The Worshipful Company of Ironmongers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Ironmongers, who were originally known as the Ferroners, were incorporated under a Royal Charter in 1463. The Company's original association with iron merchants, however, has lessened, especially due to the movement of the industry from Southern England to the North, where iron ore is more readily available. Thus, the Company remains primarily as a charitable institution. Livery Companies are trade associations based in the City of London. ... For London as a whole, see the main article London. ... A Royal Charter is a charter given by a monarch to legitimize an incorporated body, such as a city, company, university or such. ...
The Company ranks tenth in the order of precedence of Livery Companies; it is therefore one of the "Great Twelve City Livery Companies." The Company's motto is God Is Our Strength. 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.
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