for
her ‘intemperance’. In 1866 John Ross,
aged 74, was summoned from Barnet to
appear before the Court at Leathersellers’
Hall ‘to answer a charge of being
intoxicated and of annoying the other
inmates, and he was told that in the event
of another complaint he would be dismissed’. He must have behaved himself
after that as he was still living in the
almshouses when he died nine years later.
In 1850 Thornton donated a further
£500 towards building a second row of six
almshouses opposite the first terrace, and
in 1866 (again at Thornton’s initiative,
though he had died by the time the work
began; the Company met the costs) a third
row of seven almshouses was built – this
time by Dove Brothers of Islington, a family
connected with the Leathersellers since
1712. This final, northern wing linked up
the other two rows, and housed the seven
residents from Hasilwood’s almshouses
after they were moved out from the City. A
distinction between the Hasilwood and
Thornton almshouses was maintained at
Barnet for many years, but in time they
became generally known as the Leathersellers’ Almshouses, and in 1962 were renamed Leathersellers’ Close.
Sunday Best
A Lodge was added to the corner of the
site in 1859, and after the northern wing
was completed the almshouses took on
much of the appearance we are familiar
with today. Appearances can be deceptive,
however, as the middle section has been
much renovated and the two side wings
were entirely rebuilt in the mid-1960s (the
buildings were also badly damaged in the
London Blitz, when two landmines exploded in Thornton Road on 16 November
1940). In 1926 the wrought-iron gates
from the entrance to St Helen’s Place were
transferred to Barnet and installed near
the Lodge. In the same year, the focal
point of the almshouses was altered when,
thanks to a donation from Frederick Lionel
Dove, Master at the time, a new chapel
was built (an earlier, more modest chapel
had by 1899 become a meeting room).
The Bishop of London came to dedicate
the chapel and a group photograph (left)
was taken. Though damaged, this is the
only old photograph we have showing the
residents themselves, here all dressed up
in their ‘Sunday Best’.
By 1866 we had twenty almshouses at
Barnet. Though these were small, wives,
children and grandchildren often lived there
too, so the total number of residents was
higher – 36 are shown in the 1881 census.
In 1866 the Leathersellers decided to pay
£25 a year for a Medical Attendant to look
after the residents’ medical needs, a greatly
appreciated bonus. In an age before state
old age pensions and a free National Health
Service, old age was feared by many. The
loss of income when paid employment
was no longer possible could lead to
complete destitution and the humiliation
of entering the Workhouse. Similarly,
medical bills were beyond the means of
many, with the Workhouse Infirmary an
option only in extremis. A place, for life, in
the almshouses – plus fuel, a pension and
free access to a doctor – was a godsend.
however, have always included both sexes.
We know of at least one marriage between
residents at Barnet: in 1931 John Tomson
of almshouse no. 14 and Mrs Lily Mansfield of almshouse no.12 sought the
Company’s permission to marry and move
in together at no.14. Aged 71 and 60
respectively, both lived on at Barnet into
their 80s. Another late-flowering romance
at Barnet involved ‘a widower ninety-one
years of age and a spinster of seventythree summers’, as a report in the local press
headlined ‘Remarkable Wedding’ put it.
Henry Harbord, a former ropemaker born
in Bermondsey, had already been resident
for 26 years when he married Mary Ann
Easton in 1898, though she was not herself an almswoman. Bride and groom were
in good enough health to walk to the
Register Office and back, but had only one
© City of London, London Metropolitan Archives
A Remarkable Wedding
Many almshouse founders specified that
residents should be all men or all women.
Abraham Colfe’s almshouses at Lewisham,
for example, were for six elderly women
(the Leathersellers selected one of the six,
but the local parish chose the other five).
Hasilwood’s and Thornton’s almshouses,
The almshouses at Barnet in 1871, with open fields behind. The original
row of six is on the left. A dog runs across the lawn, dotted with conifers
and shrubs. Today this path is lined with bay trees.
year of married life at Barnet before Henry
died aged 92.
