About Us
The Carpenters’ Company is a City of London Livery Company. It received its first royal charter in 1477, and was granted a coat of arms in 1466.
The Company was orginally established as a medieval trade guild to safeguard the welfare and interests of carpenters in the City of London. Today, charitable activities and support for the craft of woodworking through scholarships, competitions and the Building Crafts College are the two cornerstones of its work.
The Carpenters’ Company is the senior construction trade company amongst the City Livery Companies, and maintains close links with the carpentry profession and other building trades.
Find out more about the City of London Livery Companies
Membership
Membership of the Company, as with most livery companies, is made up of Freemen and Liverymen. Members join the Company as Freemen by servitude (apprenticeship to a craft member of the Company) or, more usually, by redemption (admission after payment of a fee). After application to the Court Freemen may be selected to join the Livery, which is limited to 150 members.
About 40 per cent of the Livery work in construction-related professions or activities, and occasionally men and women distinguished in public life have been admitted. The Prince of Wales was made an Honorary Liveryman in 1995, in recognition of his interest in London’s architecture.
