PAST MASTER TREVOR ELDRID (1916-2011) IN MEMORIAM

Past Master Trevor Eldrid died after a lengthy illness on 7 January.  Trevor was admitted to the Company by patrimony in 1938, he was the last surviving member of Court who joined the Company before the Second World War.  Master in 1976/1977, the Silver Jubilee Year of HM Queen Elizabeth, he hosted her visit to the Hall that year.

Born in Cricklewood on 7 September 1916.  It was a momentous time when the First World War was reaching its peak of destruction. A month in which the Somme offensive was grimly being pressed on by Field Marshal Haig and the Battle of Verdun was reaching its climax with a French counter-attack imminent.

He was educated at Haberdasher Aske's School then located nearby - it did not move to Elstree until 1961.   He then went on to spend his professional life at the Prudential.  During the war he served in Egypt and ended up countering Axis propaganda by broadcasting to the British forces.

After the war and back at the Pru he met Pam.  She was a New Zealander working in London.  Their first meeting was at the Prudential's Amateur Dramatic Society which seems to have been a major focus of Prudential social activity at the time.

The Eldrids have been members of the Company since 1818 and Trevor was the fifth generation.  The first four generations are all recorded on Boyd's List of Drapers as saddlers' ironmongers.  Trevor broke away from that calling by going to work in the City, doubtless because the world of the saddlers' ironmonger was declining rapidly because of the motor vehicle. 

He was elected to the Court as Junior Warden in 1967 and was finally Renter Warden in 1982.  He also played a leading part in the Drapers' relationship with the City and Guilds of London Art School and was a governor of Howell's School, Denbigh in the days when the Drapers were still trustees.  He gave much of his free time to the Company and was a great supporter of a wide range of our activities.

He is survived by Pam and his daughter, Freeman Josephine Eldrid, by his first wife Nathalie (nee Walker - she is the aunt of Master Warden Tony Walker - and formerly the Duchess of St Albans).

The funeral was held on 25 January at Walton on Thames.  It was attended by a good number of friends as well as Past Masters Bob Borradaile, John Stitt, Master Warden Tony Walker and Assistant Robert Strick.

We plan to hold a memorial service at St Michael's Cornhilll on 20 April to commemorate Trevor's work for and contribution to the Company. 

AUDIENCE WITH KING OF NORWAY 21 JANUARY

Royal Freeman HM King Harald V of Norway

Although making claims in the world of the London livery companies is a dangerous enterprise I think we are currently the only Company that has two reigning monarchs as freemen: HM the Queen and HM King Harald V of Norway.

King Harald is the third generation of his family to be free of the Company.  His grandfather, Prince Carl of Denmark, was admitted to the Company in 1896 when he married Princess Maud, the youngest daughter of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII.  Prince Carl went on to become Haakon VII,  the first king of the modern Kingdom of Norway when it peacefully separated from Sweden in 1905.  His son Olaf was, in his turn, free of the Company and his son, now Harald V, was admitted in November 1960.

Six degrees below and the Royal Palace, Oslo is surrounded by a light dusting of snow.  Unlike royal palaces in Britain you can walk right up to the front door.

This resulted in a party of four, Master Warden Tony Walker, Renter Warden Christian Williams, our Clerk, Alastair Ross, and myself having an audience with the king on Friday 21 January at the Royal Palace in Oslo to present a humble address marking the fiftieth anniversary of his admission.



The Humble Address illuminated on vellum commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of King Harald V of Norway being free of the Company.  This work was beautifully and most skillfully carried out by Timothy Noad.

The humble address on vellum contained the following wording agreed by the Court:

'The Master, Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Worshipful Company of Drapers of the City of London send fraternal greetings to His Majesty King Harald V of Norway and offer the Company's warmest congratulations on his fiftieth anniversary as a Freeman of the Company.

The Company is deeply proud of its continuous association with the Royal Family of Norway since 1896 when His Majesty's Grandfather His Majesty King Haakon VII (As His Royal Highness Prince Carl of Denmark) became a Freeman of the Company and we trust and hope this long association may long continue.

It is our fervent wish that we will have the opportunity of welcoming His Majesty back to Drapers' Hall before too long.'

In the Bird Room of the Palace which is the ante-room to the King's Study and entirely painted with styilised mountain scenes abounding with bird life.  From left to right Christian Williams, Tony Walker, myself and Alastair Ross.  Not the best shot, I think we are all giving the king's ADC instructions how to use the camera.  But it is the only one he took.

We had a most enjoyable audience and discussed a wide number of topics and I shall be able to report back to the Court that our links remain strong with the Royal House of Norway.

King Haakon is in a select group of Drapers' Royal Freemen who were not in direct line of succession when they joined the Company, although they subsequently became monarchs.  There are two others. William of Orange was admitted to the Company in 1676 while Stadtholder of the Netherlands.  It was a clear indication of the Company supporting a wider City view at the time of their preference for a Protestant, rather than a Catholic, succession.  Finally, King George VI was admitted to the Company when Duke of York in 1919.

MUCH MORE INTERESTING THAN IT SOUNDS: FINANCE AND GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE MEETING

In common with many other charities and businesses the Company has a Finance and General Purposes Committee. meets about eight times to year to cover a whole range of Company activity. 

The major job is to maintain oversight of the Company's finances, both those which are charitable and also what is known in the Company as corporate.  That is the funds for the day to day management of the Company and the Hall, including our substantial catering business.  This part of our activity pays tax but, of course, can contribute surpluses to charity.  Additionally the Committee has oversight of a huge range of other activities.

The Committee has for some years been chaired by Past Master David Handley and its members include Past Masters Peter Bottomley, Graham Zellick, Master Warden Tony Walker, Assistant David Chalk and  Liverymen Philip Beddows, Nigel Maud and Ben Padovan.