Many Barnet residents have reached a
ripe old age and quite a few have lived
into their 90s, including one Past Master,
Dr Walton Rex Reid (Master 1947-48), who
spent his final six years there and died
aged 98 in 1975. The longest resident,
William Pearson, died, aged 95 in 1913,
after 35 years at Barnet. So far only one
centenarian is known of, Austin ‘Micky’
Finn, a recent resident who lived to be 101
after 22 years at Barnet. With increasing
longevity, we are likely to see more in the
future.
Standards of living have risen, and the
modern state provides many of our medical and social needs, but our almshouses
at Barnet still provide a safe and comfortable sheltered home for around twenty
elderly people today. Here they can maintain their independence, yet receive friendly
assistance from our resident Wardens,
Chris and Phil Brown, when required. The
Company keeps a watchful eye on the
welfare of residents and the Master and
Wardens visit regularly, with residents being
taken out for a day, somewhere different
each year, for an annual Leathersellers’
treat. This haven of tranquillity set in
beautiful gardens has been a happy home
for many hundreds of elderly residents
since 1838. John Hasilwood and Richard
Thornton would thoroughly approve.
Jerome Farrell
The first six almshouses, newly-built in 1838
25
1st The
Queen’s
Dragoon
Guards
s we go to press the QDGs are in
Sennelager, Germany, preparing for
imminent deployment on a further tour of
duty in Afghanistan. For obvious reasons
of security we are unable to report any
details of their planned movements or
activities there, but we wish them all the
very best during the coming months –
and a safe homecoming to the UK for all
concerned when their tour is over.
A
ur annual Services Dinner took place at Armourers’ Hall in May this year. Shown
here, left to right, are: Cdr David Wilkinson from HMS Cornwall; Miles Emley (Second
Warden); Major-General Patrick Cordingley DSO (Guest Speaker); Nigel Pullman (Master);
Lt-General Simon Mayall from the QDGs; Nick Hollis (Third Warden); James Lang (Fourth
Warden); and Air Cdr Clive Bairstow.
O
Farewell to H M S C O R N WA L L
MS Cornwall is one of four Plymouthbased Type 22 frigates to be decommissioned under the Government’s
strategic defence and security review.
Cornwall has now returned to Plymouth
for the final time, following a six-month
deployment conducting counter-piracy
operations east of Suez. The ship sailed
out on 28 October last year to patrol the
Gulf of Aden, Horn of Africa and other
parts of the Middle East as the command
ship for CTF 151 - the Counter-Piracy Task
Force of a multi-national naval partnership. The partnership promotes security,
stability and prosperity across 2.5 million
square miles (6.5m sq km) of international
waters in the Middle East, including some
of the world’s most important shipping
lanes which are vital for the UK’s trade.
As well as being the command ship for
the Task Force, during her deployment
Cornwall’s achievements included conducting counter-piracy patrols; detaining 23
H
suspected pirates; escorting vulnerable
merchant vessels; supporting HM the
Queen’s state visit to Oman in November
2010; providing medical assistance to three
injured merchant seamen; and
freeing five Yemeni fishermen and
their dhow.
Commander David Wilkinson,
the ship’s CO, was full of praise for
his crew who had, he said, been
“utterly professional in all that has
been asked of them”. He acknowledged that the homecoming to the
UK was an occasion of mixed
emotions: “happiness to be returning home at the end of a successful
deployment and being reunited with
our families, yet also sadness to be
bringing this proud ship home to her base
port for the final time”.
It had been, he said, a privilege to
command this fine ship and work with the
ship’s company. The ship’s final entry to
home waters was marked by a fly-past of
the ship’s helicopter and a gun salute from
one of the ship’s guns as she passed
Plymouth Hoe.
ET Cracknell, Leading Engineering
Technician on HMS Cornwall, being
awarded the Leathersellers’ Trophy
for Outstanding Leadership by the
Commanding Officer, David Wilkinson.
