Stationers’ Hall: One Of The City’s Oldest Livery Halls

I always love visiting the livery halls of the City of London. They are buildings that are generally not open to the public, but are usually full of interesting stories, artefacts and often are central to key elements of London and the country’s history. Going through their doors often feels like delving into a hidden treasure trove.

I was delighted therefore recently to be invited to look round Stationers’ Hall, home to the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers. It can be found just off Ave Maria Lane or Ludgate Hill, very close to St Paul’s Cathedral.

The City of London has 113 livery companies. Many have their origins in the medieval period, when they acted as trading guilds for merchants and tradesmen: fishmongers, goldsmiths, drapers etc. Today they are largely charitable, social and educational institutions that still play a crucial role in the election of Lord/Lady Mayors in the City. 

I have written previously here about Ironmongers’ Hall, Coopers’ Hall, Brewers’ Hall and Plaisterers’ Hall. I have also visited Goldsmiths’ Hall.

The Origins of the Stationers’ Company

The Stationers’ Company was officially formed in 1403 as a guild for those in the book trade. This included bookbinders, booksellers and writers.

As is often the case in London’s history the etymology is interesting. Often in the medieval period, craftsmen were itinerant, moving around wherever their trade took them. Manuscript writers and illuminators however decided to stay in one place, in the area just North of St Paul’s Cathedral. They set up stalls or ‘stations’, i.e. were stationary, and therefore became known as ‘stationers’. Stationery, the items they sold, also got their name from this origin. 

A Charter From ‘Bloody Mary’

The Stationers received their Royal Charter in 1557, the only Royal Charter given out by Queen Mary I, sometimes known as ‘Bloody Mary’. 

As part of their charter, they were given the powers to search for, seize and destroy pirated or censored works. Mary I briefly returned England to being a Catholic country, after the switch to Protestantism under Henry VIII and Edward VI. They therefore became in charge of destroying a lot of Protestant literature and manuscripts. 

At the current Stationers’ Hall site, the documents would be burnt behind the hall in their courtyard.

The courtyard has a wonderful old London plane tree planted in 1837 for Queen Victoria’s coronation. The story goes that the potash created from the burning of books and papers is why the tree has always grown healthily and happily. 

The Birth Of Copyright

From 1562, members would have to obtain a licence to print a work and this would then be entered into the Company’s register. Disputes over the rights to print something were always then referred back to the register at Stationers’ Hall. They therefore started the first system of modern copyright in the world. 

In 1710, the Statute of Anne changed the legal landscape. Considered the first official copyright law in the world, it instead recognised authors’ rights for the first time rather than the printer. It granted a fixed term of 14 years for new books, with an option to renew for another 14 years.

Compulsory registration with the Stationers finally terminated in 1923. In 1937, a royal charter amalgamated the Stationers’ Company and the Newspaper Makers’ Company. 

A Series Of Halls

In 1554 the company purchased a property called Peter’s College near St Paul’s Deanery and then in 1606 acquired Abergavenny House, the site on which the present hall stands. 

52 livery halls were lost in the Great Fire of London in September 1666. In fact the Stationers were partly to blame for St Paul’s Cathedral going up in flames so spectacularly. As I mentioned, they were generally based in the area just North of the Cathedral and as the flames approached many rushed to store their papers and manuscripts in the crypt. Most believed the cathedral would never burn down, as it was made in large part out of stone. This all just added to the kindling when the fire finally made it to Ludgate Hill on the 4th September 1666. 

The quick-thinking Clerk at the time, George Tokefield, managed to save most of the records and the Company’s register from the flames, by moving them to his own house in Clerkenwell. Thanks to him, the Stationers have an archive, including copyright registers, going back to 1557. 

After the Fire, in 1670, construction began on a new hall, with the building completed in 1673. The Stationers boast the second oldest livery hall in the City. The Apothecaries pip them to the post, having finished their hall in 1672.

Later Modifications

The hall was given its current neo-classical frontage in 1800, designed by Robert Mylne, the Surveyor to the Company. The building has then been added to and remodelled in sections over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. 

The hall was badly damaged by enemy action in 1940. The ceiling of the Main Hall was re-erected to the same design of 1800 after the war and the Court Room was restored. 

In 2020, they were given permission to add modern day conference facilities, air-cooling and step free access to its historic rooms

Today the building is Grade I listed, giving it the maximum level of protection from any changes to the historic fabric. The hall is used today for the company’s own lunches, dinners, and charitable events. It is also an events venue for corporate functions, weddings and conferences.

Details To Look Out For

Stained Glass

There are lots of stained glass windows throughout the building dating from the Victorian period up to the modern day. The most impressive is the Caxton Window in the Main Hall, dating from around 1885. It depicts William Caxton, the man who introduced the printing press to England in 1476, presenting his printing to King Edward IV. You can see Caxton’s printing press in the background.

Other stained glass windows in the hall, which remarkably survived the Blitz bomb damage, include depictions of other figures important to the history of printing, manuscripts or writing.

Tables and Screen

The hall and adjoining Stock Room contain a lot of original 17th century wood carvings and details. The impressive oak screen is attributed to joiner Henry Foord. It survived the 1940 bomb damage but had to be restored, in part, after a fire in 2010.

There are a number of original 17th century wooden tables and benches, supplied in 1674 by a ‘Mr Coffen’.

Paintings

As is always the case with livery halls, the walls are covered in paintings of masters, royals and honorary members. 

Below is a portrait of ex-Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, painted in 1985 by Gandee Vasan. His roots are in his family publishing business, which he chaired for ten years until 1974 after stepping down as Prime Minister.

Below is a portrait of Luke Hansard (1780-1859), by Samuel Lane. Hansard was the printer for the Journals of the House of Commons from 1774 until his death in 1828.

The most important painting in their collection is below. It is Alfred the Great Dividing His Last Loaf with the Pilgrim by the famous painter Benjamin West, 1779. The space it is in today was created specially for the painting.

Registers On Display

They had a couple of interesting registers on display in the Stock Room. This one below, for example, is the record of the printing of ‘The Interesting Narrative Of The Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vass, The African’., published 1789.

It recounts his life and being sold into slavery aged 11. He was eventually able to purchase his own freedom and moved to London. His books helped exposed the horrors of the slave trade, sold thousands of copies and were a key part of the Abolitionist Movement.

The Garden

I mentioned the garden previously, with its lovely plane tree. In the garden you will also find the Tokefield Centre, the Company’s old warehouse building constructed in the late 17th century, making it probably the oldest warehouse in the City of London. It is now home to their archive.

There is also a door that leads directly into their neighbouring church, St Martin within Ludgate. It is a church I have written about before, one of the best preserved Wren post-Great Fire churches.

Stationers’ Hall is not open to the public on a daily basis. They do, however, run occasional tours, which you can find out more about here.

Thank you very much for reading, you can find more hidden historic treasures of London below…