The Worshipful Company of Cutlers is one of the ancient 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 ...

. It ranks 18th 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 ...

of the Companies. The trade of

knife A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidence ...

-making and repairing was formed in the thirteenth century as a guild; the Cutlers' Company received 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, but s ...

in 1416. The Company, like many other City Livery Companies, no longer has a strong connection with its trade, which for the most part relocated north to

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

, where a similar association, the

Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire is a trade guild of metalworkers based in Sheffield, England. It was incorporated in 1624 by an Act of Parliament. The head is called the Master Cutler. Its motto is french: 1=Pour Y Parvenir a Bonne Foi, ...

was established. Thus, the Livery Company remains primarily as a charitable institution. The Company funds and administers a variety of educational initiatives such as scholarships and awards.

Heraldry

John Stowe John Eric Stowe, O.F.M. Conv., (born April 15, 1966) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been the Bishop of Lexington in Kentucky since 2015. Biography Early life Stowe was born in Amherst, Ohio, on April 15, 196 ...

stated that the arms of the Cutlers of London (''"Gules, three pairs of swords in saltire argent hilts and pommels or'') were granted in 1476 by Thomas Holme,

Clarenceux King of Arms Clarenceux King of Arms, historically often spelled Clarencieux (both pronounced ), is an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Clarenceux is the senior of the two provincial kings of arms and his jurisdiction is that part of Engla ...

, and the

crest Crest or CREST may refer to: Buildings *The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York *"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York *Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switzerla ...

"an elephant bearing a castle" by Robert Cooke (c.1535-1592/3), Clarenceux. The supporters are two elephants. It has been claimed the elephant and castle crest gave rise to a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

displaying the crest as its sign, on the site of an old cutlers' inn at Newington, south London, and that this in turn gave its name to the area known as

Elephant and Castle The Elephant and Castle is an area around a major road junction in London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground stati ...

. However the Cutlers' Company has advised it did not own property in the area (3). Meanwhile a historian of the Elephant and Castle states 'elephant and castle' was a common public house name, and the eponymous district of London simply acquired its name in a happenstance fashion from that establishment (4). 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. Mot ...

was originally ''Pervenir a bonne foy'', which later became ''Pour parvenir a bonne foy'', an

Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 * Anglo-Norman language **Anglo-Norman literature * Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 10 ...

phrase meaning ''To succeed through good faith''. The Company's livery hall is located on a site in Warwick Lane once occupied by the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

, near Newgate Street. It was designed by T. Tayler Smith, the Company's surveyor, and was opened in 1888. It is a brick building, the façade decorated with a

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

depicting the processes of knife-making by the sculptor

Benjamin Creswick Benjamin Creswick, RBSA (1853–1946) was an English sculptor. Life Benjamin Creswick was born in Sheffield, the son of a spectacle-maker. He started his working life as a knife-grinder, but took up sculpture with the encouragement of John Ru ...

, who had worked as a knife-grinder in Sheffield.

Gallery

File:Worshipful Company of Cutlers 20130413 012 (2).jpg, Worshipful Company of Cutlers File:Worshipful Company of Cutlers 20130413 013 (2).jpg, Worshipful Company of Cutlers File:Worshipful Company of Cutlers 20130413 014 (2).jpg, City of London arms at Cutlers' Hall: Domine dirige nos (Lord guide us)

References

3. Email to co-author 8 January 2021. 4. Stephen Humphrey, Elephant & Castle: A History, Amberley Publishing 2013.

External links

The Cutlers' Company
* Livery companies 1416 establishments in England Corporatism Companies of medieval England Charities based in London History of the City of London Cutlers {{London-stub