The Drapers' Company - The Origins of the Company

The Origins of the Company

Trade and the Company’s Development

The Coat of Arms

Drapers' Hall

The Garden and Courtyard

Tours

Further Reading

The Origins of the Company

Title

The full title of the Drapers’ Company is "The Master and Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of the Mystery of Drapers of the City of London". The word Mystery comes from the Latin “misterium” meaning professional skill.

The Origins of Guilds
Early guilds or companies of the City of London acted as mutual protection societies providing a fraternity for their members, their trading element not at first being apparent. Having no common meeting house, they commonly gathered in a neighbouring church, monastery or hospital, whose saint they adopted as patron. In the 14th century, they began to obtain Charters from the Crown, giving them definite constitutions and rights of holding property, and defining their duties and responsibilities.

Letters Patent granted to the Company by Queen Elizabeth II in 1964.

The Foundation of the Drapers’ Company
The first royal charter granted to the Drapers is dated 1364 and the first ordinances cite a date of 1361 for the fraternity’s foundation, although an informal association of drapers undoubtedly existed as early as 1180.

A Brotherhood of Drapers, a religious fraternity attached to the church of St. Mary Bethlehem in Bishopsgate, is also known to have existed in the 1360s. It was founded in honour of St. Mary by ‘good people Drapers of Cornhill and other good men and women’ for the amendment of their lives. The location of St. Mary can hardly have been convenient for the majority of Drapers who lived in and around Cornhill, Candlewick Street (now Cannon Street) and Chepe (Cheapside). Possibly it was for this reason that allegiance was transferred to St. Mary le Bow in Cheapside and later to St. Michael’s Cornhill, where the Company continues to worship today. Despite these changes, the Drapers have retained the Blessed Virgin Mary as patron saint.

In 1438 the guild received its Charter of Incorporation recognizing the Drapers as a legal corporate fraternity, a Company which has perpetual succession and a Common seal. Over the centuries the original privileges granted by Royal Charter have been confirmed and amended by successive monarchs. The acting Charter of today is that granted by James I in 1607, amended by three Supplemental Charters, most recently in 1964.