Leathersellers’
Review 2006-07
Co n t e n t s
2
Master's Review
4
Court and Livery News
7
Company News
8
Charity Review
9
Support to the Leather Trade
10
Estates Review
11
John Leigh Nissen
12
Leatherseller and Prime Minister
14
Sir William Henry Perkin – a Plaque Extravaganza
15
British School of Leather Technology
16
Wine Committee
17
The Irish Society
18
Colfe's School
19
Prendergast School
20
Art Acquisition
21
Queen's Dragoon Guards
22
HMS Cornwall
23
HMS Tireless
24
Music
25
Young Livery Committee
26
Sport
27
Committees – Calendar
Cover illustration:
The Company’s treasures include these
exquisite ‘garlands’, caps or crowns which
are placed on the heads of the newlyelected Master and Wardens at the annual
Confirmation Court. The current four
garlands – and the two decorated leather
cases in which they are kept – all date
from the time of King Charles I and were
first used on 12 August 1638, though
occasional repair work has taken place
and the velvet has been replaced at
various times since then. They cost more
than £15, a very substantial sum at that
time, and replaced earlier garlands made
in 1540. We know that an even earlier
one, of purple velvet decorated with silver
gilt roebucks’ heads, was given to the
Company by a Warden’s wife, “Goodwife
Curtes”, in 1487. It must have been quite
The Leathersellers’ Company
15 St Helen’s Place
London EC3A 6DQ
Telephone 020 7330 1444
www.leathersellers.co.uk
2
uncomfortable for the Master to wear –
the large silver gilt roebuck ‘at the
forefront’ weighed a pound! It is likely
that garlands consisting of real flowers
had been used before this, in the earlier
1400s.
The decorative borders of each garland
are embroidered with silver thread and
embellished with silver ‘brooches’ which
still contain traces of translucent enamel.
Along with the Company’s coat of arms
are delightful figures of rams, goats and
roebucks.
The Leathersellers’ Company is one of
only seven Livery Companies to have
maintained the ancient tradition of
wearing garlands on ceremonial
occasions; of these, only the Haberdashers
and Carpenters can claim ones earlier in
date than ours.
Printers: Chandlers Ltd of Bexhill-on-Sea
Telephone: 01424 212684
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7
t is amazing how quickly a year goes by.
My year as Master seems to have
vanished at incredible speed but Anne
Greenhough and I have had a wonderful
time and have greatly enjoyed the
privilege of being the Master and Lady of
the Leathersellers’ Company. We are so
grateful to all the members of the Court
and Livery for their kindness and for the
thoughtfulness you have all shown us
during our year in office, which has made
it such a memorable year for both of us.
I
T H E
M A S T E R ’ s
We would also like to thank all the staff of
the Leathersellers, who have all looked
after us with such care and kindness that it
will be hard to come back to reality now
that our year is over.
The greatest highlight of the year was
the signing of the option agreement between the Leathersellers’ Company and
Great Portland Estates Ltd., reported in
more detail later in this Review. I would
like to congratulate John Curtis and the
Redevelopment Working Group, together
with the Clerk and Ray Coleman, for the
long and complicated negotiations and
hard work they and our legal team have
done in negotiating a very complex and
difficult contract – which if it comes to
fruition will be of huge benefit to the
Leathersellers in years to come.
I have been very privileged to have
done a lot of travelling this year on Company business. We had a most interesting
trip to Northern Ireland last September
when a group of us visited the Irish Society, formed in the reign of James I when
the Livery Companies were being coerced,
for political reasons, into involvement with
the settlement of Ulster. The Leathersellers
were part of the scheme led by the Fishmongers for settling a large area around
Ballykelly; wisely, we sold our interest
there back to the Fishmongers after only a
few years and thus avoided the great
financial losses suffered by other Livery
Companies which held estates in
Ireland for much longer.
Our visit in September was the first ‘official’
visit there by Leathersellers
representatives since the seventeenth century. We were
made most welcome and were
particularly interested in the excellent charitable work now being
done by the Irish Society to promote higher education for people from both main
communities in Northern Ireland.
During the past year I made two trips
to Italy. One was to the vineyards of
Tuscany, with the Wine Committee, when
we were treated by our hosts with exceptional hospitality and were all impressed by
the professionalism of the wine makers in
the area; as a result we have added to our
stock of Italian wine in our cellar. We also
went to Bologna to attend the well-known
international leather trade fair, visiting the
British trade stands there and meeting
some members of our Livery who were
exhibiting.
Another travel highlight of the year was
the excursion to Hong Kong in the spring.
In addition to visiting the leather trade fair
there, we were invited to the Corium Club
cocktail party, which was well-attended by
the ex-students of Northampton University. The most memorable part of the trip
was, however, the cocktail party which the
Leathersellers hosted, in conjunction with
the UK Leather Federation – over a hundred
people from the trade
attended and I feel it
was a very successful
occasion.
The final overseas
trip was to Germany to
see our Regiment, 1st
The Queen’s Dragoon
Guards, who entertained us in great style
with a wonderful regimental dinner and
also allowed us to
watch them on
R E V I E W
manoeuvres. A full report on this inaugural
visit can be found in this Review. It was a
great pleasure to experience this opportunity to strengthen the bonds between the
Leathersellers and the QDGs and we look
forward to being able to offer some return
hospitality in London in due course.
Over the past four years the Company
has been putting aside a sum of money
each year to enable us to buy artefacts for
the Hall. I am delighted to report that the
first purchase from this fund, a splendid
eighteenth-century oil painting of the
River Thames and St Paul’s by the artist
William Marlow, took place at Sotheby’s in
July. This work is now being restored by
experts and will be displayed in the Hall –
making an atttractive and interesting
addition to our other historical and artistic
treasures.
Timothy Daniels
Left: The Master making one of many
speeches delivered during his year
in office
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3
Court and Livery News
MICHAEL ROGER BINYON OBE
Second Warden
ichael Binyon
was born in
1944. After graduating
from Cambridge with
a degree in English
and Arabic, he spent a
year teaching English
in Minsk for the British
Council. Following this
he worked for the BBC
for two years and in
1972 joined The Times,
becoming a foreign
correspondent in
1975. After fifteen
years abroad, in Moscow,
M
Russia
was published in
1983 and
he has won
two British press
awards. He was awarded the OBE in 2000.
Michael has been a
Liveryman since 1971
and was elected to the
Court in 1999. He is
married with two
children and lives in
Wimbledon.
Bonn,
Washington and
Brussels, he
became the
paper’s diplomatic
editor in 1991. Since
then he has attended
most international
summits and written
extensively on world
affairs. He now writes
many of The Times
editorials on foreign
affairs and also transport. His book Life in
JONATHAN WARNE NAPPER
Third Warden
ANTHONY COLLINSON
Master 2007-08
nthony Collinson was born in 1942 and admitted to the Leathersellers’ livery in 1971. He
was educated at Oundle School and after a period
of training in the leather industry, joined Barrow
Hepburn and Gale, the largest tanners in the UK
making sole and upper leather, in 1965. He served
with the Liverpool Scottish, a TA regiment affiliated
to the Queen’s Own Highlanders, for five years in
the 1960s.
In 1972 Anthony became Managing Director of
Holmes Halls Tanners, then Managing Director of
British Tanners Products in 1977 and of Irish Leathers
in 1984. He became a director, in 1989, of Porvair
PLC, manufacturers of microporous materials exporting 90% of their products to 45 countries.
In 1996 he left Porvair to start investing in small
companies as a ‘business angel’ before launching
Katalyst Ventures Ltd, a venture capital company,
which has a current portfolio of sixteen companies.
Anthony has three children by a previous marriage,
Rachel, William and Hannah and is now married to
Hilary, a widow, who herself has three children.
Anthony and Hilary live in Leicestershire. Anthony’s
interests include walking, ski-ing, shooting, fishing
and tennis.
A
4
onathan Napper is
the third generation
of his family to be a
Liveryman. Born in
1958, he attended
Bishop’s Stortford
College and the City of
London Polytechnic,
and after a year as a
teacher in Leatherhead
he embarked on a
career in Human
Resources, working for
many years for Xerox
Ltd and then ICL. Since
J
2001
he has
been
Human
Resources
Director
for Pinkroccade UK Ltd,
the IT services and
infrastructure management company.
Jonathan follows a
number of sports keenly, and particularly
enjoys
walking
and
playing
golf. He
and his
wife Gill
live in Farnham, Surrey,
where Jonathan is
actively involved in a
local church. They
have four children,
Abi, James, Sam and
Beth.
S T e wa r d s
he three new Stewards for the year 20072008 are David Bailey, James Lang and
Nicholas Hollis. David and James are both
distinguished tanners, the former in Yorkshire
and the latter in Scotland. David is currently
President of the UK Leather Federation. Nick
Hollis is son of the late Christopher Hollis and
the great-nephew of Pastmaster Sir Alfred
Claud Hollis, Governor of Trinidad and Tobago
in the 1930s, whose portrait hangs in our
Library.
T
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7
David Bailey and Nick Hollis
GEORGE GAVIN DALRYMPLE
BACON
Fourth Warden
ince 1980, Gavin
Bacon has been a
solicitor with Simmons
& Simmons,
specialising in
litigation. He was
elected a partner in
the firm in 1988. Now
back in their London
office, during the
1990s he spent some
years working in Abu
Dhabi, Hong Kong
and Shanghai.
S
Gavin
was born
in 1957,
and his
father Colin
and brother Julian
are both Liverymen.
He was educated at
Tonbridge School,
Bristol University and
the College of Law. In
1984 he was admitted
to the Livery and
served as Steward in
2004.
Gavin is
married to
Joanna, an
architect, and
lives in Dorset with
their two children,
Thomas and Eliza. He
lists his interests whether the order is
significant is unclear as “Food, wine, family
and Dorset”!
of Charles, and Oliver
Bradly Russell, son of
Mike.
Additionally there
were the following
five admissions to the
Freedom:
George Barrow
John Buckley
T
he Election Day Service and Court took place on
Wednesday 13 June – fortunately, one of the few
bright, dry and sunny days that month. The now
traditional procession up Bishopsgate and across
the busy road junction with London Wall preceded
the service in St Botolph’s, where we were greeted
by the new rector, Revd. Dr Alan McCormack, the
preacher Revd. Canon David Garlick, and our Honorary Chaplain, Revd. Christopher Strong. A good
congregation enjoyed the choirs of Prendergast and
Colfe’s Schools, aided by the choir of St Botolph’s.
The Master read the Lesson and a collection was
taken for the fund set up by St Botolph’s to support
the teaching of music in Tower Hamlets Primary
Schools. Having prayed for guidance over the election of the Master and Wardens, the Court, Livery
and ladies returned to the Hall for a buffet lunch.
T
admissions
he Company
admitted five new
Liverymen (all photographed below)
during the year,
including two ladies.
They were Harriet
Pellereau, daughter
of Matthew, and
Sharie WhittackerCook, daughter of
Rod Templeman; John
Buckley, formerly
apprenticed to
Liveryman John
Pittard, advanced to
the livery, as did
George Barrow, son
E l e c t i o n day s e r v i c e
Revd Canon David
Garlick
Emily Williams
Daniel Coulson
Jonathan Blott
Priscilla Bacon-Wilson
David Garlick, Vicar of St Mary’s, Lewisham, for over thirty years, became
a Freeman in recognition of his long service to both Colfe’s and Prendergast
schools. He retired from his parish in July 2007 at a splendid service at
St Mary’s, packed to overflowing and attended by no fewer than five Bishops; he
will now be based in Yorkshire, when he is not standing in for vicars on Caribbean
islands!
