THE LEATHERSELLERS
A SHORT HISTORY
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The Leathersellers’ Company’s Technical College in Tower Bridge Road, seen here in the 1930s.
National Leathersellers’ College syllabuses and timetables, 1953–1954.
moved, relocating to new premises in Northampton alongside the Museum of Leathercraft. The museum was founded in London in 1946 but had moved to Northampton in 1978, and was supported by several livery companies including the Leathersellers’ Company. In 2023 the collections of the Museum of Leathercraft – renamed to The Leathercraft Trust – began to move into the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery for a long-term sustainable home, combining and enhancing the collections there and giving more opportunities for objects to be seen by a wider audience. Enabling individuals and communities, fostering opportunity, and supporting the leather trade have been at the heart of the Leathersellers’ identity
In 2019, with further investment, the BSLT was relocated to the Waterside Campus and renamed the Institute for Creative Leather Technologies. Following this move the Leathersellers continued to provide support to the ICLT with the provision of equipment, core funding, and scholarships for the full range of courses. In December 2023 the University of Northampton made the decision to close the Institute. However, the Leathersellers’ Company and Foundation remain committed to the future of leather education and are currently involved in an industry-led initiative to re-imagine the future of educational provision in the UK.
since at least 1471, much of this made possible through the generosity of benefactors such as Robert Ferbras, Elizabeth Grasvenor, Hugh Offley, Robert Rogers, George Humble and Abraham Colfe, who entrusted the Leathersellers with benefactions to help poor prisoners; support members to establish new businesses; fund student grant-giving and accommodation for the elderly; and enable wider charitable giving. Over the centuries these charitable trusts have been rationalised, combined and tailored to modern needs, most notably with the creation in 1979 of the Leathersellers’ Company’s Charitable Fund, now named The Leathersellers’ Foundation.
London’s leather industry was another casualty of the war. Many of Bermondsey’s tanneries had been destroyed, and demand for the heavy leather they produced was falling, as were student numbers at the Technical College. In 1976 the decision was taken to amalgamate with the leather department at University College Northampton, and the Company funded the construction of a new National Leathersellers’ Centre. The Centre was subsequently re-named the British School of Leather Technology to reflect its international reputation. Close by, in purpose-built accommodation largely funded by the Company, was located the Leather Conservation Centre, where skilled staff restored Britain’s rich heritage in leather.
The same year as the BSLT’s move and renaming as the ICLT the Leather Conservation Centre also
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