History
The Worshipful Company of Grocers is one of the ‘Great Twelve’ Livery Companies of the City of London, ranking second in the order of precedence. In 1515, the Court of Aldermen of the City of London settled an order of precedence for the 48 livery companies then in existence.
The Company originated as the ‘Pepperers’, whose existence as a Guild was first officially recorded in the Pipe Roll of 1180, but undoubtedly, the Guild was already active and had been originally formed earlier.
In 1345, Pepperers formed a Fraternity, which was dedicated to St Antonin as their patron saint.
The Fraternity was entrusted with the duty of preventing the adulteration of spices and drugs, as well as with the charge of the King's Beam, which weighed the bulk merchandise in which they dealt.
This Fraternity came to be known in the 1370s as the ‘Grosseurs’ which reflected their expansion into a wide range of mercantile activity, operating primarily ‘in gross’. This was subsequently anglicised to ‘Grocers’.
In 1425, the Grocers acquired the land upon which to build their first Hall, which is where our current Hall resides today.
In 1428, the Grocers were granted their first royal charter, thus formally recognising them as a Mystery or Worshipful Livery Company.
Today, we play a significant role in the City’s constitutional and ceremonial life, including the election of the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs. With the valuable industry and support of our members nationwide, we maintain and develop the fundamental ethos embodied in our early Ordinances, as well as being, in the words of the Company Clerk in 1682, ‘a nursery of charities and a seminary of good citizens'.
7 Aug 2023
History & Origins of Grocers' Hall
A video tour through the Grocers' Hall bringing history alive through the building and objects.
7 Aug 2023
Grocers' Gates
Dr Clifford takes viewers through the story of the Grocers' Company as told from the symbols and signs contained in the Grocer Livery Hall Gates.
7 Aug 2023
From Grossers to Grocers
A new beautifully written and wonderfully illustrated History of the Grocers’ Company From Foundation to 2022, in two volumes, by Dr Helen Clifford.
4 Aug 2023
The Colour of the Company's Livery Gowns
In 1956 the rebuilding of the Fourth Hall, after the damage caused in the Blitz, was complete. It was a time to look forward.
4 Aug 2023
A Mystery Object
In March 2019 Vivian Bairstow a Past Master of the Coopers contacted the Grocers about a forthcoming sale at the auctioneers Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury.
4 Aug 2023
The Grocers' Wing of The Royal London Hospital
The NHS Livery Kitchen initiative renews a longstanding connection the Grocers’ Company has with The Royal London Hospital.
4 Aug 2023
The World War II and The Grocers' Company
As we mark the 75th Anniversary of VE Day, Dr Helen Clifford, the Grocers' Historian, has taken a look at the impact World War II had on The Grocers' Company, its Hall and the wider City community.
4 Aug 2023
A Case of Multiple Mistaken Identity
Mr Rupert Gavin drew our attention to a recent article in the Evening Standard, heralding the return to London of a magnificent portrait of a Lord Mayor to hang in the ‘British Baroque’ exhibition at Tate Britain.
4 Aug 2023
Peppercorns, Cloves or Nails
There is an undated article in the Grocers’ Company Library. It is by Charles Burford Goodhart (1919-2000), a zoologist, Fellow of Gonville & Caius College Cambridge, and a man with a distinguished Grocer pedigree.
4 Aug 2023
The Importance of Friends in High Places
In his diary entry for Tuesday 28th February 1660 Samuel Pepys noted that, after a breakfast of herrings, he rode into London to find that it ‘was a thanksgiving day throughout the City for the return of the Parliament’.
4 Aug 2023
The Rogue Clerk
The first intimation of trouble occurred in May 1796.
4 Aug 2023
Anyone for Tennis? Cups, Copies and Complications
A note in the Grocers’ Company Court Minutes for 1922 aroused my curiosity.
4 Aug 2023
Chaplets, Garlands or Crowns?
The ceremony of crowning the new Wardens takes place at Company’s Election Feast every year.
4 Aug 2023
The Grocers' Company Barge
The River Thames was until the middle of the nineteenth century a main thoroughfare of London.
4 Aug 2023
Fire at Grocers Hall 1965
At 5.55 pm on Wednesday 22nd September 1965 smoke was observed billowing out of Grocers’ Hall.
4 Aug 2023
Eating, Drinking and an Epidemic, the Mysterious Case of the Russian Tankard
Eating, Drinking & an Epidemic, the Mysterious Case of the Russian Tankard There is a large silver-gilt tankard in the Grocers’ Company Collection that is rarely seen outside the strong room.
4 Aug 2023
Historical Highlight No 3 - A Grocer Camel Spotted in Oxford …
This series of historical highlights concentrates on objects connected with the Grocers’ Company and its Members across the country, a sort of Grocer safari.
4 Aug 2023
Gathering Company cloves in Norfolk
If you happen to be in north Norfolk a visit to St Mary’s Church at Wiveton two miles inland from the coast, between Wells and Sheringham, is recommended.
4 Aug 2023
Tokens of Esteem?
There is a small brown box in the Company vault which contains rather dull looking coins.
3 Aug 2023
The Pitt Portrait - A Tale of Cumulative Copies
The Grocers’ Company has always been proud of its association with William Pitt the Younger, who became an Honorary Freeman in 1784 following in the footsteps of his father the 1st Earl of Chatham.