Harriet Pellereau
Oliver Bradly Russell
Sharie Whittacker-Cook
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5
Court and Livery News
David Posnett and
Suki Addington
t h e co u r t
uring the past
year three new
members have been
welcomed on to the
Court; they are
Marcus Brearley,
Christopher Barrow
and Matthew
Pellereau. Matthew is
a chartered surveyor
whose property
business is based in
Camberley. He lives
near Alresford in
Hampshire and is
nephew of Pastmaster
D
Christopher Barrow
Matthew Pellereau
Tony Garnar. Marcus
Brearley runs the Ware
Tannery in Bristol
which has the
distinction of being
the last sole leather
tannery in the UK - an
establishment which
has been visited by
various Masters over
the years. Christopher
Barrow is in financial
investment; formerly
with DKW, he now
works in London and
is a member of the
Investment SubCommittee. His
admission brings the
number of Barrow
brothers on the Court
to three!
g i f t to t h e
co m pa n y
e record the generous gift by the
Master, Tim Daniels, of eighty
silver placecard holders made by silversmith Grant Macdonald. Each holder
consists of two silver roebucks and the
design allows for names on cards to be
read from both sides. This opportune
gift will be used to replace the bookmatch placecard holders – now redundant due to the smoking ban!
Wedding Bells
wo weddings to report are those of Marcus
Brearley, a recently appointed Court Assistant,
to Julia Deas-Kennett on 11 November 2006; and
David Posnett to Suki Addington on 22 June 2007
at the Church of All Saints, Wardour Castle (pictured above).
On 6 August 2006 John and Jane Tusting (pictured below) celebrated fifty years of marriage,
having made their original vows in 1956 at
Dovedale in Derbyshire.
Congratulations to all the above!
T
W
John and
Jane Tusting
n e w A r r i va l s …
We are pleased to record the births of the
following six babies:
7 November 2006 to James and Gwendolen
Boston: Douglas Jeremy
10 November 2006 to William and Victoria
Swanson: Edward Charles
11 January 2007 to Alistair and Sarah Newton:
Poppy Emma
16 April 2007 to Tom and Annabelle Polito:
Eliza Mary
18 June 2007 to Tom and Sarah Swanson:
Fraser William
5 July 2007 to Gregory and Rosali Jones:
Felicity Marguerita
6
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Company News
O b i t ua r i e s
DAVID GEORGE HANBURY HOLLIS
(1924-2006)
avid Hollis, whose death on 28th September
last year we are saddened to report here,
was a Liveryman from 1946 until his retirement
in 1994. A well-respected Consultant ENT Surgeon, he practised as a young man in the Royal
Army Medical Corps in occupied West Germany,
and in the early 1960s was involved in the Berlin
Air Lift, sitting on a sack of coal inside the outward-bound aeroplane. He put his medical skills
to good use in West Berlin, which at the time had
been completely sealed off by the Russians.
David contributed widely to charities, and his
hobbies included managing three allotments and
growing a variety of organic produce. He was a
keen campanologist, and became a leading
figure in the Medical Bellringers’ Association; he
died while doing something he enjoyed, having
just completed an energetic peal of bells. David
is survived by his wife Barbara, four children and
eight grandchildren.
s ta f f n e w s
Hugh and Barbara Rougvie with their
daughter Sian and Toni Hearnden.
D
STANLEY HOUGHTON (1923-2007)
e regret to report the death on New Year’s
Day 2007 of Stanley Houghton, who was a
member of the Company’s staff for 16 years
before he retired in 1988. Stanley served as Beadle
from 1972 to 1977 and was a skilled calligrapher; the elegant script which he devised is still
used for the Company’s menus and place cards
used at dinner. Our condolences go to his
daughter.
W
KARI BISCOE (1942-2007)
t is with the greatest sadness that we report
that Kari Biscoe, wife of Michael Biscoe, Master
in 2003-04, passed away in May 2007. A lively
character, Kari gave great support to Michael in
his activities for the Company, and will be much
missed. Her memorial service on 11 July was
attended by many members of the Livery and
Company staff.
I
ur best wishes for
the future go to
two members of staff
who left the Company
this year. Charlotte
Tizzard, who joined
us last year as parttime Accounts Assistant, left in April to
work for the national
housing and homelessness charity,
Shelter. In July, Ron
Harley, our Senior
Maintenance Engineer
for the last four and a
half years, departed to
go ‘Up West’ to a position at the Reform
Club in Piccadilly. His
post has been filled by
Hugh Rougvie, who
O
has been with the
Company since
starting as Assistant
Housekeeper in 1994.
Two new staff have
joined the Company:
our new Hall Cleaner,
Barbara Rougvie –
Hugh’s wife – who
started in October
2006, and Rana
Miah, Assistant Maintenance Engineer,
who joined us in July
2007. Welcome on
board!
Babies born to
members of Company
staff are a rarity – so
we were delighted to
hear news of the
arrival of Toni
Hearnden’s baby girl,
Gracie Isabella, on 16
July. Congratulations
to Toni and Rob! Toni
is due to re-join us in
November.
Leathersellers’ staff
had a thoroughly
enjoyable day out on
21 September 2006,
thanks to an invitation
from Pastmaster John
Newton to visit his
house at Throcking in
Hertfordshire. It was a
beautiful, hot summer’s
day and copious
amounts of food and
drink were served in
the marquee, where
we were entertained
by some live jazz
musicians. There was
much admiration of
Mr Newton’s vintage
car, an Alvis Silver
Eagle of 1929, and
our lucky chef was
even treated to a ride
around the grounds
(see photo) – was this
in appreciation for all
the tasty culinary
creations Patrick has
produced over the last
few years?
Our chef, Patrick Moureau,
waves to the onlookers as
pastmaster Mr Newton drives
him around the grounds at
Throcking
At the Master's kind invitation, Company staff
enjoyed a visit to Mr Daniels' home in
Buckinghamshire in July
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7
7
Picture reproduced by kind permission of Missing People
CHARIT Y
Charitable giving
It seems timely to highlight the important
work of just two of the many charities to
whom we are giving this year. Both charities work with families and individuals in
a variety of ways in order that they may be
able to re-connect with their lives and
move forward into a future that includes
respect and self-worth.
review
Leather-related giving
Within the overall giving, about ten per
cent of the total has gone to leatherrelated entities, such as the Leather and
Hide Trades Benevolent Institution, the
Museum of Leathercraft, the British School
of Leather Technology at the University of
Northampton, the Fashion Department at
the London College of Fashion and University of Northampton, and the Leather
Conservation Centre. In particular the
Charitable Fund is giving a large grant
towards re-equipping the tannery at the
University of Northampton. Additionally
the Leathersellers’ Company has given
support to the UK Leather Federation for
marketing and membership initiatives.
20%
Picture reproduced by kind permission of Changing Faces
Missing People (formerly known as
the National Missing Persons Helpline)
is the UK’s only charity which works
with young runaways, missing and
unidentified people, their families and
others who care for them.
In May 2007 the charity underwent
a re-brand to reflect the considerable
strategic and operational changes it
has gone through in the past two
years. Today, the charity continues to
find all types of missing people and
support those left behind. Missing
People formally supports the work of
every UK Police force via a National
Police Agreement.
17%
5%
10%
35%
5%
6%
2%
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
Arts and Environment
Children and Youth
Church
Education and Science
Medicine and Health
Other
People with Disabilities
Relief of those in need & Welfare
Giles Deacon, centre, with models
at the Royal Academy of Arts
Close Associates – London College
of Fashion
This year’s London College of Fashion
centenary show at the Royal Academy of
Arts attracted a glittering set of fashion
industry stars. The front row included
newly-appointed Leathersellers’
Designer in Residence, Giles Deacon,
Mohamed Al Fayed with daughter
Camilla, M&S CEO Stuart Rose, Tesco
Clothing’s Chief Executive Terry Green,
Jaeger Chairman, Harold Tillman, artist
Grayson Perry, former Topshop Brand
Manager Jane Shepherdson and David
Shilling. Press coverage the next day
included the BBC London News, Evening
Standard, Guardian, thelondonpaper,
Vogue online and Telegraph online.
Changing Faces
Disfigurement can affect anyone, at any time or at any age. Changing Faces is a national
charity based in central London which is 15 years old this year.
It supports and represents people who have disfigurements of the face or body from
any cause. Changing Faces is a “Catalyst for Change”, enabling people who have
disfigurements to develop high self-esteem and self-confidence, have access to the very
best health and social services and enjoy equal rights and opportunities throughout their
lives.
In the year 2006/07 the Leathersellers’ Company Charitable Fund and other Leathersellers-administered Trusts gave away about £1.25 million to a wide and deserving
portfolio of charities and students and we are delighted that next year this will rise to
£1.35 million so that we may continue to help those in need throughout the UK.
8
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7
Taking in the views,
courtesy of the vineyard’s
own train!
From left to right: Mrs Anthony
Collinson, Richard Peart, Doris
Tyler, Mollie Grainger and
Albert Turrell
The Master greets Michael Palin
at the Charities Dinner in May at
which he was a speaker
Barnet Almshouses: This year we were
pleased to welcome some new residents
and to take everyone from Barnet Almshouses on a day-trip to Denbies Wine
Estate in the beautiful Mole Valley in
Surrey. Denbies is England’s largest wine
estate producing around 400,000 bottles
of wine each year. The visit included a
Graduate education – Leathersellers’ Exhibitions
came to light this year
We continue to suppas we made our selort students undertakection were the MSc
ing second Degree
in Genetic Counselling
courses in the UK.
at Manchester, an MSc
Some of the less tradin Globalisation and
itional courses which
International Social
Policy Analysis at Bath
and someone who is
writing a PhD in the
Department of History
and the Digital Humanities at King’s
railway trip through the vineyards and an
explanation of the wine-making process.
In remembrance of Barnet residents:
Walter Goodwin
1927 – 2007
Doris Grigg
1918 – 2007
Albert Turrell
1924 – 2007
College, London! An
increasing number of
students contact us
electronically, and we
are embracing new
ways of being in touch
with prospective app-
licants via e-mail and
our website. The Leathersellers’ Exhibitions
scheme is certainly
progressing with speed
(1.0 Gb per second!) in
these cybernetic times.
Penny Burtwell and Becky Vincent
The Master with Liveryman Reg Hankey
in Hong Kong
S u pp ort to t h e L e at h e r T r a d e
he usual support to
the trade was
augmented this year
by the formation of a
Leather Trade and
Education Group,
consisting of: Anthony
Collinson, Tony Lister,
John Newton, Michael
Biscoe, Michael Binyon
and Jonathan Muir-
T
head. This group is
designed to co-ordinate financial and other
support by the Company and Charitable
Fund to a variety of
contacts associated
with the leather trade.
Last year notable
support was given to
the UK Leather Feder-
ation and to the reequipment of the
tannery at the University of Northampton,
an improvement
designed to maintain
the British School of
Leather Technology as
a world class provider
of education in leather
technology.
Hong Kong
Additionally the Master
made visits to the
Lineapelle Fair at
Bologna and the Asia
Pacific Leather Fair in
Hong Kong, where,
together with the UKLF
he held a reception
which continues to
play an important role
in the promotion of
the UK leather trade.
