Ably led by the Clerk of the Chamberlain’s Court, Murray Craig, like so many of us working from home (although one suspects not many have offices equipped with drinking horns), accompanied by around twenty Clockmakers, Murray recreated the Chamberlain’s Court Room, describing the many treasures that lie therein, before binding the Freemen with their Oath, thus imbuing them with the various privileges of the Freedom, historically the right to drive sheep over the river, a safe passage home from the Watch even when drunken, and a very welcome release from the ever-present fear of being press-ganged into Her Majesty’s Navy. The Freemen virtually signed their documents with impressive flourishes on their screens, thus becoming the Youngest Freemen of the City, at least until the next ceremony later in the afternoon, and joining the likes of JK Rowling, Colonel Tom Moore and Morgan Freeman in the Freedom of the City of London. Murray’s connection with the Clockmakers is of long standing; he remembered admitted the current Master to the Freedom many years ago, and he is a regular guest at WCC events.
Next up was Calum Scobie-Youngs, bound apprentice to Assistant Keith Scobie-Youngs at the Installation Court earlier this year, and now formally Inroled at the Chamberlain’s Court, whither he will return at the end of his four year apprenticeship to take his Freedom of the City, after taking his Freedom of the Clockmakers’ Company by Servitude. With reference to Hogarth’s series of apprentice prints, which adorn the waiting room of the Chamberlain’s Court, Murray called upon Calum to make the choice between the Industrious or the Idle Apprenticeship, (shown below) following in the footsteps of generations of apprentices before him. Calum is the first Apprentice to be Inroled by Zoom.
In spite of the constraints of the technology, it was a happy occasion, and the five new Freemen and new Apprentice were enthusiastically welcomed.
Although this year of Livery Life may not look quite as we had planned, the WCC Cycle continues, and so on the afternoon of the 30th, in the ether, the Master presided over the Election Court, at which Mark Levy, Dr James Nye, Jane Pedler and Keith Scobie-Youngs were elected as Master and Wardens for the ensuing year. They will be formally installed on 26th January. Hot on their heels, Martin Gatto, Duncan Greig, Michael Potts and David Wood-Heath were sworn in as Stewards, joining Dr Jane
Desborough, Tim Ingram Hill, and Sean Moran, who will unusually carry on as Stewards for an additional year, to allow for the better management of social distancing in venues, possible self-isolating, and whatever is thrown
at them next. One of several participants during the day to join us direct from a workshop, Duncan Greig must surely now enjoy the unique status of having had a clock in hand almost to the moment of swearing in; while waiting for the ceremony to begin, the new Stewards were very firmly talkingClock. Next, making Company history as the first to take part in a Virtual Ceremony, five Freemen were admitted to the Company, Michael Bundock, Benoit Colson, David Cooper, Jonathan Hughes, and John Pither, in a multinational ceremony from the UK, US and Paris. They are warmly welcomed. Finally, Michael Craft, Dolly Buggins and John Reardon were elevated to the Livery,
Dolly taking great pride in being the first woman to be virtually admitted to the Livery. Congratulations to them all. The day was not without its challenges, with the sudden disappearance of one Freeman mid ceremony, the Clerk at one stage finding the virtual door of the Court Room barred when she attempted to re-enter, and one Past Master joining the Court Room only as a disembodied voice, but everything was eventually accomplished, and the Company continues to flourish, root and branch.
