Worshipful Company of Fishmongers

[1] The Company records an unbroken existence for 750 years, forming as City fishmongers began to collaborate for mutual benefit,[2] developing into a guild which managed London's fish trade according to their defined set of rules and regulation.

Although Lord Mayor John Comberton de Northampton (a Draper) persuaded the City Common Council  to declare that the Fishmongers should no longer have the power to monopolise trade in fish, and this was reaffirmed by Parliament, a Royal Charter granted by Richard II in 1399 restored all privileges.

The most famous City fishmonger is Sir William Walworth, who, as Lord Mayor of London in 1381, helped bring the Peasants' Revolt to an end by stabbing the rebel Wat Tyler at Smithfield in the presence of King Richard II.

The prize for the champion oarsman is a fine red coat embellished with a large silver badge on one arm, depicting the White Horse of Hanover with the word 'liberty' underneath.

The Company's Fisheries Charitable Trust maintains its link with its namesake trade, working to "build and safeguard a prosperous and sustainable fishing industry, for the benefit of those engaged in it, the environment and our island nation".

The Fishmongers' next hall was designed by Henry Roberts (although his assistant, later the celebrated Sir Gilbert Scott, made the drawings) and built by William Cubitt & Company,[6] opening in 1827.