The Leathersellers’ Company are immensely proud of our links with our Armed Forces.
Date back to 1570’s/1580’s, we provided many soldiers to help prepare for the threat of invasion by the Spanish. We also gave £24 towards warship at the time of the Spanish Armada and have continued to demonstrate our support in various ways:
- 1590: We stockpiled 634 lbs of gunpowder in barrels above the room where Court Meetings took place, when aggression from Spain was still feared.
- Early1600s: We stockpiled muskets and pikes in our 2nd Hall.
- 1643: We sold off nearly all our silver to finance the Parliamentary Army against the King.
- 1646: We made General Massey, a hero on Cromwell’s side in the Civil War, an Honorary Freeman.
- 1797: The grounds of our Hall were used for training by the City’s militia (when invasion by the French was feared).
- 1900: We supported the Boer War with a donation of £525 to the City of London Imperial Volunteer Fund. In recognition the Company was awarded the South Africa Medal with 7 Clasps, which the Company framed and displayed but which perished when the Hall was bombed in 1941.
- 1917: The Union Jack Club for servicemen, near Waterloo, received a huge donation from the Leathersellers, of £12,000, equivalent to over half a million pounds today.
- In the aftermath of World War I: We made Admiral Beatty and Field Marshals Haig and Allenby, Honorary Freemen and Liverymen
Our Company’s portable war memorial is the large silver Britannia table centrepiece.
Our first official Military Affiliation was in 1988 and continue today through our affiliation on the 1st March 2005 with The Queen’s Dragoon Guards (The Welsh Cavalry), and 230 Squadron RAF on the 6th March 2013. After the decommissioning of HMS Tireless on 19th June 2014 and HMS Cornwall on 30th June 2011, HMS Audacious became our latest Naval affiliation on 4th February 2015.
Further Information please check below: