After the dissolution of the Hospital of St Thomas of Acre in 1538, the hospital's land was bought by the Mercers' Company, and the school was founded in 1542 under letters patent of King Henry VIII dated 18 April 1542.
At different times the school had several different homes in the City of London: Cheapside, Old Jewry, and College Hill (Dowgate); in 1894 it moved to Barnard's Inn, a site on the south side of Holborn.
[3] The passageway leading to the Mercers' School's porter's lodge and playground with Queen Anne headstone (which traditionally new boys were forced to kiss), the Headmaster's rooms and dining hall, with early flags and inscribed panel walls giving the names and dates of headmasters over the centuries, still exist at the Barnard's Inn buildings in Chancery Lane.
The Guild of Mercers' Scholars was established c. 1947 as the "Civic Guild of Old Mercers", with the aim of encouraging former students to become Freemen of the City of London and join livery companies pertaining to their trades or professions.
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