The Consorts were
greeted with a welcome hot cup of coffee on this chilly morning and had time to
mingle before the Beadle, David Hasler, introduced them to the comfortably cosy
Cutlers’ Hall, built in 1888 as a country manor house in the City for the
Crathorne family. The family still have
a link to the Worship Company of Cutlers.
The entire building was
decorated beautifully for Christmas, with many nutcrackers, and fragrant
festive candles.
The family of the
current Master goes back three generations.
Membership stands at 120. We were
shown the BAFTA award presented to current member Adam Gee, and portraits of
several members who had been elected Lord Mayor. Lord Mayors included Henry Winchester, who
when an MP a few years before taking office as Lord Mayor, had voted against
the Great Reform Bill, and thus had lost a vote of confidence, and, more
recently, “Mulberry” Mais, a civil engineer whose design of bridge was crucial
in the D-Day landings.
A Gild of Cutlers
existed in the 13th Century, but the Company of Cutlers was founded
in 1416, being granted a Royal Charter in part payment for providing arms at
the Battle of Agincourt. This story is depicted
in the wonderful stained glass window in the entrance hall.
We were taken upstairs
to the gallery where we saw many stunning artefacts, including a beautiful
sword and scabbard presented to the Empress of India (Queen Victoria), the
sword of the Black Prince, and the Sword of State returned by Edward VIII on
his abdication. The exhibition room
contained knives with beautiful porcelain handles, others with handles of
(alas) ivory, and various surgical implements, including a strange device for
removing haemorrhoids, which made us all squirm uncomfortably.
David the Beadle
entertained us with many tales, of history pertinent to the Cutlers, and of his
own military service, during which he met his wife Shirley, who was our cook
for the day. We wish David well for his
pending retirement.
Throughout the event
(though not the tour), we were serenaded by the delightful music and voice of
Welsh harpist Iona Thomas.
Our guest speaker
at the lunch was Genevieve James, Glovemaker to the late Queen, Creative
Director of the company Cornelia James. In
1939 Cornelia James fled Nazi occupied Vienna for England, bringing with her a
suitcase of fabric.
In 1947 the couturier
Norman Hartnell asked her to make gloves to accessorise the Princess Elizabeth's
going away outfit.
In 1979 she became
glovemaker ‘by appointment’ to Her Majesty the Queen. Three generations later,
the family business is still making gloves by hand in Sussex, and had made
gloves for the late Queen for over 70 years.
The late Queen almost
always wore gloves: when gloves were on, she meant business! When abroad on state visits, she generally
required a new pair of gloves for each occasion.
The serving of coffee,
port and Cointreau brought this wonderful meeting to a close.
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