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7
9
Estates Report
nlike most other Livery Companies,
the Leathersellers have built a fair
number of Halls over the years. We are
currently occupying our sixth Hall and plans
are now being prepared for a seventh. It’s
not that we don’t like our existing Hall, we
are dearly fond of it, but the redevelopment
potential is so overwhelming that there are
now excellent opportunities which arise
from its prime location. To be
precise, St Helen’s Place is in the
centre of an area designated as
the ‘City Cluster’ where the
planning authorities are encouraging the development of tall
office buildings.
The Company is working
jointly with our neighbour,
Great Portland Estates Ltd, to
redevelop 15 and 16 St Helen’s
Place, the Hall and GPE’s properties at 12-20 Camomile Street
and 80-86 Bishopsgate, which
together have a site area of 1.87
acres. The proposal is to construct three buildings with a total floorspace
of 815,000 sq ft. The main building is a
165m tower over 40 storeys – which is
almost as high as the Gherkin. It will face
Bishopsgate, with a return frontage on
Camomile Street. Unlike the iconic appearance of the Gherkin, the proposed tower
will have a conventional appearance and
will be simply known as 100 Bishopsgate.
The other two buildings will both consist
of seven storeys. One will be in Camomile
Street, the other in St Helen’s Place, with
the latter providing the accommodation
for our new Hall. A pedestrianised area
will serve all three buildings and provide a
welcome area of open space.
The proposed Hall will keep the existing façade, so that the external appearance
of St Helen’s Place and its quiet ambience
will be retained. The Hall will occupy the
entire ground floor with ancillary accommodation in the basement. The Company’s
offices and flat will be on the first floor;
the floors above will be let to office tenants. Over the forthcoming year the Company will be developing its proposals for
the internal layout and architectural style
U
10
of the Hall. The new
Hall will provide
more space and
will be flexible in
its use.
The City of London has confirmed
that it has resolved
to grant planning permission. However,
the existing buildings are subject to leases,
with the majority let until 2011. Thus the
redevelopment will not start for several
years and once started will take three to
four years to build.
Our discussions with Great Portland Estates
Ltd have been a complex but rewarding
process. Our agreement was finalised in
December 2006 with a signing ceremony
at the Hall. The photograph shows Mr
Toby Courtauld, Chief Executive of GPE
and the Master, Timothy Daniels, signing
the agreement as lawyers acting for each
party eye each other warily across the table!
Archaeological Excavations
The proposed development site is situated
in an area with a rich historical background and has archaeological remains
dating back to Roman times. The Roman
road Ermine Street runs along what is now
Bishopsgate and the Roman city wall ran
along the line where Camomile Street now
lies. Bishopsgate was the gate where
Ermine Street passed through the city wall
and its site is situated just to the north-east
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of the present day traffic lights. The remains of a timber-framed building from the
second or third century have been found
at 80 Bishopsgate, where an office building occupied by ABN Ambro now stands,
and a Roman quarry pit has been found
beneath Exchequer Court. In medieval times
the area became a popular location for
many religious buildings. St Helen’s Priory
was founded in 1212 and was located
immediately to the south of the site, with
part stretching underneath the front area
of what is now 16 St Helen’s Place. St
Ethelburga’s Church was built in the 13th
century but is unaffected by the development. The last five Leathersellers’ Halls,
which take us back to 1543, were also situated – fully or in part – on the development site.
As part of the planning process the
Museum of London was instructed to carry
out excavations and dig several trial pits
on the site, two of which were within 15
and 16 St Helen’s Place and one in Clerk’s
Place, immediately to the rear of 16 St
Helen’s Place. Of these pits only Clerk’s
Place yielded anything of interest. Here
the remains of a chalk wall and chalk-lined
cesspit were found, which contained pottery dating back as far as 1300. The exact
nature of the chalk wall was not determined, but it is likely that further archaeological work will take place in this area
when the buildings are demolished.
Ray Coleman
John Leigh
NISSEN
he name Nissen will be familiar to
most people as his name is visible in
several places at Leathersellers’ Hall, his
portrait hangs in the Library and the annual
Nissen Dinner is a highlight of the
Company’s social calendar.
Yet until recently, surprisingly little
was known about Nissen’s life and
background. An e-mail enquiry in 2006,
however, led to a visit to Leathersellers’ Hall by two ladies with distant
connections with Nissen. This, together
with some archival research, has shed
a little more light on the man who
was such a notable Company benefactor.
John Leigh Nissen was born in
Stratford in East London in 1855. His
father, also called John Leigh Nissen,
ran a successful stationery business. His
mother Sarah came from Somerset and
had two other children as well as John, a
son named Hilary Batha and a daughter
named Kate. Although John Leigh Nissen
senior was born in Middlesex, it seems
likely that the family had originated abroad,
as the surname Nissen is closely associated
with continental Europe, particularly
Germany, Denmark and Poland. There is
no known connection with Peter Norman
Nissen, the Canadian mining engineer
who invented the corrugated steel ‘Nissen
hut’ in 1916, extensively used during
World War II.
Nissen’s association with the Leathersellers began in 1870 when, at the age of
15, he was apprenticed to Frederick Hudson Arnold. In 1878 he was made a Liveryman and he went on the Court of Assistants in 1915. He was elected Master for
the year 1924-25. His occupation is given
as ‘Exporting stationer’ or ‘Wholesale stat-
T
ioner’ in Livery Lists,
which show that he was
working at Fenchurch
Street and other City
addresses, although after
World War I his home
address was Hill House,
Crookham, Hampshire –
where he must have
been amongst the first
to have a telephone installed, since his
number was simply ‘Fleet 14’!
Nissen remained single until he was 45,
when he married Silvia Josephine Marie
Castelli. She was half Italian and half Irish,
and 22 years his junior. Silvia was a talented artist, mostly known for her flower
paintings. Records suggest they had no
children, with the exception of a baby girl
believed to have died a few days after
birth.
Generous bequests
John Leigh Nissen lived until the age
of 83, dying in January 1939 from
bronchitis following an operation.
He was extremely generous to the
Leathersellers’ Company both in his
lifetime and in his Will, giving the
Company a large silver ‘Warwick’ vase of
1818, a pair of silver Victorian claret jugs,
a golfing trophy and the presentation
silver trowel he had used at the laying of
the foundation stone of the new buildings
in St Helen’s Place in 1925. He made a
substantial bequest to the Company and
requested that an annual dinner be held
for “the Court and their friends”. In recog-
nition of this generous bequest, soon after
Nissen’s death the Company commissioned a posthumous portrait by the artist
Harry Collison, based on a photograph
taken of Nissen during his year of office as
Master, the only image of Nissen known
to the Company until now.
Less than a year after Nissen’s death
came the outbreak of World War II. The
Hall was destroyed by a fire bomb in May
1941 but fortunately the new portrait of
Nissen was saved. The destruction of the
Hall led to a long delay in applying the
monetary bequest, but in the 1950s when
the sixth Hall was being built and furnished, money from the Nissen trust paid
for the handsome panelling (Nigerian
walnut) in the Assembly Room, commemorated in an inscription above the
door into the Reception Room. It was
also not until the new Hall was
completed that the Nissen Dinner –
normally held in January – was first
instituted; having continued for over
40 years, it has now become an established and popular Company
tradition.
Nissen’s widow Silvia lived on until
1958. Her great-niece, Janet Wilson,
contacted us last year and came to visit the
Hall for the first time, along with Sylvie
Marks (the daughter of Silvia’s housekeeper and companion, and named after
Silvia Nissen). It is thanks to
these ladies that we now have
copies of several photographs
of John Leigh and Silvia
Nissen.
Jerome Farrell
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11
Photos courtesy of the Turnbull Library, New Zealand
LEATHERSELLER
PRIME MINISTER
o be elected Master of your livery company having served the office of Prime
Minister is a rare achievement. This is what
a Leatherseller, Sir John Hall – a distinguished Prime Minister of New Zealand –
accomplished. This article marks the centenary of his death in June 1907.
What do we know of this Leatherseller?
Perhaps unusual for the nineteenth century,
he had no connection with the leather
trade and his background was seafaring
and ship owning. He was born in Hull
in 1824, the third son of George
Hall, whose career is worthy of an
article of its own. Having been
sent to sea as a thirteen year old
cabin boy, George Hall narrowly
avoided shipwreck on more than
one occasion, was captured by the
French in the Napoleonic wars
and served as a prisoner-of-war
for six years. His first attempt
to escape ended in recapture in Strasbourg, but
undaunted he tried
again and after a long
and arduous journey
across France on foot he
reached the Channel, where
T
12
he persuaded some smugglers to ferry
him across. In his subsequent naval career
he rose to Captain and became an Elder
Brother of Trinity House.
A bright boy
It would seem that young John had rather
a lot to live up to and it was perhaps not
surprising that his
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father held strong views and these
included education. Not for him the
traditional emphasis on Latin and Greek,
but rather modern languages to prepare
him for a successful career in commerce.
Accordingly, John was taken away from
school at the age of ten and packed off to
a Herr Tolster’s establishment in Switzerland. Later he recounted “I was the only
English boy in the school. Except for
one master who knew a few words of
English, nobody else could speak a
word of it. The consequence was that
in a fortnight I could speak German
pretty well”. A bright boy indeed!
Two years in Paris followed and a
few months in Hamburg completed his education. He was
now ready for employment.
Unfortunately, the job market
in early Victorian England was
highly competitive and patronage was all important. The
best he could find was a mundane office job, copying documents for a German merchant.
Eventually, through his father’s
influence with his local MP, he
received a temporary clerkship
cise a conservative influence), and advocated ecumenism between Christian Churches
when neither of these causes was popular.
He was less successful in his dealings with
the Maori inhabitants – his sympathies
being perhaps too firmly on the side of
the white settlers. On retirement from
office as Premier he was knighted.
in the Post Office with a salary of £70 per
annum. Further patronage later via the
Postmaster General secured a permanent
position and in theory the way was now
open to further promotion. But despite his
achievements, rivals had more effective
patronage than he did. He was resentful
when the postmastership of Newcastle-onTyne went, as he sourly remarked, “to
some 16th cousin of Lord Grey” (an
influential local landowner and politician)
and the last straw came when his
appointment as Chief Postmaster at
Brighton at £600 a year was overridden by
the direct intervention of Queen Victoria
herself - who wanted the post for one of
her protégés. If his talents were not appreciated in England, why not go somewhere where they were?
A new life – in New Zealand
But where? Prospecting for gold – all the
rage at the time – was risky and farming
seemed a better proposition, particularly
as he had inherited £2,000 from his
mother. Argentina, where fortunes were
being made on its vast pampas, was
considered but rejected for reasons of political instability. Australia was also turned
down. Its longer history of colonisation
meant much of the prime land was already
taken. New Zealand offered much better
value and so on 26 March 1852, aged 27,
he left to start a new life in his adopted
country. Less than three weeks before leaving he was installed a Liveryman, having
gained his Freedom on completion of an
apprenticeship to John Sugden Neall.
After a careful and extensive search he
purchased a 20,000 acre estate at Rakaia
Terrace on South Island where he lived for
fifty-four years. He came back to England
early in 1860, and married Rose Dryden
(a relative of the poet) before returning to
New Zealand in 1863. They had five children (one of whom, Wilfred, was admitted
to the Freedom by patrimony in 1885).
