Master's badge
Master's badge reverse
Members' Room at Chartered Accountants' Hall (London Living History)
Entrance to Chartered Accountants' Hall (London Living History)
Master Robert J Freeman 1961-62
Rameses: the Coopers' Company's snuff mull

Treasures and Archives: a Livery Archivists' Meeting

17th July 2026

Chartered Accountants' Hall, Moorgate Place

Understanding and Managing our Historic Documents and Treasures

To Chartered Accountants' Hall in Moorgate Place for the first meeting in eighteen years of people with an interest in managing, preserving and interpreting the historic archives and treasures of their Livery Companies. The meeting was at the invitation of the Renter Warden of the Glovers' Company and the Keeper of Treasures at the Chartered Accountants' Company.

The Hall is currently swathed in builders' wraps, so I wasn't able to admire John Belcher's exuberant late Victorian architecture or the famous Frampton and Thornycroft friezes that celebrate the British Empire and the Industrial Revolution, but there were plenty of architectural treats inside.

Around fifty people gathered in the beautiful Members' Room, formerly the Library, which is dominated by an extraordinary wooden bridge in the style of Venice's Ponte di Rialto, surmounted by two golden gondoliers' lamps. Surely a unique feature! At the far end of the room are magnificent stained-glass windows by Alexander Beleschenko, installed in 2022, which flood the room with colour and light but hidden behind a presentation screen today.

After introducing ourselves, we donned white cotton gloves and unpacked a fascinating selection of treasures liberated from halls, vaults and strongrooms across the City just for the morning. They were passed carefully from hand to hand for closer inspection and description. Among the highlights were a printed pamphlet dating from 1595, a Victorian trade weight brought by the Archivist to the Founders' Company, a beautifully crafted silver cup from the Chartered Accountants and – much to my surprise – a ram's-head snuff mull brought along by the Clerk to the Coopers' Company. Called Rameses, he is clearly neither as handsome nor as well-loved as our own Cedric, but he did give me the opportunity to explain how a ram's-head snuff mull should be embellished and the traditional role it played at large dinners.

I had taken along our own gold Master's badge, generously donated to the Company by Past Master Robert J Freeman OBE VRD, Master 1961-62, and reworked in 2021 following the redesign of our Coat of Arms. I also took two clay tobacco pipes: certainly not treasures, but as most people encounter them only as broken fragments unearthed in their gardens, I was able to explain their importance to archaeologists in dating excavation sites and understanding everyday life in earlier centuries.

We heard a fascinating presentation from Simon Surtees, member of the Goldsmiths' Company and Managing Director of John Surtees, one of the best-known silversmiths in London's famous Silver Vaults. He spoke about the current state of the silver market and the work his firm undertakes in helping many Livery Companies understand, conserve and, where appropriate, realise the value of their historic silver collections, while assisting others in building collections of their own.

Our final speaker was Mark Coleman, Managing Director of the SDS Group, probably the UK's largest and most experienced archive digitisation and document management company. He described the increasingly sophisticated work his team undertakes for major archives, independent schools, Livery Companies, the City of London Corporation and many other organisations to preserve invaluable historical records while making them accessible for future generations. I already work with SDS in my role as volunteer archivist and research historian at Monkton Combe School, Bath.

It was a remarkably interesting and enjoyable morning. There was a wealth of knowledge and experience in the room, and it was encouraging to discover how many people across the Livery share the same passion for understanding, preserving and interpreting the remarkable collections entrusted to our care. As I emerged into the heat of Moorgate to head for Paddington, I hoped that this will become a regular gathering once again.

Going to this event meant that I couldn't be at St Paul's to wave the Lady Mayor off on her motorcycle "Ride Out" to the Master Farmer's farm in Essex, but I am sure everyone who rode a bike or pillion, followed along in a car or met them there had an equally wonderful time!