The de-commissioning ceremony was
conducted in Plymouth on 30th June in
the presence of the Lord Lieutenant of
Cornwall, Lady Mary Holborow. This poignant ceremony was attended by Wardenelect Richard Chard and the Clerk, on
behalf of the Master and Wardens. The
Leathersellers’ Company has been extremely
proud to be associated with HMS Cornwall
for the last 23 years. We send Cdr David
Wilkinson and all the ship’s company our
very best wishes for the future.
26
A Battlefield Tour of the Ypres Salient
ravellers heading south from Calais
through Belgium and France invariably
pass through some of the bloodiest battlefields of the First and Second World Wars.
The pressures of time and holiday plans
often preclude an opportunity to visit
these remarkable sites, to learn a little of
what happened during these events and to
pay homage to the participants. Not so the
Leathersellers’ Company, who had factored in to their annual wine tour (see page
12) a visit to the battlefields of the Ypres
Salient.
Ypres or Leper – or to the squaddies of
1914-18, Wipers – was, prior to the First
World War, an unremarkable Flemish
town. However, military front lines ebbed
T
and flowed around the town during these
years, shaped by the three great battles
fought in 1914, 1915 and 1917.
Under the very professional, informative and enjoyable guidance of Piers StoriePugh of the British Legion’s Poppy Travel,
the Master and fifteen others spent a day
and a half visiting such evocative sites as
Essex Farm, Hooge Crater, Hill 60, and
many cemeteries, including Tyne Cot
(see photo) and the German site
at Langemark. As reported in
the Master’s Review, the
most evocative occasion,
amongst many, was our
visit to the Menin Gate
on the edge of Ypres
town. One of four memorials to the
missing in Belgian Flanders, it was chosen
because of the hundreds of thousands of
men who passed through it on their way
to the battlefields. It commemorates the
presence of over 54,000 Commonwealth
servicemen whose bodies were never
recovered and whose graves are not known.
The ceremony climaxes with the sounding
of The Last Post, which reflects the
gratitude of the Ypres inhabitants towards the 400,000
allied servicemen who
fell in action in defence
of the Ypres Salient.
The Clerk
The Master having
just laid our wreath at
the Tyne Cot memorial
HMS TIRELESS
MS Tireless was welcomed home
recently after one of her longest
deployments in recent years. About two
hundred well-wishers cheered the submariners at Devonport, Plymouth, as they
returned after ten and a half months spent
east of Suez – the longest Royal Naval
submarine deployment in the past decade.
A military band and a balloon ‘sculptor’
kept families and friends entertained as
they waited patiently for the
submariners to appear.
This most recent deployment was part of the
MoD’s enduring commitment to maintain
a submarine permanently in the
Middle
H
East in support of UK interests. Tireless was
predominantly working independently
and alone in the traditional submarine
role, conducting covert missions which
included counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics
and counter-piracy operations. This was a
lengthy, intense and hard-working period
for the crew who, in order to keep their
activities as secret as possible, had no
communication with the outside world for
almost half of their time away.
Tireless sailed out in July 2010 and in
August made its inaugural transit of the
Suez Canal, en-route to the Arabian Gulf.
In a significant first for a Royal Navy
submarine, Tireless supported a French
carrier battle group in the Indian Ocean
while the group was conducting live air
strikes over Afghanistan. The mission
involved operating ahead of the task
group, providing indicators and warnings
with regard to a range of potential threats.
This was one of the first opportunities for
the UK to support the UK/France Treaty for
Defence and Security Co-operation which
was signed last year.
During her 307 days away from Britain,
HMS Tireless travelled in excess of 35,000
miles. The crew now has a long period of
well-deserved leave.
Commander Jason Clay
The Ship’s Company, assembled on top of HMS Tireless in Fujairah (United
Arab Emirates), witness Chief Petty Officer Steve Skinley being presented with
the Leathersellers’ Award for Outstanding Leadership by Commanding Officer
Jason Clay.
