The Worshipful Company of Mercers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. It was incorporated under a Royal Charter in 1394. Originally, its aim was to act as a trade association for general merchants, and especially for exporters of wool and importers of velvet, silk and other luxurious fabrics. However, by the sixteenth century, many members of the Company did not retain connections with the original trade. Today, the Company exists as a charitable institution, supporting a wide variety of causes. Livery Companies are trade associations based in the City of London. ... This article is about a small section of central London. ... In the United Kingdom and Canada a Royal Charter is a charter granted by the Sovereign on the advice of the Privy Council, which creates or gives special status to an incorporated body. ... Events Expulsion of the Jews from France. ...
The Company is the premier Livery Company of the City; it ranks first in the order of precedence. It is thus one of the "Great Twelve City Livery Companies." The Company's motto is Honor Deo, Latin for Honour God An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of nominal importance of people; it is used by many organizations and governments. ...
The Livery Companies originally developed as guilds and were responsible for the regulation of their trades, controlling, for instance, wages and labour conditions.
Livery Companies are governed by a Master (known in some Companies as the Prime Warden), a number of Wardens (who may be known as the Upper, Middle, Lower, or Renter Wardens), and a Court of Assistants, which elects the Master and Wardens.
Among the earliest companies known to have possessed halls were the Merchant Taylors and Goldsmiths in the 14th century, but neither theirs nor other companies' original halls remain; the few survivors of the Great Fire were destroyed, along with many reconstructed ones, during the Blitz.
The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London.
The Company, which was originally responsible for the regulation cloth merchants, began to lose control due to the increase of the population of London, its jurisdiction.
The Company ranks eighth in the order of precedence of Livery Companies; it is therefore considered one of the "Great Twelve City Livery Companies".
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