The Halls became extremely prosperous
in New Zealand. The invention of refrigeration in ships meant that meat could be
profitably exported to England and John
Hall was one of the first to do so.
A Prime Minister whose catchword
was “Prudence”
His prosperity also enabled him to take an
active role in politics - first in the Provincial
Assembly in Canterbury and later in the
House of Representatives, the National
Parliament. He joined the government as
Postmaster General (a somewhat ironic appointment in view of his career in London)
and later became Colonial Treasurer when
he considered, but rejected, the introduction of income tax. Finally he reached the
pinnacle and was appointed Prime Minister in 1879. During his three years in
office he managed to avert a financial
crisis – largely by introducing a property
tax, pursuing a cautious fiscal policy and
keeping borrowing to minimum; his catchword was “prudence”! He also introduced
universal male suffrage. He was a vocal
supporter of extending the vote to women
(believing that women’s votes would exer-
Hall's championing of votes for women made
him the subject of many political cartoons
A world first: votes for women
He finally retired from New Zealand’s
House of Representatives in 1893, and is
remembered as that country’s most significant democratic reformer. His final and
most lasting political triumph was introducing and ensuring the passage of the
Electoral Bill which gave women in New
Zealand the vote in 1893 – the first country in the world to do so.
Despite the distance, Sir John made
several long visits to England, when he
renewed his contacts with the Company. It
is recorded that he grumbled that livery
dinners were “a horrid waste of time and
money” but this did not prevent him
attending, as Renter Warden, a dinner at
Mansion House in 1886. The following year
he attended the Jubilee Service at St Paul’s
wearing his liveryman’s fur-lined robe.
He was elected to the Leathersellers’
Court of Assistants in 1894. We can assume
his attendance was not very frequent, and
when in 1905 he was elected Master, aged
80, he was excused from serving. Perhaps
in gratitude for this Election, he presented
the Company with a remarkable and certainly unique gift, a cigarette box described at the time as “a silver casket with
greenstone sides and lids and supported
on four silver models of kiwis”. The righthand lid bears the Leathersellers’ arms and
opens by lifting a silver acorn adorned
with some English oak leaves, while the
left-hand lid bears Hall’s arms and motto
(“By Industry and Honour”) and opens by
lifting a greenstone acorn of alectryon
excelsum, the New Zealand oak.
A Liveryman for 55 years in all, a fulllength portrait of Sir John Hall “in his official dress as ex-Premier of New Zealand”
was commissioned (at a cost of £250) by
the Leathersellers in 1903 and hung in the
Hall. The artist was Henry Grant, who also
painted Sir William Perkin. Regrettably, both
these portraits of famous Leathersellers
were lost when the Hall was burnt out by
a fire bomb in 1941, though we still possess another portrait by this artist (of Past
Master S. B. Bevington) which is on display
in the Library.
A man of talent, Sir John Hall was a
liveryman of whom we can be truly proud.
George Nicholson
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13
Sir William Henry Perkin:
a plaque extravaganza
ast year’s Leathersellers’ Review included
an article (“The Master Leatherseller
who changed the world!”) about Sir
William Henry Perkin (1838-1907), famous
for his accidental discovery in 1856 of the
world’s first synthetic dye. This discovery
had many important consequences, from
the foundation of the coal tar industry to
enabling revolutionary advances in medical science, in photography, in armaments
manufacture and in the food industry.
In October 2006, as part of the events
during the 150th anniversary year of this
discovery, a day of celebrations was organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
This took place at Sudbury and Greenford, the
sites of Perkin’s factory
and home. About ninety
people attended, including local community leaders, many distinguished
chemists, and nine of
Perkin’s descendants. Pastmaster George Nicholson
formally represented the
Leathersellers, the Company of which Perkin was
Sir William
Master himself for the year
1896-97.
A coach took us to the
site of Perkin’s dye factory in Greenford,
where the first plaque of the day was
unveiled by Professor East, President of
the Royal Society of Chemistry. Then we
went on to Sudbury for talks on Perkin and
lunch in the Methodist Hall (no alcohol –
Perkin, a lifelong teetotaller and vegetarian, would have approved!).
There followed an interesting demonstration of dyeing silk mauve – the first
L
George Nicholson with
one of the plaques
colour to be created by
Perkin’s method, and one
which became extremely
fashionable in Victorian
times. Local children then
in
rk
Pe
y
nr
performed a play based
He
on Perkin’s life, in which
the Leathersellers were
mentioned – though this proved a difficult
word for primary school children to say!
Outside the community centre in Sudbury (the successor to the hall which Perkin
built at his expense), Mr Nicholson then
unveiled two plaques, paid for by the
Company, one commemorating Perkin’s
philanthropy in Sudbury and the other
commemorating the home where he lived
for 31 years, but which was demolished many
years ago. A fourth new plaque, inside the
community centre, was then unveiled by
one of Perkin’s great-grandsons. Four
plaque unveilings in one day – is this a
record?
Jerome Farrell
Incense burner
T
he adjacent photograph
shows the thurible
(incense burner) presented by Pastmaster George
Nicholson on behalf of
the Leathersellers’
Company to the parish
church of St Paul’s,
14
Wilton Place, in Knightsbridge. Fashioned in
silver-plated brass, the
thurible was designed
and handmade by David
Gazeley of Watts & Co.,
and has the inscription
‘THE GIFT OF THE
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LEATHERSELLERS’
COMPANY 2006’ engraved on it. It was first
used at the Easter Vigil
service in 2007 and is in
regular use for major
church festivals.
The British School of Leather Technology
tudent recruitment
onto both full-time
and short courses has
strengthened this year.
All courses in Leather
Technology are currently under review,
with the aim of rationalising taught provision and expanding
our range of short
courses. The Doctoral
research group is
thriving and both staff
and students are achieving a high level of
publications in
academic journals.
The relationship
between the two
S
Divisions of Fashion
and Leather Technology has developed
further this year, with
a number of notable
successes for the use
of leather in fashion
design. Catherine
Nevill, a second-year
student, won an Asia
Pacific Leather Fair
Award for a leather
jacket she designed,
and was rewarded
with a VIP trip to the
leather fair in Hong
Kong. Stephanie Tsang
was awarded a Leathersellers’ Company
bursary and her final
Students visit the Hall just before Christmas
year collection was
mainly manufactured
in leather.
In January, at a
ceremony in Leathersellers’ Hall, Professor
Geoff Attenburrow
formally accepted the
Leathersellers’ Professorship, following
the consolidation of
various elements of
financial support
provided by the
Company (see article
below). There have
been few other staff
changes. Post-doctoral
Research Assistant
Martyn Maguire, who
has been assisting
Geoff Attenburrow in
his research for the last
eighteen months, will
complete his contract
shortly; and following
the retirement of
Connie Reid in June
2006, Jeanette Casey
has been appointed
A BSLT student receives his diploma
School Administrator.
Following the
submission of a capital
expenditure proposal
to the Leathersellers’
Company, we are
delighted that a grant
totalling £400,000
has been approved to
upgrade tannery and
laboratory facilities.
Equal matched funding is coming from
the University so as to
upgrade the building
fabric and teaching
facilities. £100,000
has also been comm-
itted to the purchase
of new equipment.
The University’s Estates
Department is currently scheduling the
first phase of improvements as part of an
ongoing programme
of works. This is the
largest investment in
the Leathersellers’
Centre since its establishment, in 1978,
with a grant of
£500,000 from the
Leathersellers’
Company.
Dr Mark Wilkinson
First leathersellers’ professor
ongstanding links between the Leathersellers’ Company and the University
of Northampton were significantly strengthened in 2007 by the creation of a new
prestigious academic post, the Leathersellers’ Chair of Materials Science. The first
Leathersellers’ Professor is Geoff Attenburrow, whose formal inauguration took place at Leathersellers’ Hall on 9th January
this year.
Professor Attenburrow has
been at the British
School of Leather Technology, now a part
of the University of
Northampton,
since 1991 and has
been largely responsible for establishing that School as
an internationally-renowned centre for leatherrelated research. The new
Professorship is entirely
funded by the Leather-
L
sellers’ Company.
At the inauguration event, the Master
spoke about the long history of the
Company’s support for leather technical
education, first in Bethnal Green and
Bermondsey and in more recent times in
Northampton, the centre of the country’s
boot and shoe manufacturing
industry.
The Company is keen to continue and develop its involvement
with the leather trade and
encourage
ever higher standards of research and development in this field. The endowment of
this new Chair at the University of Northampton is a tangible expression of the
Company’s commitment in this respect.
Professor Attenburrow spoke of the
University of Northampton’s extensive
expertise in leather manufacture and processing technology, research and education,
and expressed his appreciation to the
Company for the creation and funding of
this new Chair. The University’s ViceChancellor, Ann Tate, also thanked
the Company for its generosity in
founding and endowing this new
high-profile post.
Over a hundred people attended the historic event at the Hall,
representing the leather sector industry professionals, University staff
and members of the Company’s
Court and Livery. The photograph
shows the Master with Professor
Attenburrow at the reception following the formal inauguration.
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15
Wine Committee
Wine Committee visit to
n Sunday 8th October a party of
twelve, led by the Master, flew to Italy
and the rolling countryside of Tuscany. An
hour’s coach ride from Pisa, south along
the rocky Tyrrhenian coast in autumnal
sunshine, took us to the country hotel Il
Bambolo where we were to stay for the
next three days. Situated near the walled
village of Bolgheri and close to the Roman
road, Via Aurelia, this hotel with its ochrecoloured walls and inviting swimming
pool was a welcome sight.
That evening we joined Derek Smedley,
the company’s wine adviser, for the first
wine tasting. Derek explained that traditional Tuscan wines such as Chianti Classico
and Brunello di Montalcino are made from
the Sangiovese grape. However, the area
which we had come to visit, around Bolgheri, had developed a reputation over the
last 40 years for producing wines made
from grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon,
Cabernet Franc and Merlot. In effect Bolgheri is becoming Tuscany’s Bordeaux and
with about 12 vineyards (vigneti) working
along similar lines and a total of 640 acres,
the producers have styled themselves the
‘Super Tuscan’ movement.
The tasting got under way with two delicious white wines – a Vermentino and an
Ansonica – and then a range of reds,
showing the difference between the Sang-
O
16
iovese grape and that of Cabernet Sauvignon with various blends of Merlot, Syrah
or Cabernet Franc. Over a relaxed dinner in
the neighbouring osteria, a further three
red wines were sampled, concluding with a
1999 Montresor Amarone – a red wine
from Verona (the Montresor family originating from the Loire valley several centuries
ago) with a raisin-port richness. In total ten
wines were tasted during the first evening.
The next morning we awoke to another
beautiful day. The sun was streaming through
the trees surrounding the hotel whilst the
cold water of the swimming pool awaited
those brave enough to refresh the senses
from the evening before. Over breakfast
we recalled descriptive phrases from the
previous night, such as ‘complexity’, ‘elegance’, ‘back of the nose’, ‘green peppercorns’ and ‘bilberry’.
