The Master's Gift 2024

As he comes to the end of his term of office, the Master, James Staughton of St Austell Brewery in Cornwall, has presented the Company with beautifully designed badges of office for the Wardens and Clerk.

In the early days of the City livery companies, the mark of distinction for senior members of a guild was a gown (the “Livery”) and the Master and Wardens were often distinguished by gowns enhanced with fur trim. For some time it was also tradition to adorn the Master and Wardens with ‘crowns’ or garlands when they were elected, and the Brewers’ Company is one of the few City livery companies that still has its Wardens’ crowns which date back to 1628, although they are no longer used. Latterly, it became commonplace for senior members of the Livery to wear medals or badges to mark their office and, while many companies do have badges for their Wardens and Clerk, the Brewers’ Company has for many years only distinguished the Master and Past Masters in this way.

The new badges which the Master has generously gifted to the Company are made from Cornish tin in homage to the proud Cornish heritage of the Master and his brewery. The tin was originally smelted in Chyandour, Penzance and was being transported as cargo on the SS Liverpool when the ship sank off the Anglesey coast in 1863. Recovered, cleaned and re-melted 150 years later, this tin has been fashioned into designs which echo the existing Past Masters’ badges, featuring the Company’s coat of arms with additional enamelling. The Wardens’ badges will be worn on red ribbons and the Clerk’s on a gold ribbon, reflecting the heraldic colours of the coat of arms, while the Master’s and Past Masters’ badges are worn on blue ribbons. The badges will be worn at Company events and on any formal occasion at which the Wardens or Clerk represent the Company externally.

The Brewers’ Company is very grateful to the Master for this gift, which will not only serve as a fitting memento of his term of office, but also builds on a long-standing Livery tradition within the Company, in celebration of our history and origins.