27
S P O RT
Golf
he Golfing Society’s
Spring Meeting (in
conjunction with the
Coachmakers) took
place at the New
Zealand Golf Club on
19 April 2011, with
26 Leathersellers and
their guests present.
Twin brothers David
Dove and Geoffrey
Dove won the Powell
Cup in the morning,
with a score of +4. In
the afternoon the
Nissen cup was won
by Denis Daniels and
Roger Lavington, with
a score of 45 points.
The Prince Arthur
of Connaught Cup
Competition took
place exactly a month
later, on 19 May, at
Walton Heath, with 52
Livery Companies
taking part. Our
Company was represented by John Spurling
and Andrew Strong
(1st Pair) and Julian
Spurling and Edward
Dove (2nd Pair). The
T
Leathersellers’ Team
finished 5th on countback with a score of
– 1. The winners were
the Founders’ Company,
with a score of +5.
Julian and Edward
won a prize for the
Best Pair on the new
course, with +5.
This year we held a
Sports’ Supper on 7
June which included
all Leathersellers who
had participated in
sporting events on
behalf of the Company.
38 members and their
guests attended. Given
the major redevelopment work going on
at St Helen’s Place,
this enjoyable evening
event was held in the
pleasant surroundings
of the City University
Club in Cornhill. The
Master, Nigel Pullman,
was the guest of the
Society, and Nick
Baucher spoke on
behalf of the Guests.
The putting competit-
ion was won by Tom
Swanson, with 3
successful puts in the
second round.
The Autumn
Meeting will be held
at Tandridge Golf Club
on 19 September, and
will involve the Leathersellers in a fourcornered match with
the Ironmongers’,
Coachmakers’ and
Drapers’ Companies,
with an anticipated
seven/eight players in
each team. At last
year’s similar event
the winners were the
Drapers’ Company,
with 69 points. Charles
Dodd and Roger Strong
represented the
Leathersellers Company
and came second with
68. Charles Dodd won
the individual Tim
Phillips Millennium
Salver with a score of
37 points.
We currently have
45 players and eight
non-players in the
Golfing Society and
would like to encourage new members
who play golf at all
levels to join, and in
particular any women
golfers amongst our
Freemen or Liverymen.
The subscription is a
very reasonable £25
per annum, which
entitles members to
play in the Meetings
and attend the Supper
at subsidised rates,
plus giving the opportunity to represent the
Company in other
events. Please contact
the Golfing Secretary
(Pamela Willis, at the
Garlick Hill office) for
membership details
and dates of forthcoming events. All
results are posted on
the Company’s
website: www.
leathersellers.co.uk
Andrew Strong
other in the semis!
A most enjoyable day
was had by all.
Patrick is due to play
again in this year’s
tournament on 15
September, whilst I
have gone on the
reserve list so as to
make way for Livery-
man Tom Swanson.
I shall enjoy spectating
– and giving my knee
a rest.
Nick Hollis
Winners of the Nissen Cup
Inter-Livery Tennis Tournament
he weather held
out for us on the
day (16 September
2010), so the tournament was all played
outside this year. Good
camaraderie was
observed amongst the
16 (or so) Livery
Companies participating, including the
Grocers, Goldsmiths,
Tallow Chandlers and
Wax Chandlers,
followed by a good
evening meal at
Queen’s Club. No sight
of Pat Cash this year.
The Leathersellers’
teams consisted of Nick
Hollis (Third Warden
T
28
2010-11) with Yvonne
Burrage, and Patrick
Hollis (Steward 201112) with Sarah Page,
who stepped in at the
last moment as Adele
Tarrant was unwell.
