THE LEATHERSELLERS
A SHORT HISTORY
07
The silver table centrepiece with its engraved list of Liverymen who served or were killed in the Great War. The names of five Leathersellers killed in World War II were added later.
LEATHERSELLERS’ HALL WAS OFFERED FOR USE AS A HOSPITAL, AND THE COMPANY FUNDED A MOTOR AMBULANCE AND FIELD KITCHEN FOR THE RED CROSS.
In the nineteenth century, Livery Companies were exposed to public scrutiny as never before. Various official enquiries were made into the running of the Company’s charities, and the Royal Commission into the City Livery Companies indirectly encouraged the Leathersellers to focus more on developing technical education for those going into the leather trade. This process had already begun with a donation that helped to found the City and Guilds of London Institute, and culminated with the establishment of the Leathersellers’ Technical College in Bermondsey in 1909. There was support, too, for the leather trade in general, including sponsorship of practical research into treatments for anthrax and damage caused to animal hides by the warble fly. As a new century opened, the Company turned to domestic affairs and began rebuilding St Helen’s Place. Work was halted, however, by the outbreak of the First World War. Leathersellers’ Hall was offered for use as a hospital, and the Company funded a motor
ambulance and field kitchen for the Red Cross. Peace was celebrated with the award of honorary membership of the Company to prominent military and political figures such as Earl Haig and Lloyd George. A motorised Red Cross field kitchen, funded by the Leathersellers, in front of the fifth Hall in January 1915 prior to its departure to the Western Front.
Students at the Leathersellers’ Technical College during a practical lesson.
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