Membership

As with most other Livery Companies, the membership is made up of Freemen, Liverymen, and Assistants.

Freemen, of whom there are over 1550, enter the Company by one of three routes:

• By Service – on completion of an indentured apprenticeship to a master who is a freeman. The apprentice will have had to bring his or her 'masterpiece' to the Hall for inspection by the Wardens.
• By Patrimony – for any person born after the date of a parent's freedom, having attained the age of 25 and been elected by a Selection Committee .
• By Redemption – by an entrance fee, having been elected by a Selection Committee.

Enquiries concerning membership of the Company should be addressed to the Deputy Clerk.

A Call to the Livery is made by the Court of Assistants every two to three years, as necessary to maintain a sufficient total within the Livery. Following the Call to the Livery, the admission process will be by application and subsequent selection from the Freedom.

The Assistants are in turn elected from within the Livery. The Court of Assistants, numbering up to 33, is the governing body of the Company. Each year, four members are elected to become Wardens, who meet regularly and act as the Company's executive committee. The senior warden is known as the Prime Warden and serves for a year, changing over in May.

Day-to-day management of the Company is delegated to the Clerk (Chief Executive) who is supported by a full-time staff.