It was a hardfought battle during
the ‘round robin’ on
the clay courts in the
morning, which both
pairs survived to go
through to the quarterfinals – where, alas,
we were beaten, though
it was a close contest
in each case. Had both
pairs won the quarterfinals, we would have
played against each
Triumph on the Slopes
The Inter-Livery
Ski Championships
he outcome of our
Company’s inaugural entry in the InterLivery Ski Championships at Morzine in
the French Alps in
January was –
unexpected triumph!
Team captain (dubbed
Il Capitano) Antony
Barrow led the
Leathersellers’ team of
Ed Kershaw and the
three Williams
brothers, Mark,
Hamish and Caspar. It
was the second year of
this event, which was
organised by the Ironmongers and attended
by over twenty livery
companies.
The weekend
consisted of two main
events: the Slalom and
the Giant Slalom. So,
on the kind of bitterly
cold Friday evening
when ski-ers are more
usually heading for
the nearest bar, the
contestants gathered
under a starlit sky and
a floodlit piste to take
T
part in the Slalom.
Tandem courses of
around 100 metres
descended the piste,
marked out with
alternate red and blue
poles (gates). Conditions were particularly
icy.
A palpable sense of
competitive excitement
pervaded the evening
air, as tactics were
discussed, technique
honed and nerves
steadied. Then, with
adrenalin pumping,
each pair of ski-ers set
off downhill, weaving
side by side between
the gates, and willing
themselves on across
the finishing line –
towards the cheering
crowds below and a
welcome cup of glühwein. We did remarkably well: not only did
Il Capitano win the
Veteran Champion
cup, but the Leathersellers also won the
overall Team Champion
cup for the Slalom.
Next morning, and
with the successes of
the previous evening
fresh in our minds, the
sense of competition
intensified – especially
with the 2010
Champions, the
Vintners’ Company,
some of whose young
guns were dressed in
sleek, skin-tight racing
ski suits.
The course descended a near-vertical
drop of well-over 250
metres and 25 gates.
The piste was now less
icy, thanks to a light
dusting of snow overnight, which eased the
carving turns. Il
Capitano was pipped
to second place by a
mere half a second. In
fact, less than eight and
a half seconds separated the top fifteen
competitors. After a
stewards’ enquiry,
Mark Williams was
declared winner of the
Mid-Champion cup
while our team
secured both the Team
Champion cup (for the
Giant Slalom) and the
coveted Overall Team
Champion trophy,
previously held by the
Vintners. It was a
clean sweep for the
Leathersellers!
The event generated a tremendous
amount of goodwill
and was a great
success, not least for
the opportunity it
provided to meet and
mingle with fellow
liverymen. Competition to defend the title
is set to be fierce in
2012. We would also
like to extend this
success further by
including the Ladies
and Young Champion
categories, and particularly encourage
participation by any
Leatherseller ski-ers
able to help us in this
respect.
Caspar Williams
great to have such a
good Leathersellers
contingent, but sadly
this meant less room
for ringers, who are
the usual source of
cricketing talent in our
team!
Ed Dove was the
clear Leathersellers’
star. Having been
freed from the
shackles of captaincy,
he excelled both with
ball (taking 3 wickets
for 43 runs) and bat
(top scoring Leatherseller with 21 runs).
He also qualified for
the “champagne
moment” prize with a
distinctly undignified
dive to save himself
from being run out!
One of our two
ringers (Paul Hogarth’s
colleague, Neil Sinclair
from the City of London
Police team) put in a
great performance,
scoring 40 runs and
taking 2 wickets, which
went a long way to
help our team reach a
level of competitive
respectability.
Other notable
Leatherseller performances were Jasper
Holmes (whose tidy
bowling deserved more
than the one wicket
he picked up) and
Matthew Pellereau,
who stepped in at the
eleventh hour and
gave a very accomplished performance
behind the stumps.
Matthew’s enjoyment
of the match, on this
Father’s Day, was
enhanced by the fact
that his son Tom was
also in the team –
although Tom, the
Leathersellers’ very
own “Apprentice” TV
star, was distinctly
more successful in
avoiding Sir Alan
Sugar’s raised finger
than that of our
umpire!
