Abstract
A 700th anniversary for any institution is distinctly uncommon. The Worshipful Company of Barbers of London celebrates this year the 700th anniversary of the election (in 1308) of Richard le Barber, its first-known master. Although having lost close links with the barbering profession, the company continues to thrive as a livery company active in educational and health-related charitable work.
The Barbers’ Company was well established by the middle of the 14th century as one of the larger craft guilds in London and was responsible for regulating the trade among its members. Many barbers at that time also practised blood letting, minor surgery and dentistry as well as shaving and haircutting even though there was in existence a much smaller and exclusive Guild of Surgeons. However, there was a considerable overlap between barbery and surgery as there were very few major operations, such as amputation and lithotomy, and few special skills were required. Unsurprisingly, there developed a rivalry between the two Guilds, each competing for members and political power within the City. In 1540 this rivalry was resolved by Henry VIII who formally united the two Guilds to establish the Company of Barber-Surgeons, a union commemorated by the great painting on oak panels by Holbein the Younger that hangs in Barber-Surgeons’ Hall (Figure 1), the cartoon of which is in the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Barber Surgeon's [sic] Hall, the company admitting a new member, engraved by H Melville from an image by TH Ellis, from London Interiors, January 1841, 16th part. The Holbein picture is depicted on the wall of this room in the old Barber-Surgeon's Hall
For more than 200 years the Barber-Surgeons’ Company, highly ranked as number 17 in the order of precedence in the City, was responsible for the professional regulation of both the surgical and the barbering fraternities. Every London surgeon of standing during this period was a member of the united company, several of whom have featured in the Journal of Medical Biography. However, by the 18th century the surgical members had become restless, believing themselves to be a cut above their barber colleagues. After acrimonious dispute, the surgeons broke away in 1745 to form their own Company of Surgeons based in Old Bailey. This enterprise was relatively short-lived. In 1800 the Surgeons’ Company transformed itself by Royal Charter into The Royal College of Surgeons in London sited in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Some years later, in 1843, the College embraced a national role and became The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Meanwhile the Barbers ploughed their own furrow. As the wounded party in the disputed separation, they retained all the accumulated possessions of the united company; the library, the plate, the paintings, the furniture and the Hall, the name of which was not changed. This stands today on the site it has occupied since the 15th century, just off London Wall, albeit rebuilt in the 1960s after being destroyed by enemy bombing in 1940.
The link with the medical profession, notably with surgeons, was re-established in the 20th century and now the company has a good number of surgeon members, although the majority of the livery remains non-medical. Maybe, in time to come, some of the medically qualified livery of the more recent past will feature in this journal – as have their ancestors.