The agenda for Wednesday's meeting was typical in its variety.  It included:

An update on Past Master Graham Zellick's Almshouse Review

Rationalising the Company ownership of our share in the Mark Lane island site. Hopefully after many years as a boarded up eyesore near Fenchurch Street Station it is, with a fair wind, about to go forward to substantial redevelopment.  As it is still somewhat speculative the charity share is being bought out by corporate and the charity's share is planned to be invested in a petrol station in Wapping, not quite so glamorous but it brings in a secure income.

Reviewing the Company's risk register and the analysis arising from it.

Taking an overview of the catering operation.  This is a growing business with John Freestone and his team turning over nearly £2million annually.

In summary a lot of useful work done to maintain the Company on an even keel and ensure its successful development.

SIR WILLIAM BOREMAN'S FOUNDATION: GOVERNORS' MEETING 2 NOVEMBER

Following my visit to Drapers' Academy, see previous post, I was in attendance at the Goveernors' meeting of the Sir William Boreman Foundation in the Hall.

In 1684 Sir William Boreman bequeathed to the Drapers’ Company the school he had founded in Greenwich, together with adjacent land and property and other property interests, on trust for the endowment of the school.

The school, except for a short period of closure in the late eighteenth century functioned successfully until 1874 when its site was compulsorily acquired for the extension of the South Eastern Railway.

The school reopened as the Greenwich Hospital School and moved to Suffolk in 1927 and is today the Royal Hospital School.  Boreman's charity was changed at the same time to enable the income to be used for granting awards for the education and training of young people under 25 years of age and residing in Greenwich and Lewisham. Preference is still shown towards children of watermen, seamen or fishermen - but it has to be said few present themselves.

The Company makes grants exceeding £1.5million annually to a wide variety of charities and charitable purposes.  In addition it is trustee of three substantial almshouses.  Boremans is one of our smallest charities, it distributes some £65,000 annually.  However it meets a specific need by making the majority of its grants to individuals who need financial help in their education.

The Board of Governors led by Tony Walker, Master Warden, meet three times a year to consider applications for grants from both individuals and organisations.   The Drapers' Governors include Assistant Nicholas Bence-Trower and Liverymen Lucy Barber, Gill Dirdal and Emma House.  There are also representatives from the London Boroughs of Greenwich and Lewisham, the University of Greenwich and St Alfege's Church, Greenwich that has long been associated with the charity.  The meeting on 2 November was the first in the Company year that starts in July.

Applications are carefully considered with the focus increasingly being made on granting relatively small annual sums of around £1000 to meet living and associated expenses rather than tutorial fees.  We anticipate this is going to be an area of increasing need as the costs of education bear down more heavily on students and other agencies are unable to provide support.  The Governors also make grants to various organisations and projects in the Greenwich/Lewisham area that have a focus on yoing people.

If you want to know more about the Foundation go to http://www.thedrapers.co.uk/  and follow the links through to Boreman's Foundation.

ELECTION DAY 20 JULY

A busy day at the Drapers' Hall.

It started with a Court of Wardens at 11.00am. This is a unique meeting in the Company's year where the Wardens of the current and next year meet together. Of the Master and four Wardens three were standing down and the three new Wardens are Christian Williams, who has been Master, as Renter Warden, Lady Victoria Leatham, becoming Second Master Warden and William Charnley, newly elected to the Court as Junior Warden. Tony Walker and myself stay on moving up one notch.

Normally this is a pretty straightforward meeting tidying up a few loose ends. However the continuing soap opera of the Department of Education's review of the Drapers' Academy new-buld and some interesting ideas for new items for Company gifts took a little time. The meeting concluded with Peter Bottomley MP, the outgoing Renter Warden, making a warm tribute to the Mastership of Professor Graham Zellick.

We then assembled in the Court Room to swear in for the next year. It is a simple ceremony where after making some big commitments in seventeenth century English we exchanged ceremonial keys of office.

Then it was off to rehearse the transfer of offices as they are carried out at the Election Dinner that evening. Part of the ceremony involves placing what seems to be Tudor style headgear, flat and completely unyielding in its construction, on the head of your successor. However as Master Elect I was able to claim a hat that aproximately fitted. This took some of the imminent danger out of the inevitable bowing as responsibilties are transferred.

The Livery Hall set out for the Election Dinner.  The top table is at the far end of the room under the portrait of Queen Victoria.
 
Election Dinner starts early at 6.30pm is one of the two really grand and large scale evening events of the Company's year. As always it was very well organised and drilled by John Freestone, who is called the Beadle but in addition to some ceremomial duties is our catering manager.

At around ten o'clock a further part of the process that sees me elected Master took place in that I read out the Master's Oath before the members of the Company and guests and made the following statement.

'I am very conscious having just taken the Master’s Oath that some five hundred and twenty individuals since 1438, when the present structure of the Company with a Master and four Wardens came into being, have made it in more or less this form.

It is beyond doubt looking around this Hall tonight that they were remarkably successful in meeting its requirements. But they went well beyond their promise to merely safeguard and protect our ancient heritage. The collective dynamism, vision and self-confidence of my predecessors has, with the support of the Court, Livery and Freedom, continuously sustained, enriched and energised our Company over the centuries.

It is a very great honour indeed to be elected Master and I am aware that I have exceptionally high standards to meet and sustain over the next year. I am standing on the shoulders of giants and with the support of the Court and the wider Company I am sure I shall not lose my balance.'

On the subject of balance, my hat stayed on.

The day finally ended in the Company Garden at midnight when Graham Zellick passed on the Master's badge to me and Jennifer Zellick passed over her badge to Rosemary.

The year begins.