Once again we
were provided with a
fantastic lunch and tea
in a lovely setting,
making this a great
family day out – we
broke a new record
with over one
hundred people at the
lunch. All are very
welcome to next year’s
match, regardless of
skill or interest in
cricket. The date is
17th June 2012, when
it should prove a great
sporting warm-up for
the many other
exciting events taking
place in London the
following month!
Tim Nicholson
Cricket
he annual cricket
match against
Colfe’s School was
another great success
as a social event. On
the field, it was men
against boys....with
the boys easily beating us ageing men!
The Leathersellers’
team comprised Tim
Nicholson, Ed Dove,
Jasper Holmes, Andy
Bailey, Mark Russell,
William Cock, Tom
Pellereau, Matthew
Pellereau, Paul
Hogarth (fiancé of
Kate Swanson) and
two ringers. It was
T
29
S P O RT
Clay Pigeon Shooting
nforeseen sports
injuries and
problems with diary
management made it
a bit of a struggle to
assemble a
Leathersellers’ team
for the 2011 InterLivery Clay Shoot,
organised by the
Worshipful Company
of Environmental
Cleaners. However, it
finally came together,
the four-man team
comprising (left to
right in photograph)
James Noel, Gavin
Bacon, Mark Williams
and Tim Newton
(Captain).
The team was
mentored and supported by crack shot
Peter Newton, unfortunately not able to
represent the Company
with gun in hand
himself, owing to
shoulder joint failure.
This did not stop him
giving valuable eye-totrigger guidance,
however, and we were
kept in peak condition
by Dave Marshall, the
Beadle, kindly acting
as water caddy.
Four pairs of clay
pigeons at each of the
ten stands made for
U
an individual gun total
of eighty ‘birds’,
followed by an eightybird team ‘flush’.
Sights were set high
and barrels left
smoking. After
completing half of the
shooting stands and
grappling with the
obligatory ‘high
towers’, our team
members were really
starting to get their
eye in, with James and
Mark leading the
scores.
In the final stands
all the team pulled
together and smoked
clay after clay, though
one or two cheeky
ones seemed to fly off
behind a bush, which
was most frustrating.
Some team members
maintained that their
shooting was being
compromised by
“double-H”... heathaze! We were spurred
on by the fragrant
aroma of a hog roast,
to be accompanied by
fine wines, and
completed the course
in just over three-anda-half hours.
This year’s shoot
attracted 116 teams,
comprising an impressive 467 individual
guns. The popularity
of this charity fundraising event
grows year on year,
and many faces are
now very familiar,
which helps generate
an even greater
competitive spirit.
After lunch all teams
were eager to discover
where they had been
placed: the
Leathersellers finished
a very creditable 29th
out of 100. It is worth
noting that within the
top thirty teams the
Gunmakers (of course!)
had eight teams, and
their ninth team
finished 38th equal.
Individually, our
team were all on a
par: Tim Newton and
James Noel (both 24th
equal with 53 points),
Gavin Bacon (26th
equal with 51 points)
and Mark Williams
(27th equal with 50
points). If we could
just have smoked nine
more clays each, we
would have made the
top ten... a thought to
focus on when it comes
to next year’s entry!
Thank you to
everyone who gave
their time to support
this year’s event. Next
year’s Inter-Livery Clay
Pigeon Shoot at
Holland & Holland
will be held on 16
May 2012.
Tim Newton
was little wastage, the
wines being
accompanied by
delicious Spanish fare
including grilled
sardines, gazpacho,
fabada and paella.
Between courses,
places were changed
so that everybody had
the chance to mix
with their peers. At
the end of dinner we
were entertained with
Spanish and Latin
American music
provided by soprano
Laura Mitchell and
Cuban guitarist
Ahmed Dickinson. In
all this was a very
enjoyable evening and
we had an exceptional
turnout,
demonstrating the
Young Livery’s active
and avid interest in
the Company. We are
hoping to arrange
another evening ‘on
the road’ this autumn.
