The Worshipful Company of Pewterers: The Company: Past and Present
The Worshipful Company of Pewterers
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The Company: Past and Present

Livery Companies are guilds whose members have been given the right to wear a livery. In 'The Livery Companies of the City of London', The Princess Royal writes "the core of the Livery's ethos is timeless: fellowship, welfare, education, supporting trade and at all times working in the best interest of the communities in which they operate."

The Master's Parlour, now in the Geffrye Museum, London
The Master's Parlour, now in the Geffrye Museum, London

The Worshipful Company of Pewterers is one of the older Livery Companies in the City of London. It is number 16 in the order of civic precedence among over a hundred companies. The earliest documented reference to it is in the records of the Corporation dated 1348 when the "goodfolk, makers of vessels of pewter" came before the Mayor and Aldermen asking for approval of the Articles which they had drawn up for the regulation of the trade. The inference is that the members of the craft had formed together into a guild some while before this for, fundamental to the medieval conception of social organization, was the doctrine of collective rights and responsibilities, and no trade could rise above a rudimentary level without assuming some form of association. It is probable that the Fraternity was originally semi-religious and the connection with pewter was secondary and subsequent to its foundation. The Company's own records are extant from 1451.

Pewter Plates

Today the Pewterers' Company is actively involved with the Pewter trade through support for the Association of British Pewter Craftsmen (ABPC). The ABPC was formed in 1970 as an initiative of the Pewterers' Company and its members are required to touchmark their finished products, much as Pewterers were obliged to do in centuries past. The seahorse to the left is the modern touchmark signifying high quality.

Michelle Holderness Pewter Live Winner 1997
Michelle Holderness Pewter Live Winner 1997

The Pewterers' Company, in association with the ABPC, runs an annual competition, Pewter Live, for UK design students and Pewtersmiths. This is one of the few design competitions which actively links a student with a manufacturer to ensure that the design concepts are viable for manufacture. New products have reached the market as a direct result of this competition.

Pewter Review is a twice yearly magazine published by the Company and distributed by the Giftware Association and the National Association of Goldsmiths as well as being sent to an extensive mailing list of interested buyers, journalists and individuals. Pewter Review includes features on the latest designs and products and the people who make them; news of the Pewterers' Company itself; information on Museums and other displays of pewter around the country, and general information on the pewter trade in Britain today.

Catherine Tutt Winner 1996
Vases by Catherine Tutt Pewter Live Winner 1996

The Pewterers' Company of the new Millennium is a far cry from the early days when, for example, a supply of armour was kept at Pewterers' Hall and an armourer employed to keep it in top condition for the wars when Yeomen were fully equipped with both arms and clothing by the Company.

The Pewterers' Company today remains in the forefront of the promotion of pewter and maintains connections with pewter trade associations throughout Europe via the European Pewter Union, of which it was a founder member.