Our first visit was to the Sassicaia vineyard. Set to one side of a magnificent
avenue of cypress trees, this vineyard was
developed by the Marchese Incisa della
Rochetta. He was attracted to the area by
the proximity of the sea and by the hills
surrounding the vineyards, which protect
them from winds. The stony ground and
his innovative use of the Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc grapes brought
the vineyard its first critical acclaim in
1968. It is the first and only wine to be
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granted its own Denominazione di Origine
Controllata, the DOC Bolgheri Sassicaia. The
Marchese’s stepson, Sebastiano Rosa, greeted us at the ‘Cantina’ and described how
the wine was made and stored in French
oak barriques for two years and then kept
in bottles for a minimum of six months
before sale. Sassicaia is amongst the most
expensive wines of the area at over 130
euros a bottle. We tasted the Guidalberto
2004 (second wine of Sassicaia), followed
by a Sassicaia 2003.
As the next visit was not scheduled until
mid-afternoon there was enough time to
take a coffee by the sea, followed by lunch
outside in a street café in Bolgheri. The pick
up and drop off times having been agreed,
in Italian, between the Clerk – our only
Italian speaker – and our mini-bus driver,
Signor Bimbi, a slender Zinedine Zidane
look-alike, it subsequently transpired that
Signor Bimbi was of the view that it was not
the done thing in Tuscany to arrive on time
for an appointment, revealing a cultural
difference from the Leathersellers!
We went on to visit the Poggio al Tesoro
estate, owned by the Allegrini family, who
produce more than a million bottles of
wine from their various estates in northern
Italy. Maria Allegrini, who had come from
Verona especially for our visit, welcomed
us and explained how the property had
been acquired
in 2001 and
consists of 173
acres.
After
looking around
the vineyard
we were taken
back to the villa
and presented with
delicious canapés
and a selection of wines
from the Bolgheri estate
(three separate vineyards – Bolgherese, Grottine and Sondraie) and the
Allegrini estates of the Veneto area. It was
explained that they plant their vines with
a density of 9,000 vines per acre on a
sand and clay soil. The differences in
wines which result from the different soils
in the Bolgheri district were discussed.
On Tuesday morning, refreshed and with
another cloudless sky, the party set off to
visit a vineyard and farm owned by the
Antinori family called Guado al Tasso
(Badger’s Ford). The Antinori family own
2,200 hectares of vineyards worldwide,
some even in Argentina. Their Bolgheri
estate of 900 hectares has 300 hectares
dedicated to vines. The rest is used for
farming of fruit trees, olives, wheat, corn,
sunflowers, tomatoes and pigs, not to
mention sustaining a few racehorses.
Allegra Antinori met the group on arrival. Her charming effortless manner had
us all captivated as we were ushered aboard
a carriage drawn by a horse for a tour of
the estate. As the carriage made its way up
the road we passed peach and olive trees,
vines and enclaves of pigs rooting happily
amongst copses of chestnut trees. Allegra
explained that the estate attempted to be
self-sufficient and that it even ran its own
guesthouse.
Back at the villa we were treated to a
wine tasting on the lawn. Two beautifully
prepared tables, one with food and one
with wine, were awaiting us, between flowerbeds of white roses and rosemary bushes.
Looking down towards the sea in the
distance, we tasted a white Vermentino
and three red wines from the estate. A
delightful morning was all too soon over.
There was enough time before our next
appointment for the Master to lead a dip
in the sea. The water may have been cold
but it was certainly refreshing. A light
seafood lunch followed and we were off to
visit the estate of Angelo Gaja at Ca’Marcanda. Gaja’s primary estate is in the Barbaresco and Barolo districts of Piedmont. In
1994 a vineyard was purchased in Tuscany
and planted with Sangiovese and then the
Bolgheri estate of 150 acres was bought in
1996 and planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah.
Enormous investment has clearly been
made in all the new vineyards of Bolgheri
and the potential of this area is being
maximised. The Ca’Marcanda vineyard
illustrates the point well. We were shown
around by Valentina. The main building is
constructed into the hillside and its extent
is not visible from the exterior. Standing
outside and looking down the rows of
vines, it was difficult to believe that deep
below one’s feet were the most modern
cellars with extensive storage and a stateof-the-art bottling plant. The reception
area and offices could be confused with
the entrance to a modern art gallery.
Back in the offices Valentina let us taste
two of their 2004 vintage wines – Promis
and Magari. On our departure we were all
given a bottle of the Promis 2004 as a
memento of our visit.
That evening we dined in Bolgheri in a
trattoria, a cross between a Majestic Wine
warehouse and a restaurant. The wide
range of wines on offer kept everyone’s
interest as dinner was being prepared.
After a hearty meal of the local wild boar
dish, ‘cinghiale’, served either in black
pasta or as a meat dish on its own, the Past
Master, John Newton, led a chorus of the
sung Grace at the end of the dinner to
spur Company morale even higher!
Wednesday seemed to arrive all too
soon. With just one more vineyard to visit
and a flight home ahead of us we knew
that we were going to miss this rural idyll
and the hospitality and friendship shown.
Signor Bimbi arrived - ‘roughly’ on time and we set off for the estate of Tenuta
dell’Ornellaia. We were shown around by
Barbara who explained that the estate had
attracted much interest from Russian investors, who now have a holding of about
18%. This 63-acre estate mainly grows
Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and ‘Ornellaia’ is its principal wine. Again we were
all most impressed with the winemaking
facilities, with no expense seemingly spared
on the most up-to-date equipment.
This visit to Bolgheri showed us the level
of commitment being made there to compete with the best French Bordeaux wines.
They are of high quality and some have
been bought for the cellar.
Martin Pebody
The Irish
Society
A
little-known piece of
Leathersellers’ history is our
involvement in King James I’s scheme
for the Irish plantations. We reluctantly
supported the Fishmongers from 1609
to 1617, when we were able to sell
our interest and withdraw without
significant financial loss. During that
time estates were established to the
east of Londonderry, the main
settlement being at Ballykelly, close to
the southern shore of Lough Foyle.
Some original and unique records
concerning the administration of these
estates are held in the Leathersellers’
archives. The Irish Society, a Citysponsored charity, continues to
manage residual estates in the area to
this day.
More importantly, the Irish Society
is a charity which, through its Step-Up
programme, promotes higher
education for the disadvantaged from
both sides of the sectarian divide. They
do this in association with the
University of Ulster. A party of
Leathersellers, consisting of Michael
Binyon, George Nicholson, Tim
Daniels and the Clerk visited them in
September 2006. We were very well
looked after by the Irish Society
representative, Edward Montgomery,
as well as by liveryman William
Shannon, and had a good tour of the
Londonderry area, including
Ballykelly.
As a result of this visit the Company
has agreed to support the Step-Up
programme over the next four years.
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7
17
Education
Colfe's senior
hockey team
CO L F E ’ s SCHOOL
T
he School has enjoyed a successful and
eventful year. Its reputation as the
largest and most successful co-educational
school in south-east London enjoyed a
welcome boost from the latest edition of
the Good Schools’ Guide in which we were
characterised as “a thriving, growing and
successful school”.
This judgement coincided fully with that
of the Inspection team in November. The
full reports can be accessed via the school
website (www.colfes.com) but the overriding impression is of a school improving
in many ways. The quality of pastoral care
in the senior school and the trend towards
improved academic results were particularly noted, as well as the behaviour of the
pupils: “Good behaviour and discipline are
positively promoted throughout the school.”
The Preparatory School was also highly
rated: “Pupils are knowledgeable and articulate. They listen attentively and speak
confidently. They have a strong grasp of
literacy and numeracy and apply these
skills within a wide range of work.”
Academic highlights of the year included the best ‘A’ level results on record,
with just under 78% graded A or B. Two
Colfeians won places at Oxford and we were
also delighted to hear that Ben Gray, Old
Colfeian, had won a prestigious research
fellowship at All Souls’ College in Oxford.
Sport retains its high profile at Colfe’s,
with rugby and football teams winning note-
worthy victories. We also have a number of
remarkably talented young cricketers, one
of whom, Alex Smith, played a crucial part
in the School’s victory over the Company in
June. Girls’ netball and hockey teams continue to punch well above their weight,
regularly defeating teams from all-girls’
schools, as well as other co-educational
opposition.
Diversity remains a key feature of life at
Colfe’s and one of the year’s most successful events was the Fashion Show which
raised over £4000 for UK Cancer Research.
This was a fantastic occasion, generously
supported by many local shops and businesses in Blackheath and Greenwich.
Noteworthy departures of the year included David Curtis, who retired as Chairman in April. His eight years in post have
seen momentous change for the better at
Colfe’s, including the establishment and
consolidation of full co-education and significant academic improvement. Canon
David Garlick will also be much missed
from the Board following his retirement as
Vicar of Lewisham this summer.
Another farewell was to Ron Harryman
who retired as Chairman of the Development Committee; the Campaign has raised
over £3 million in only five years and its
success owes much to Ron’s personal commitment and drive. He has been succeeded
by Nigel Glaister, another Old Colfeian,
who has recently retired from a successful
A Famous Old Colfeian
of his “distinguished career in
scientific pursuits and his early
connection with Colfe’s School
as a pupil there from 1859 to
1864”. A bookplate records that
this book, bound in the highest
quality leather (of course), was
presented to him at the time,
though exactly how it came to
be returned to the Company is not known.
copy of William Black’s beautifullyproduced The History of the Company
of Leathersellers – published in 1871 – was
presented to Colfe’s School Library earlier
this year, as it came to light that the
Company not only held a spare copy of
this magnificent Victorian book but that
the copy in question had belonged to a
famous Old Colfeian, Professor Henry
Armstrong (1848-1937). Armstrong is still
remembered as a founding father of
chemical engineering and a pioneer of
scientific education; he recommended that
all boys and girls at school should be given
practical science lessons in a laboratory as
this “taught young people to use their
wits”. This year marks the centenary of
Armstrong being made an honorary Liveryman in February 1907, in recognition
A
18
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7
career in the City.
A new Head of the Prep School, John
Gallagher, took up post in September
2007. He has been Director of Sport at the
senior school since 2000, and is a former
New Zealand All-Blacks rugby player, who
was part of that team when they won the
World Cup in 1987. John is already wellknown to a number of liverymen as Captain
of the staff golf team which plays an annual
match against the Company in December.
Other new faces include Caroline Butler
who joins us as Academic Deputy Head,
and Commander Steve White, our new
Bursar from October 2007, following Carol
Meade’s appointment as Bursar of Eastbourne College.
The School Architect, Hans Haenlein, has
been working closely with the Headmaster
to produce a whole school development
plan for presentation to Governors in the
autumn. Early indications are that the plan
will be exciting and ambitious: our aim is
to plan ahead for the next decade. We do
so with confidence and anticipation of
future Colfeian success.
I would like to record my thanks to
Richard Russell, Headmaster, and his team
for their hard work and enthusiasm, and
to my fellow Governors for their support
over the past year.
Ian Russell
The photograph shows (left to
right) David Curtis, Tim Daniels
and Ian Russell with the book
before it was handed into the
custody of Judy Cardnell, the
School Librarian.
Education
PRENDERGAST SCHOOL
am occasionally asked about the differences between being a Leathersellers’
governor at Prendergast School, and one
at Colfe’s. Comparisons are of course futile;
the truth is that both schools are beacons
within their communities in South London
and are among the highest performing
schools of their type. However, at the end
of the day there is no getting away from
the fact that Prendergast, as a Voluntary
Aided Comprehensive, has to cope with a
vast array of different initiatives from what
seems to be a constantly-changing list of
Secretaries of State. This makes the job of
governor a particularly interesting challenge.
