History
The Company was founded in the fourteenth century as the Guild of Pepperers, which dates from 1180. The Company was responsible for maintaining standards for the purity of spices and for the setting of certain weights and measures. Its members included London's pharmacists, who separated into the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries in 1617.
The guild was known as the Company of Grossers from 1373 until 1376 when it was renamed the Company of Grocers of London. In 1428, two years after founding its first hall in Old Jewry, the Company was granted a Royal Charter by King Henry VI. It is one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies, ranking second in the Companies order of precedence after the Mercers' Company. It is said that the Grocers' Company used to be first in the order, until Queen Elizabeth I, as Honorary Master of the Mercer's Company, found herself in procession, after her coronation, behind the Grocers' camel which was emitting unfortunate smells. As a result, the Mercers were promoted.
Today, the Grocers' Company exists as a charitable, constitutional and ceremonial institution which plays a significant role in the election of the Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs of the City of London. The Company's motto is "God Grant Grace". The Company also maintains banquet and conference facilities at Grocers' Hall in Prince's Street, next to the Bank of England.
Read more about this topic: Worshipful Company Of Grocers
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“A people without history
Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern
Of timeless moments.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)