The Company Today

The Worshipful Company of Plaisterers is the 46th Livery Company of the City of London and exists to encourage excellence in all aspects of plastering. The Livery Company continues to develop values adopted on receiving the first Royal Charter in 1501 and it now aims to maintain a vibrant, sustainable future for the Livery and continue to support the plastering trade.

The Governing Body of the Plaisterers is the Court which comprises of the Master, who chairs the Court, those who have been through ‘the Chair’ – known as Past Masters – and those who are waiting to progress through the ranks of Upper Warden and Renter Warden, known as Assistants. The Master is elected annually and the Company’s year runs from the date of their installation in July.

As a modern company we are committed to promoting equality, fairness and respect, and an atmosphere where diversity is recognised and valued.

The day-to-day management of the Company is delegated to the Clerk, in effect the Chief Executive, who is supported by an Assistant Clerk. They are supported by various working committees, such as the Industry Committee and the Membership Committee. These are standing committees but others are formed where a special, normally short-term requirement is identified. The Worshipful Company of Plaisterers’ Charitable Trust is administered by Trustees comprising Court members and Liverymen.

The running of the Hall buildings is carried out by a separate limited company, Plaisterers Hall Limited, in which the Livery Company owns the whole of the issued share capital. The Board comprises senior members of the Livery Company.

In recent years the Plaisterers’ Company, along with many other livery companies, has been taking a hard look at the make-up of its membership and seeking to find ways to encourage increased diversity in age, gender and ethnicity. It has been pleasing to see the small but steady change that has been taking place and the Company is committed to this increasing.

Following an unexpected visitor to the Hall in 2017, Professor Paul Lovejoy from York University, Toronto Canada, an expert on what is now called the African Diaspora, this opened up an interesting but forgotten aspect of the Company’s history in the second half of the 18^th Century.

Find out more about the visit and the history it uncovered:

THE PLAISTERERS AND THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY

Our Royal Liveryman

In 2014 we welcomed our first Royal Liveryman, Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall.

It was with great pleasure that we were able to provide Her Royal Highness with her first opportunity to visit the Hall on Wednesday 27^th May 2015. The evening took the form of a relaxed and informal Reception during which the Duchess met a large number of the members of the Company and their partners.

Her Royal Highness was presented with a specially designed Livery Badge. It was commissioned following a design competition amongst students at the Goldsmiths’ Centre in Clerkenwell. The winning designer, 19-year old Joshua Gane, was able to discuss his design with the Duchess, who also met other students who had participated in the competition.

An illuminated Livery Certificate, designed by Calligrapher Tim Noad, was also presented to Her Royal Highness. The original will reside at Clarence House with a facsimile on display in the Hall.

The Duchess of Cornwall said:
“Master, Wardens, Brother and Sister Liverymen, Ladies and Gentlemen

Thank you, Master, for your generous words of welcome. It was with enormous pride that I accepted your invitation, last year, to become an Honorary Liveryman of this ancient Worshipful Company and I am hugely honoured to be here today in your magnificent Great Hall (a testament to the art of plastering) to accept this beautiful Livery brooch.

The City Livery Companies are entwined in the history of London. They have their roots in ancient trades and crafts, but over the centuries they have adapted to emerge, in the 21st Century, still vital to the men and women they support. Here at the Worshipful Company of Plaisterers, I know how proud you are to promote the craft of plastering; to sustain it through annual awards and training bursaries; to raise money for charity and to maintain your links with this country’s wonderful Armed Forces.

I’m told that, as long ago as 1513, the Worshipful Company of Plaisterers paid 20 shillings towards equipping 300 men with arms for the French War! In this bicentenary year of the Battle of Waterloo, I’m glad to say our days of fighting the French are over! However, the Armed Forces are now deployed all over the world and your continuing commitment to the Army, Navy and Air Force through your Military Affiliations does you immense credit. I am sure that your awards of prizes, charitable giving and visits – as well as the generous hospitality you have offered them here – are all greatly appreciated and I’m delighted to see so many representatives of those Military Affiliations here tonight.

It has been a huge pleasure to meet so many of you this evening and to learn a little about your work. Thank you for making me so welcome as a fellow Liveryman of your Company.

Long may it flourish!”