Early in 2007, Prendergast underwent
its usual periodic OFSTED inspection, and
it is pleasing to quote the front of the
report that “Prendergast is an exceptional
specialist language and music college that
provides its students with an outstanding
quality of education”. The report itself refers to Erica Pienaar’s “inspirational leadership and outstanding management”, as
well as mentioning that the school’s
standard is “nothing less than the best will
do” in its aspirations for its students to
develop as confident, ambitious and articulate young women.
Possibly the main thing that links the
Leathersellers’ governors of Colfe’s with
those of Prendergast is that we all feel
proud and privileged to be connected with
our respective schools. This was reinforced
this year at Prendergast when the Comp-
I
any was approached and asked
to play a leading role in the
creation of a new federation
of three schools in Lewisham, to include Prendergast. At the time of writing, the idea is being
progressed and, if it all
comes to pass, it will add a
new challenge and dimension to our 300-year involvement in education in this part of
London.
Meanwhile, Prendergast has also been
selected to benefit from an early phase of
the government’s new “Building Schools
for the Future” programme, which should
result in a major state investment in the
school’s buildings, starting in 2009.
The school continues to produce examination results that are improving year on
year and, as one example, the percentage
of students gaining the highest available
levels in English and Science at GCSE is
double the national average.
The role of Leathersellers’ governor at
the school is nothing if not hands-on, with
each of us acting as link governor with a
particular department of the school. During the year, Geoffrey Coulson retired as
governor and we are most grateful to him
for his long and loyal service to the school.
We are delighted to welcome Christopher
Barrow, who replaces him. Robert Dove has
continued to chair the Finance and Gen-
eral Purposes Committee, and
during the year had the satisfaction of seeing the school
become one of the first to
achieve the new standards
set in the “Financial Management for Schools”
initiative.
During March, the Court
visited the school, and was
able to hear at first hand the
extent to which the Company’s involvement with the school is appreciated,
and to witness at first hand some of the
reasons why the school continues to be
one of the most heavily over-subscribed in
London.
There is no doubt that the long relationship between the Company and the
school is of huge advantage to both parties.
The next few years promise to be a challenge, but will also be most rewarding, as
we continue to play a part in the provision
of a first class, rounded education for children and young people in this part of London.
I can’t help feeling that both Abraham
Colfe and Joseph Prendergast would have
been pleased.
James Blott
Stop Press: The 2007 'A' level results are
fantastic, with a 100% pass rate and an
average points score of 300 (equivalent to
BBB) – the first time the school has hit the
300-point threshold.
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7
19
New painting acquired
he Company has
recently purchased
an oil painting, thought
to date from the 1770s,
by the renowned artist
William Marlow
(1740-1813). It shows
Blackfriars Bridge as
seen from the south
bank of the Thames,
with St Paul’s Cathedral behind it and
several boats on the
river.
A pupil of the artist
Samuel Scott, Marlow
probably studied at
the St Martin’s Lane
Academy; he admired
and was much influenced by the Venetian
artist Canaletto. He
found the patronage
he needed to further
his career, and spent
two years on the
‘Grand Tour’ in France
and Italy. Thereafter
he specialised in
T
painting topographical
views, being particularly fond of river
scenes. As well as
being a prolific
painter and sketcher
of views in Britain and
on the continent, he is
believed to have
designed the seals for
the original thirteen
States of the USA.
Marlow exhibited
at the Royal Academy
and today his works
can be seen in many
public art galleries in
the UK and the USA.
He was fond of creating architectural fantasy views, a genre
known as ‘capriccio’ –
a well-known example
being St Paul’s Cathedral painted on a
Venetian canal, now in
the Tate collection. A
remarkable painting
by Marlow showing
the eruption of Vesuvius at night, one of
the earliest paintings
of this subject, is in a
gallery in Denver,
Colorado.
Born in London,
Marlow’s domestic life
was unconventional.
Few details are known,
but from 1775 until
his death he lived at
Twickenham, where
for over twenty years
he shared his home
with a butcher named
Curtis and his wife.
The diarist Joseph
Faringdon recorded
that the latter bore
“six or seven children some of them very
like Marlow”!
Blackfriars Bridge
opened in 1769, and
so was newly-built at
the time of this
painting. Marlow
painted several views
of it, including a very
similar one now in the
Guildhall Art Gallery,
though there are some
minor variations. The
bridge was replaced in
the 1860s by the one
we know today.
The painting has
been sent away for
some expert conservation treatment, and
will make a handsome
addition to our Assembly Room, where it
will be hung on its
return.
Jerome Farrell
consumption”.
By the 1930s cigar
consumption had
dropped to about half
this level, with 2,487
being smoked at the
Hall in 1936. By the
1950s the level had
dropped further; the
requirement for 1952
was 2,000 (costing
£374), a mixture of
Jamaica and Havana
cigars, and in 1953
the Wine Committee
estimated annual consumption to be 1,300.
The level of cigarette smoking at the
Hall in modern times
is more difficult to
gauge, but its popularity declined towards
the end of the twentieth century as awareness of the health risks
associated with smoking increased. Some
will doubtless regret
the passing of the long
tradition of smoking
at Leathersellers’ Hall,
but others will see it
as a sign of progress
and welcome the fact
that the Hall will
henceforward be a
smoke-free zone.
A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
ends a three-centuries-old habit
n 1 July 2007
Leathersellers’
Hall became smokefree to comply with
the law banning
smoking in public
places. Ashtrays were
gathered up; our
silver cigarette and
cigar boxes will no
longer be circulated at
dinner and only have
a decorative function
in future. Thus ended
a long tradition.
Bills submitted by
our Beadles in the
17th and 18th centuries show that tobacco
and clay pipes were
regularly purchased
for dinners and meetings at the Hall. The
earliest reference
found is for 29 May
O
20
1664 when the Beadle
spent 2 shillings (10p)
on “tobacchoe, pipes
and candles”. May
29th, “Oak Apple Day”,
was the anniversary of
the Restoration of the
Monarchy in 1660,
only four years earlier,
and the occasion was
clearly one for celebration for the whole
Company; the Beadle’s bill for that day
also included fifteen
dozen (180) loaves of
bread and a barrel
and a half of beer!
By the 19th century
clay pipes had given
way to cigars. In 1882
the Company’s Wine
Committee was charged
with purchasing cigars
but no details of quan-
tities appear until some
years later. It seems
likely that cigar consumption at Leathersellers’
Hall was steadily increasing in the late
Victorian and Edwardian period; over 3,000
cigars, supplied by the
Army & Navy Stores,
were smoked in the
Hall in 1908, but this
had risen to a peak of
6,081 in the year 1912.
Court minutes for 1
January 1913 mention
the purchase of 5000
cigars, both large (at
59 shillings, i.e. £2.95,
per dozen) and small
(39 shillings – £1.95
– a dozen), and estimate this quantity to
be “sufficient for
about one year’s
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7
Desert patrol in Iraq
1 s t t h e q u e e n ’ s d r a g o o n g ua r d s
ince our affiliation with the Leathersellers’ Company began last year the
Regiment has completed its third operational tour in Iraq, conducted post-tour recuperation and now begun formal training
in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan next year – ever busy!
The latter half of the Iraq tour saw the
Regiment split to the four winds. A Squadron deployed to Baghdad and spent a fascinating two months providing force protection to senior British military officers
running the gauntlet of the capital’s roads.
At the same time B Squadron deployed to
the Iraq/Iran border for eight weeks of
tough patrolling. Meanwhile, Regimental
Headquarters took four infantry companies under command and provided security
for the British operating bases around
Basra, including convoy escorts, prison guards
and surge troops for the larger operations
in the city. Just as the autumn rains started, the Regiment handed over all responsibilities to 40th Regiment Royal Artillery
(The Lowland Gunners). The last man
returned to Osnabruck in the middle of
November.
S
For most, the winter saw well-deserved
leave. Winter sports teams competed in
the Alps, where they fared well despite the
early season lack of snow. No great store
of silverware was collected this year, but
plenty of potential for the future has been
identified.
After any deployment, a regiment requires recuperation, enabling soldiers to catch
up on professional courses, conduct
adventurous training, play sport and so
forth – in essence, a chance to redress the
balance. QDG sports teams have competed
at all Army levels; the rugby team toured
South Africa, the football team Wales and
the hockey team Holland. Adventurous
training expeditions included sea-kayaking
around Cyprus, mountain biking in the
Pyrenees, kite-surfing in Jersey, sailing in
the Baltic, diving in Egypt and walking
expeditions all over Europe. Additionally,
the Regiment enjoyed a two-week recruiting drive back home in Wales, based around
the opportunity to exercise our Freedom
of the city of Cardiff. We marched with
drums beating, standards (the Cavalry carry
a standard, not a colour!) flying, bayonets
Leathersellers and QDGs mingle in Germany
fixed and considerable pride through the
capital and enjoyed, as always, fantastic
support from the home crowd.
Fully recuperated, the Regiment has now
started its formal training package, which
will eventually see us ready to deploy to
Afghanistan next year. This has included
two periods of deployment on ranges,
firstly for basic soldiering skills and then
for vehicle firing practice. During the latter
period, we were inspected by a visiting
team of crack external auditors from the
Leathersellers’ Company (see report below).
It was a delight to meet the Company on
this occasion – hopefully the first of many
such exchanges.
We have just returned from a battlefield tour in Belgium, where the Regiment’s vehicle commanders enjoyed three
days studying the Battle of the Bulge,
drawing many contemporary lessons from
what was Hitler’s final great offensive
action. The autumn diary is now rapidly
filling up. During a two-week exercise in
September we will build up to troop and
squadron level operations. Then in November, the Regiment – lock, stock and barrel –
will move to Sennelager, some 70 km east
of Osnabruck – and the winter sports
teams will be removing the wax from their
skis for what will, hopefully, be a vintage
season!
The first visit to our affiliated regiment, 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
he Master very kindly invited me to
join this party making the Company’s
inaugural visit to our regiment – currently
based at Imphal Barracks, Osnabruck, Germany – even though I was the only member
who had not served in the forces (the
nearest I got was at Wellington College as
a Sergeant in the Combined Cadet Force!).
We flew to Hanover first, to visit the regiment at the end of a two-week live firing
exercise on the Bergen-Hohne range
complex, about 150 miles from Osnabruck.
The Commanding Officer, Anthony Pittman, and some of his Squadron Leaders
welcomed us at our hotel on Thursday
night. We woke early the next morning to
attend a briefing, at which we were issued
with full combat gear. After being shown
T
the Scimitar tanks, we were driven to see at
close hand the spectacular ‘military battle’.
We were very impressed with the accuracy
of the shooting. Next we were invited to
drive Sultans, identical to Scimitars but used
primarily for troop carrying. We all had a
memorable time, as driving was fairly
straightforward – the greatest danger being
posed by the other Leatherseller drivers!
We then went on to visit the regimental
headquarters at Osnabruck, where we
shared a noisy and very enjoyable dinner
with the Subalterns; on the Saturday we
saw round the Sergeants’ Mess and were
shown the regimental standard, drums and
the collection of other memorabilia of battles
fought around the world. The regiment is
termed the 1st because it is the senior
cavalry regiment of the line. On Saturday
evening we were privileged to attend a
splendid dinner in the Officers’ Mess,
when the Adjutant showed us a silver
plate – which ‘2nd Lieutenant G.H.J.
Nicholson’ had presented in 1955!
We were all extremely grateful to the
regiment for their most kind and generous
hospitality during our visit, and are confident that the relationship between the
regiment and the Company will continue
to flourish after such a promising start.
