The Worshipful Company of Brewers is one of the ancient

livery companies A livery company is a type of guild or professional association that originated in medieval times in London, England. Livery companies comprise London's ancient and modern trade associations and guilds, almost all of which are Style (form of a ...

of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

History

Arms of the Worshipful Company of Brewers

London brewers are known to have organised as a group in the 13th century. Its first

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 ...

was granted by Henry VI in 1438. In 1643,

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

imposed

excise taxes file:Lincoln Beer Stamp 1871.JPG, upright=1.2, 1871 U.S. Revenue stamp for 1/6 barrel of beer. Brewers would receive the stamp sheets, cut them into individual stamps, cancel them, and paste them over the Bunghole, bung of the beer barrel so when ...

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

ale Ale is a style of beer, brewed using a warm fermentation method. In medieval England, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to balance the malt and act as a preservative. Ale ...

, and

malt Malt is any cereal grain that has been made to germinate by soaking in water and then stopped from germinating further by drying with hot air, a process known as "malting". Malted grain is used to make beer, whisky, malted milk, malt vinegar, ...

, steadily increasing them until

gin Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink flavoured with juniper berries and other botanical ingredients. Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe. The modern gin was modified in Flanders and the Netherlands ...

became cheaper, causing the growth of unlicensed breweries and, in 1685, James II extended the Company's jurisdiction to eight miles around London and its suburbs. In 1739 it adopted new by-laws, which included the requirement for its liverymen to "enter into a bond ..with the Company against any expenses of their being elected to the office of Sheriff or Lord Mayor", but as the population of London spread outwards from the City, the Company's industry influence continued to decline.

Trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...

s of the Dame Alice Owen Foundation, which supports

Dame Alice Owen's School Dame Alice Owen's School (DAOS, or simply Dame Alice Owen's or Owen's) is an 11–18 co-educational, partially selective secondary school and sixth form with academy status in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, England. It is part of the Dame Al ...

, the Brewers' Company ranks 14th in the

order of precedence An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of importance applied to individuals, groups, or organizations. For individuals, it is most often used for diplomats in attendance at very formal occasions. It can also be used in the context of ...

of City Livery Companies. Its

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

is ''In God Is All Our Trust''. The Company's first

hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gre ...

was destroyed in the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old London Wall, Roman city wall, while also extendi ...

in 1666, and its second was bombed during the Blitz in 1940. Rebuilt in 1960, the present Brewers' Hall is located at Aldermanbury Square in the

, being the Company's HQ as well as available on a private hire basis for events.

References

External links

The Worshipful Company of Brewers
{{authority control Brewers 1437 establishments in England * Charities based in London

History

See also

References

External links