Yo u n g L i v e r y
he Young Livery
continues to attract
and involve the
younger members of
the Livery and this
year hosted an
informative Spanishthemed dinner at the
Hall on 20th January.
For this event – the
Young Livery’s final
T
30
one at the Hall before
its closure – we
enjoyed tasting a
number of celebrated
Spanish wines
introduced and
tutored by Master of
Wine, James
Handford. We gained
much insight from his
expertise and there
Tom Swanson
COMMITTEES
C A L E N DA R
FOR THE MASTER’S YEAR 2011/2012
2011
*E S TAT E S C O M M I T T E E
Monday 19th September
Master, Wardens & Ladies’ Luncheon
The Third Warden
Sir John Newton Bt
Mr. Martin Pebody
Judge Anthony Thornton QC
Mr. Simon Polito
Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Antony Barrow
Mike Bradly Russell
James Lister
Martin Phillips
Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Ian Russell MBE
Martin Dove
Anthony Phillips
Alistair Tusting
*FINANCE COMMITTEE
The Third Warden
Mr. Tony Lister
Mr. Anthony Collinson
Mr. Charles Barrow
Mr. Richard Fildes
Mr. Martin Pebody
Mr. Ian Russell MBE
Mr. Christopher Barrow
*CHARITIES GRANTS COMMITTEE
The Fourth Warden
Mr. Tim Daniels
Mr. Michael Binyon OBE
Mr. Richard Peart
Mr. Peter Newton
Mr. Martin Dove
Mr. Gavin Bacon
Mrs. Clare Lennon
Mr. Patrick Hollis
*WINE COMMITTEE
The Fourth Warden
Mr. Michael Biscoe
Sir John Newton Bt
Mr. Charles Barrow
Mr. Antony Barrow
Mr. Mike Bradly Russell
Mr. Gavin Bacon
YOUNG LIVERY COMMITTEE
Mr. Tom Swanson (Chairman)
Mr. Edward Kershaw
Mr. David Noel
Mr. Oliver Emley
Miss Harriet Pellereau
Mr. Oliver Buckley
Miss Sophie Binyon
Mrs. Sophie Collett
Mr. Oliver Russell
Miss Katie Russell
Thursday 10th November (Cutlers’ Hall)
First Livery Dinner (Education)
Saturday 12th November
Lord Mayor’s Show
2012
Thursday 19th January (Vintners’ Hall)
Nissen Dinner
Thursday 26th January (Dyers’ Hall)
Young Livery Dinner
Thursday 23rd February (Girdlers’ Hall)
Second Livery Dinner (Services)
Wednesday 14th March (Stationers’ Hall) TBC
or
Thursday 26th April (Stationers’ Hall) TBC
Third Livery Dinner (Lord Mayor)
Thursday 24th May (Carpenters’ Hall)
Fourth Livery Dinner (Common Hall)
Wednesday 20th June (Vintners’ Hall)
Election Day Service & Buffet Lunch
Thursday 5th July (Vintners’ Hall)
Masters, Prime Wardens & Clerks’ Dinner
Wednesday 18th July (Vintners’ Hall)
Confirmation Court
*PRIVILEGES COMMITTEE
Mr. Tim Daniels
Mr. Michael Biscoe
Wednesday 12th October (Vintners’ Hall)
Livery & Guests’ Dinner
Thursday 8th December (Vintners’ Hall)
Court and Ladies’ Dinner
*POLICY COMMITTEE
Mr. Tim Daniels
Mr. Tony Lister
Sir John Newton Bt
Mr. Charles Barrow
Monday 3rd October
Election of Lord Mayor
Mr. Martin Pebody
Mr. Simon Polito
*The Master, Second Warden and
Immediate Pastmaster serve ex-officio
on these Committees
31
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