Above all, our visit also brought home to
us the tremendous debt of gratitude which
we owe to all those who are serving our
country in Iraq and Afghanistan and
making such sacrifices there.
Matthew Pellereau
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7
21
HMS Cornwall
H M S C o r n wa l l
fter well over a hundred days stationed 3 km from the Iraqi oil terminals in
the northern Arabian Gulf, HMS Cornwall,
with our coalition partners, has safeguarded the export of 200 million barrels of
crude oil (total value $11 billion) in support of the fragile Iraqi economy. Joining
vessels from Australia, the USA and of
course Iraq itself, we have operated with
26 different ships during our seven-month
deployment to the region. This group has
conducted a total of 327 boardings of
tankers, tugs, dhows and other fishing
vessels to ensure the safety of maritime
trade in the area.
It is unfortunate that the deployment will
undoubtedly be remembered for the incident, on 23 March 2007, which catapulted the ship onto the international media
stage – when fifteen of our sailors and
marines were illegally detained by the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy
(IRGCN). The event, coupled with the two
parliamentary inquiries that followed, certainly put the spotlight on the ship and on
these members of the ship’s company.
However, outside the glare of publicity
much has been achieved, and the incident
did at least bring the Navy’s involvement
in the area to the immediate attention of
the general public, highlighting that naval
as well as land operations carry a degree
of risk.
Over the past year the ship has been
particularly busy. She participated in two
large-scale NATO exercises, one of which
formed part of the ship’s deployment to
the Baltic in September and October, which
included successful visits to Denmark, Estonia, Russia and Poland. The remainder of
the year was dedicated to engineering
work and training specifically tailored to
prepare for the Gulf deployment. In November I relieved Captain Simon Williams
in command – a proud and memorable
moment.
We said farewell to our loved ones on
22 January and sailed from Plymouth on
the 6500-mile passage to the Gulf via
the Mediterranean, Suez Canal, Red Sea
and Straits of Hormuz. Our mission was
twofold. Firstly to be a key element in
the coalition maritime force protecting
both of the Iraqi offshore oil terminals
as the country strives towards selfdetermination; and secondly, to act as the
command platform and flagship for
A
22
Commodore Nick Lambert, the multinational Naval Force Commander for the
whole of the northern Arabian Gulf.
Additionally we were to conduct Maritime Security Operations (MSO) to ensure a
secure and stable maritime environment
for mariners. Naturally, the nature of MSO
varies depending on the operating area;
we dealt at different times with human
trafficking, piracy and, in the Gulf, preventing terrorist organisations from exploiting
the maritime environment for aggressive
activity or for transporting weapons. Of
course, we were also always ready to assist
with humanitarian relief, be it rescuing
personnel from sinking or overloaded craft
or with help following a major natural
disaster.
The initial stages of the deployment
found us conducting MSO in the Mediterranean, interspersed with a series of port
visits to conduct diplomatic activities. In
Barcelona and Split we hosted a series of
Defence Industry Days, allowing a selection of UK defence industrialists onboard to
demonstrate their equipment to foreign
military and government bodies. For six
weeks we had 23 Officer Cadets from Dartmouth Naval College with us for their first
taste of life at sea.
Once in the Red Sea we proceeded south
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7
in company with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary
supply ship FORT AUSTIN. Passing through
the Bab-al-Mendeb Straits, we met up with
the legendary sailing yacht Gipsy Moth IV.
Originally belonging to the solo roundthe-world yachtsman, Sir Francis Chichester,
she now forms part of a 30-yacht challenge
to sail round the world, known as the
2005–2007 Blue Water Rally, being completed in various stages with crew changes
between stops; the crew we encountered
was very keen to take up our offer of a hot
shower!
On our arrival in the Gulf in early March
our principal objective was the protection
of the two oil terminals which form key
strategic assets for the Iraqi economy as
they generate over 90% of Iraq’s GDP. To
carry out this work in a complex geopolitical environment (owing to the close proximity of many nations, border disagreements
and a condensed operating area which is
also a rich fishing ground), a series of
exclusion zones have been established.
These zones allow the coalition forces, of
which the Iraqis are a key element, to
prevent unauthorised vessels approaching
the oil terminals. By keeping the
immediate
vicinity
clear
Winning the tug-of-war against the Russians at Baltiysk
HMS Tireless
of all but legitimate vessels, the terrorist
threat is significantly reduced. Unfortunately
for the local fishermen, the exclusion
zones also form part of the prime fishing
areas in the region!
Whilst both oil terminals are located well
offshore, one is just a few hundred yards
from the long-disputed maritime boundary between Iraq and Iran. Patrolling the
Iranian side of this border is an unpredictable and at times rogue element of
Iranian state forces, the IRGCN. They are at
odds with their counterparts in the Iranian
Navy, with whom we have mutually respectful seafaring relations. On 23 March the
IRGCN encroached Iraqi Territorial Waters
and detained a team from CORNWALL who
were conducting a routine boarding of a
vessel at anchor. It was readily evident that
the way to resolve this incident peacefully
was through diplomatic channels. There
has been huge speculation over what happened and questions have been asked about
such issues as the provision of intelligence
and helicopter support. However, it is almost
impossible to appreciate the complex
operational environment without witnessing it first-hand. Our many visitors were
all surprised at how difficult operating in
the area really is and to find that everything the coalition does is seen by the
IRGCN from their observation platform
only three nautical miles from the northernmost oil terminal.
The incident was the subject of an extremely thorough Parliamentary Inquiry. As
a result, a number of shortcomings were
identified which are being addressed. I
remain extremely proud of the reactions
of my team who, when faced with the
most difficult of decisions, did all they
could to de-escalate a very dangerous
situation. This kind of agile thinking under
pressure illustrates the professional
competency of our sailors and marines.
The rest of the ship’s company remained
resolute in their determination to continue
with the job we had started. These factors
ensured that everything possible was done
via the diplomatic process, which resulted
in the release of ‘Our 15’, as they became
known.
The Gulf is not always the calm and
pleasant sea many people imagine. When
an engineer on board a US Fast Patrol
Boat was taken critically ill at night, whilst
on patrol around the oil platforms, rough
weather made it extremely difficult for
flight and medical teams from CORNWALL
to reach and extract him, and deliver him
to a naval hospital in Kuwait. This action
was critical in saving his life; happily, the
engineer is now well and back on duty.
During the few port visits we have had,
the ship’s company participated in numerous sporting events and activities, and
raised over £4,000 for charity. At the time
of writing, we are about to commence our
return passage to the UK for what promises to be an emotional, yet joyous reunion
with our loved ones. January seems an age
ago. Our programme for the remainder of
2007 and 2008 is beginning to take shape
and we hope to invite some Liverymen on
board for a sea passage in November.
You can be proud of what your affiliate
ship has achieved.
Jeremy Woods, Commanding Officer
HMS TIRELESS
robably most of us have wondered what
it would be like to go to sea in a submarine and thanks to Commander E. G.
Ahlgren, Captain of HMS Tireless, with
whom we have had an association since
2002, this rare opportunity was given to
members of the Livery. Martin Pebody and
I duly presented ourselves outside
Plymouth’s dock gates at 7.30 a.m. on a
bright summer’s morning.
We were ferried out to the submarine
which lay at anchor half a mile off shore.
The first impression is daunting. It may be
that for its crew a submarine can evoke
some feelings of affection. For me this allblack vessel has a rather sinister appearance. Not something to trifle with at all.
We were escorted aboard and entered a
quite separate world. There are no windows
or portholes and there is therefore no
natural daylight at all – unless you clamber
18 feet of wall ladder (no handrails – don’t
look down!) to the ‘conning tower’. In a
submarine there appears no difference if
you are above the ocean or below.
The other guests included two representatives from the town of Rugby, where
much of HMS Tireless had been built. In
P
2002 the boat (for some reason submarines
are not referred to as ships) was granted the
Freedom of the Borough of Rugby – the
Clerk and I attended this ceremony.
The Captain gave us an interesting talk
on the role of the submarine in modern
warfare and we had a comprehensive tour,
with a fire drill being put on for our benefit. Personal comfort is not readily associated with life in a submarine even today;
it was interesting to learn that the ‘warm
bed’ system still operates whereby when
one crew member vacates his bunk to go
on duty, another takes his place.
We set out to sea and the time came for
us to dive. This wasn’t quite what I expected; in fact it was a bit of an anti-climax.
Having been brought up on B-movie war
films, submarines dive as a matter of urgency with polar-jerseyed sailors scurrying
hither and thither, alarm bells ringing and
more often than not “achtung, achtung!”
blaring through loudspeakers. I am afraid
times have changed: today the modern nuclear submarine takes around ten minutes to
dive and it is a much more leisurely affair,
the emphasis being on examination of
numerous monitors in the control room.
Once under water the planned exercise
began. Through the periscope a merchant
ship was identified, two miles away and
quite oblivious to either our presence or
hostile intentions. We went through the
whole procedure of attack – short of firing
a torpedo – and the Captain added drama
to the occasion with a bit of ham acting for
our benefit: “Yes I can see members of the
crew. Yes they’re jumping – over the side”!
What a day it was. I shall always remember this visit with gratitude to these
friendly and impressive members of the
Senior Service who gave us such a good
time, and with gratitude also for what they
and others are doing to safeguard our way
of life.
George Nicholson
Widely reported in the news at the time, an explosion on HMS Tireless (caused by a fault
in the air purification equipment) whilst in the Arctic Ocean claimed the lives of two submariners and badly injured a third on 21 March 2007. We were greatly saddened to hear
of this, and extend our condolences to those bereaved as a result of this tragic accident.
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7
23
Events
he performers at
our November
concert, as in past
years, were all students
from the Guildhall
School of Music and
Drama who are currently receiving
financial assistance
from us. Samantha
Wood (piano) played a
late Mozart sonata
with great sensitivity
and excellent technique, following this
with Schumann’s
Arabesque in which
her playing conveyed
great feeling and
warmth. After this we
heard a varied recital
of eight pieces by Amar
Muchhala (tenor). His
voice suited the
acoustics of the reception room, and his
choice of repertoire
required a lightness of
tone which brought
the pieces alive.
The last performer
was Mark Derudder
(violin), with a sonata
by Ravel which, unusually, was played
facing the pianist,
very effective in the
second movement.
Mark ended with a
piece for solo violin
by the Belgian composer Ysaÿe. Any performer playing such
demanding music in
public needs to have
a very fine technique;
all the difficulties of
this piece were played
with consummate
ease, and Mark produced a fine broad
tone from his violin.
It will be interesting to
follow his career on
departure from the
GSMD.
The June concert
was, in the main, performed by established
professional musicians.
T
24
Gretel Dowdeswell
(piano) began with a
performance of a late
Beethoven sonata,
opus 90. An Associate
Artist at Brunel University, she recently
completed the full
cycle of Beethoven
sonatas, 32 in all, over
a period of three years.
We heard some lovely
stylish playing, the
piano responding to
Gretel’s delicate touch
when required.
Another piano solo
followed with Grace
Mo entertaining us for
the third time since
these concerts began.
She has now established herself as a very
formidable pianist,
and displayed wonderful technique –
drawing fine tone
from the piano as the
music, by Chopin,
Ravel and Liszt, demanded.
