ARCHIVES AND COLLECTIONS Senior Archivist, Jessica Collins
RESEARCHERS IN THE ARCHIVES
T
he Archives continue to be busy, and we have been fortunate to recruit two new and dedicated volunteers to help us tackle some long-outstanding, but significant, backlogs with our Clothworker family trees project as well as cataloguing our Book of Deeds and Wills, a fascinating register of all bequests and gifts to The Company from the 16th century onwards.
Top: Master Weaver Emma Jo Webster during a London Craft Week
The volume also includes some wonderful insights into the plethora of matters concerning our livery forebears, including the costs and contents of Election Dinner menus from the 1560s, a list of the 33 Clothworkers who were press-ganged into service for the ill-fated Newhaven Expedition in 1562 and instructions on the effective running of Sutton Valence Grammar School in Kent, including this gem:
demonstration. Left: Visitors take turns on the portable loom, including Court member Col Alastair Mathewson (bottom).
14
THE CLOTHWORKER | AUTUMN 2018
‘[It is ordered] that neither the said Master nor Usher shall bee a common
Gamester or common haunter of Taverns or Alehouses or a common swearer or by [wearing] unecessarie or unseemlie apparrell or by anie other mea[nes] become an infamie to the schoole and an eville example [to] the youth under their chardge and tuition to whome [in all] points they ought to shew themselves of honest continen[ce] and godlie behaviour.’ You can find a catalogue of our Archives on our website at: www.clothworkers.co.uk. LONDON CRAFT WEEK Now in its fourth year, London Craft Week has a growing reputation for showcasing the best of creativity and craft. On Friday, 11th May, we became part of this initiative, opening the Hall to shine a light on the craftsmanship behind our new tapestry. With Chris Ofili’s magnificent The Caged Bird’s Song as a backdrop, the Livery Hall was the location for a series of tapestry master classes hosted by two
