The Worshipful Company of Wheelwrights is one of the
Livery Companies of the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. An organisation of Wheelwrights and
Coachmakers petitioned for incorporation in 1630. The petition was granted forty years later, in 1670, when a
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...
was granted to the Wheelwrights. (The Coachmakers were separately incorporated in 1677.) The Wheelwrights' Company was granted the status of a Livery Company in 1763. Over the years, wheel making has largely changed from being hand-made by craftsmen to being made by machines. Whilst there are a number of working wheelwrights still practising the ancient craft, which the company actively supports through its apprenticeship scheme, the company is no longer a trade association for wheelwrights. Instead, it functions largely as a charitable body focusing on mobility.
The Wheelwrights' Company ranks sixty-eighth in the
order of precedence
An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of nominal importance and can be applied to individuals, groups, or organizations. Most often it is used in the context of people by many organizations and governments, for very formal and state o ...
for Livery Companies. Its motto is ''God Grant Unity''.
See also
*
Wheelwright
A wheelwright is a craftsman who builds or repairs wooden wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the word "wright", (which comes from the Old English word "''wryhta''", meaning a worker or shaper of wood) as in shipwright and arkw ...
s
External links
The Wheelwrights' Company
{{authority control
Wheelwrights
1670 establishments in England
Wheel manufacturers