One of the foremost oboists in the
country, Neil Black –
whom I have known
and played music with
for around sixty
years – then
demonstrated his
great talents with two
fantasie pieces by the
Danish composer Carl
Nielsen. A lovely tone
was accompanied by
fine musicianship, the
instrument seeming to
be a living being in
Neil’s capable hands.
The final piece of
the evening was Poulenc’s Trio for oboe,
bassoon and piano.
Gretel Dowdeswell was
the pianist. It is the
finest work for this
particular group of
players, the demands
on each instrument
being shared over the
three movements.
A slow opening with
solos for both wind
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7
instruments
soon leads
into a lively
presto. The
slow
movement
was played
with great
feeling and
the final
movement
was a joyful
and energetic
très vif. Gretel
proved a very
sympathetic
accompanist
when
required,
allowing free flow of
the music between the
oboe and bassoon. It
was a good ending to
a varied concert.
A final ‘musical
note’: we were delighted to hear the news
that Katherine Broderick (soprano), one of
‘our’ students in 2005,
won the coveted Gold
Katherine Broderick
Medal award at the
Barbican in May, with
fine recital and
operatic excerpts, and
against strong competition. Our congratulations to her on this
magnificent achievement.
Denis Daniels
Yo u n g L i v e r y Co m m i t t e e
Mark Williams, David Barrow
and Philip Williams enjoy a drink
in the crypt of St Paul’s
ver the years since its formation, The
Livery Committee has set out to arrange informal gatherings at which the
younger members of the Livery and
Freemen can get to know each other a
little better – and they haven’t come much
better than the event held at St Paul’s on
8 March 2007. It will be a very hard act to
follow.
As is the case with other prominent
Livery Companies, the Leathersellers’
Company has close ties with the Cathedral,
but our relationship has grown even closer
following the recent approval by the
O
VISIT TO ST PAUL’S CATHEDR AL
Charities Committee of a substantial oneoff grant, towards the crafting of the
leather parts required in the restoration of
the magnificent late 17th century organ.
This work forms part of the £40 million
restoration campaign to mark the 300th
anniversary of the completion of this won-
derful building. Those members of the
Livery who were lucky enough to attend
the evening’s entertainment enjoyed the
resultant red carpet treatment that was
laid on for us by the staff at the Cathedral
in the form of our very own private
concert.
Following a brief
but informative talk
given by Nigel
Nelson’s tomb in the
Kirkup (Director of
crypt of St Paul’s
Fundraising), the St
Paul’s
Cathedral
Consort, with their
conductor and Director of Music,
Malcolm Archer,
and organist James
McVinnie, indulged
us with music ranging from ‘Libera
nos, salva nos’ by
John
Sheppard
(c.1515-1558) and
‘God so loved the
world’ by Sir John
Stainer (1840-1901),
concluding with the
wonderful ‘Zadok
the Priest’ by George
Frideric
Handel
(1685-1759). The
Choir was superb,
and combined with
the organ – and
acoustics that you
would expect from such a majestic
building – they were sublime.
At the end of the concert, those assembled were divided into smaller groups
and we were given a brief tour of the
Cathedral and of the Crypt, including the
American Memorial Chapel – a gesture of
gratitude from the people of Britain to the
American dead of World War II – which
stands behind the High Altar in an area
that was bomb-damaged during the War.
Everyone enjoyed studying the beautiful
wooden carvings in the Chapel which
depict aspects of life in America, ranging
from birds and beasts to moon rockets and
stars.
The evening concluded with supper
and drinks in the Crypt – a perfect end to
a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
Future events currently being considered include trips to HMS Belfast, The
Bank of England and the Mansion House,
but if anyone has other suggestions please
let either myself, Loretta Floris or the Clerk
know.
In closing I would like to thank the
outgoing Chairman of the Livery Committee, Mark Williams, for his untiring and
steady leadership over the past few years.
Although the military discipline required
to chair such a Committee will be sorely
missed, it is a comfort to all of us left to
know that the ‘Navy’ will still remain on
hand to deal with defaulters at seven bells
when required!
Charles Williams
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7
25
Sport
Golf
he Society held its
annual Spring
Meeting at the New
Zealand Golf Club in
conjunction with the
Coachmakers. 28
Leathersellers and
their guests took part
on the day. Denis
Daniels and Charles
Polito won the Powell
Cup with a score of
+1 and in the afternoon Geoffrey Dove
and Adrian Baulf won
the Nissen Cup with a
score of 37 points.
The Golf Supper at
the Hall on 1 May was
a very successful event,
attended by 56
members and their
guests. Tony Williams
handed over the
Presidency to Geoffrey
Dove, and was warmly
thanked for all he had
done to support and
T
Tennis
he Inter-Livery
tennis competition
was held at Queen’s
Club on 14 September
2006. Two pairs represented the Company:
Tom Swanson with his
mother, Mary Swanson,
and Julian Bacon with
T
Winners of the Nissen Cup 2007
Winners of the Powell Cup 2007
guide the Society
during his six years in
office. The Master,
Tim Daniels, was
amongst those who
attended, and Roger
Marrett, Secretary of
New Zealand Golf
Club, spoke on behalf
of the guests.
The Prince Arthur
of Connaught Cup
Competition took
place at Walton Heath
Golf Club on 17 May
2007. The Company
was represented by
Geoffrey Dove and
Edward Dove (1st Pair)
and David Dove and
Jonathan Spurling
(2nd Pair). The Leathersellers Team finished
2nd with a score of
+1, narrowly missing
out to the winners, the
Insurers’ Company
with a score of +2.
Pip Scaramanga.
Although no prizes
were won, Tom and
Mary had the notable
achievement of reaching the final of the
plate competition.
They are representing
the Company again
this year, and we wish
them luck in going one
better! Andrew Strong
and Caroline Smee
will be the other pair.
Cricket
he Leathersellers
fielded a team
against Colfe’s School
on Sunday 10th June
T
c h r i s t m a s i s co m i n g …
void frenzied last
minute Christmas
shopping whilst
supporting the vital
work of the British
Red Cross by coming
along to the 2007
British Red Cross
Christmas Market at
the Guildhall, from
A
26
26th to 28th
November. This event
takes place every
other year and a
number of Livery
Companies will be
running stalls there.
A wide range of
goods will be on sale
and in addition there
will be live music,
refreshments, and the
chance to have a Red
Cross therapeutic hand
and arm massage. If
you have ever wanted
to fly a plane but
been uncertain
whether you have the
aptitude, you will also
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7
This year 52 Livery
Companies took part.
The Company’s
Autumn Meeting will
be taking place on 20
September, another
triangular match
between the Leathersellers’, Ironmongers’
and Coachmakers’
Companies at Tandridge Golf Club. It is
anticipated there will
be ten players in each
team. Last year the
same competition was
won by Giles Lister
and Tim Lister representing the Leathersellers’ Company, with
Giles Lister winning
the individual Tim
Phillips Millennium
Salver.
In December 2006,
the meeting held at
Walton Heath resulted
in a win by Colfe’s
Staff. Leathersellers
hope to exact their
revenge at a return
fixture this December!
All results are posted on the Company’s
website:
www.leathersellers.co.uk
New Freemen and
Liverymen who enjoy
playing golf at all
levels are encouraged
to join the Society and
should contact the
Golfing Secretary,
Pamela Willis at the
Hall, who will let them
have details and dates
of forthcoming events.
Pamela Willis
after the Founders’
Day service. The team,
led again by Edward
Dove, played well, but
Colfe’s played better
and won the match –
for the first time in four
attempts since it was
re-instituted three years
ago. Edward Dove
showed determination
in finding and fielding
a Leathersellers’ team,
and the fixture, in its
new slot on the Leathersellers’ Ground on
Founders’ Day, has
become a regular
feature in the sporting
calendar.
have the opportunity
to find out through a
computer simulator
with a training pilot.
Entrance is by prebooked ticket only.
Multi-entry tickets for
Tuesday 27th (11am8pm) and Wednesday
28th (11am-3pm) cost
£5 and include a glass
of wine. For Preview
night on Monday
26th (5.30 pm-9 pm),
when the Lady
Mayoress will be
officially opening the
market, tickets are £20
and include champagne and canapés.
Tickets can be booked
on 020 7382 4650
or via e-mail:
[email protected]
CO M M I T T E E S
c a l e n da r
f o r t h e M a s t e r’ s y e a r 2 0 0 7/ 2 0 0 8
2007
E S TAT E S C O M M I T T E E
The Third Warden
Mr. G.H.J. Nicholson
Mr. D.R. Curtis
Mr. M. Biscoe
Thursday, 6th September
Master, Wardens’ & Ladies’ Luncheon
Mr. N.R. Pullman
Mr. M.P.E. Pellereau
Mr. J.M. Brearley
Monday, 1st October
Election of Lord Mayor
Thursday, 18th October
First Livery & Ladies Dinner
FINANCE COMMITTEE
The Fourth Warden
Mr. C.G. Daniels
Mr. J.G. Curtis
Mr. G.L. Dove
Mr. A.C.B. Lister
Mr. R. Fildes
Mr. S.W. Polito
Mr. C.P. Barrow
Thursday, 15th November
First Livery Dinner (Education)
Thursday, 13th December
Court & Ladies Dinner
POLICY COMMITTEE
Mr. C.G. Daniels
Mr. J.G. Curtis
Mr. J.G. Newton
Mr. R. Fildes
Mr. C.P. Barrow
Mr. I.A. Russell
Mr. A.C.B. Lister (co-opted)
Thursday, 17th January
Nissen Dinner
CHARITIES GRANTS COMMITTEE
The Third Warden
Mr. D.B. Daniels
Mr. R.W. Peart
Judge A.C.L. Thornton
Thursday, 21st February
Second Livery Dinner (Services)
Mr. J. Blott
Mr. C.C. Barrow
Mr. M.P.E. Pellereau
Thursday, 28th February
Charities Reception
WINE COMMITTEE
The Fourth Warden
Mr. D.B. Daniels
Mr. G.L. Dove
Mr. A.C.B. Lister
Mr. J.G. Newton
Mr. C.P. Barrow
Mr. A.A. Barrow
Mr. R.S. Whitmore (co-opted)
Mr. M. Biscoe (co-opted)
Thursday, 27th March
Third Livery Dinner (Lord Mayor)
Wednesday, 30th April
Golf Supper
Mr. R. Fildes
Mr. C.P. Barrow
The Master, Second Warden and Immediate Pastmaster are ex-officio members
of all committees except the Livery Committee.
Thursday, 8th May
Fourth Livery Dinner (Industry)
Thursday, 5th June
Second Livery & Ladies Dinner
YOUNG LIVERY COMMITTEE
Mr.C.J.V. Williams (Chairman)
Mr. W.R.J. Cock
Mr. N.O. Preston
Mr. M.T. Berman
Mr. A.B. Newton
Mr. R.J. Pound
Friday, 7th March
United Guilds Service
Thursday, 17th April
Pastmasters’, Ladies’ & Widows’ Luncheon
PRIVILEGES COMMITTEE
Mr. J.G. Curtis
Mr. C.G. Daniels
2008
Mr. G.P. Jones
Mr. E.M. Kershaw
Mr. D.W. Noel
Mr. M.E. Russell
Mrs. E.J.Womersley
Wednesday, 11th June
Election Day Service
Thursday, 3rd July
Masters, Prime Wardens & Clerks’ Dinner
L E AT H E R S E L L E R S ’ R E V I E W 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7
27
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