The Worshipful Company of Saddlers is one of the most ancient of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Guild of Saddlers, the Company's predecessor, is thought to have been an Anglo-Saxon Craft Guild – it certainly existed at some point in the eleventh century. The Guild became a Company when a Royal Charter of Incorporation was granted by King Edward III in 1363. The City granted the Company the right to regulate the trade of saddle-making; all saddlers in and within two miles of the City were subject to the Company's regulations. However, the powers of the Company, which has existed on the same site at Cheapside (formerly West Chepe) since 1160, were eroded over time.
Nowadays the Company retains strong affiliations with the saddlery trade, sponsoring the Society of Master Saddlers and giving prizes for deserving young riders at equestrian events. The Company is an institiution which is charitable rather than a charitable institution and it supports many good causes and sponsors scholarships at Alleyn's School, has strong links with the Household Cavalry and the King's Troop R.H.A. as well as with other regiments and Livery Companies traditionally involved with leather or horses.
The Company ranks twenty-fifth in the order of precedence of Livery Companies (as settled in 1515 on the Companies' economic or political power at that time). Unusually, the Saddlers Company has two mottoes: Hold Fast, Sit Sure and Our Trust Is In God.
In addition to admitting members as Freeman and Liveryman, the Saddlers' Company has the unique privilege of granting Yeoman status. Its notable Yeomen include HRH The Princess Royal, Peter Walwyn (Chairman of the Lambourn Trainers Association), and Richard Meade.
Famous quotes containing the word company:
“A man is never completely alone in this world. At the worst, he has the company of a boy, a youth, and by and by a grown man—the one he used to be.”
—Cesare Pavese (1908–1950)