The Worshipful Company of Grocers is one of the 110 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 f ...

and ranks second in

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 ...

. The Grocers' Company was established in 1345 for merchants occupied in the trade of

grocer A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

and is one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies.

History

Company of Grocers coat of arms, City of London

The company was founded in the 14th century by members of the ''Guild of Pepperers'', which dates from 1180. The company was responsible for maintaining standards for the purity of

spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices a ...

s and for the setting of certain

weights and measures A unit of measurement is a definite magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other quantity of that kind can be expressed as a multip ...

. Its members included the suppliers of medicinal spices and herbs, who separated forming the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries in 1617. The

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometim ...

was known as the ''Company of Grossers'' from 1373 until 1376 when it was renamed the ''Company of Grocers of London''. In 1428, two years after building its first hall in Old Jewry, the company was granted 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, b ...

by King

Henry VI of England Henry VI (6 December 1421 – 21 May 1471) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. The only child of Henry V, he succeeded to the English throne ...

. One of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies, it ranks second in the Companies order of precedence after the

Mercers' Company The Worshipful Company of Mercers is the premier Livery Company of the City of London and ranks first in the order of precedence of the Companies. It is the first of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies. Although of even older origin, the c ...

. It is said that the Grocers' Company used to be first in the order, until Queen Elizabeth I, as Honorary Master of the Mercers' Company, found herself in procession, after her coronation behind the Grocers' camel which was emitting unfortunate smells; as a result, the Mercers were promoted. Today, the Grocers' Company exists as a charitable, constitutional and ceremonial institution which plays a significant role in the election of and supporting the Lord Mayor and the

Sheriffs of the City of London Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ju ...

. The company's

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. M ...

is ''"God Grant Grace"''. The company also provides

banquet A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes i ...

ing and

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

facilities at Grocers' Hall situated in Prince's Street, next to the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...

Hall

The earliest known Grocers' Hall was in Poultry, London, then known as Conningshop-lane on account of the three conies or rabbits hanging over a poulterer's stall in the lane. It was built in 1428 on land once owned by Lord Fitzwalter and let out "for dinners, funerals, county feasts and weddings." The roof and woodwork of the hall were destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire and afterwards a new roof was erected on the old walls while

Sir John Cutler, 1st Baronet Sir John Cutler, 1st Baronet (1603–1693) was an English grocer, financier and Member of Parliament. He was the 2nd son of Edward Cutler, Salter, of London. He became a successful grocer who also participated in land speculation, acquiring the ...

paid for a new parlour and dining room. The hall was again renovated in 1681 by the future

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...

, Sir John Moore. A new hall was built on the same site between 1798 and 1802 when part of the garden was sold to the

for the expansion of nearby Prince's Street. However, frequent and extensive repairs were required due to defective foundations in the building, which was replaced by a fourth hall, completed in 1893 on Prince's Street. The hall survived

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

with only minor damage to its north wing, but was almost completely destroyed by a fire in 1965, apparently caused by a lightbulb left on in the grand staircase beneath an oak lintel which smouldered and eventually caught fire. A fifth and final hall was constructed nearby in 1970, also on Prince's Street, which remains the Grocers' home today. The present Master Grocer is Timothy Coleridge, son of former Lloyd's of London Chairman David Coleridge.

Church

* St Mary-Le-Bow

Affiliations

Most noticeably the company is responsible for the maintenance of Oundle School at Oundle,

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It ...

, which uses the Grocers' crest of a camel as its school badge. Other schools which it maintains are the Elms School in Colwall, Herefordshire. Reed's School's Annual Foundation Appeal has been held at Grocers' Hall for over fifty years. Additionally, in 1876 the Company founded the Grocers' Company School, in Hackney, east of the City of London, for the education of "sons of the

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

es". This was transferred into

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kn ...

's control after that authority's formation in 1889 and changed its name to

Hackney Downs School Hackney Downs School was an 11–16 boys, community comprehensive secondary school in Lower Clapton, Greater London, England. It was established in 1876 and closed in 1995. It has been replaced by the Mossbourne Community Academy. History ...

; it closed in 1995. The school depicted as its school badge a camel, for the Lower School, and a shield with cloves and the motto of the Grocers' Company for the Upper School; the ''Camel and Cloves'' are remembered to this day by old boys of the school through the Clove Club for former pupils. The Grocers' Company now maintains close links with and is the principal sponsor of Hackney's Mossbourne Academy, renowned for its excellent

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

al standards. The church of St Paul, Homerton in Hackney was founded by the Company in 1890, but became redundant in 1981. The building still displays the company's coat of arms. The company is also affiliated to HMS ''Queen Elizabeth'', the first of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

's new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, and with the Coldstream Guards, the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

's oldest regular regiment. Eglinton Village in

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

, was established by the Grocers' Guild in 1619, under the name of Muff; the local Castle

Credit Union A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including deposit accounts, provis ...

adopted the use of the company's crest, as has Eglinton Primary School. The church of St Mary the Virgin at Northill in

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

shows the Grocers' coat of arms on a stained glass window by John Oliver. The company commissioned the window in 1664.

References

External links

The Grocers' Company of the City of Londonwww.liverycompanies.com
{{authority control Grocers 12th-century establishments in England 1345 establishments in England