Christopher Hudson

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Christopher Hudson has posted two annotations/comments since 23 January 2014.

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Second Reading

About Tuesday 22 January 1660/61

Christopher Hudson  •  Link

The Mercers' chapel and great hall mention interests me as I was just in London learning some details about the livery companies. There are over a hundred livery
companies dating back to before 1066, including some very recent ones
such as IT professionals, and a pending application by arts scholars.
Essentially they are trade guilds that have to be active in the City
of London, and many have charitable purposes as well as regulating
their particular trades, and they are much connected to the Lord
Mayor's ritual functions. Anyway of the c.110 or so, there are The
Great Twelve, of which the first two are the Mercers and Drapers.
The Mercers do have a role in St. Paul's School - St. Paul's was the first school to be entrusted to a livery company,
and was founded in 1509 by Dean Colet, Mercer and Dean of St. Paul's
Cathedral.
I don't know if the
Mercers' Hall survives ( many were destroyed in WWII) but several of them do and are among London's hidden gems.