Our Story
Incorporated in 1709 during the reign of Queen Anne but very active as the Guild of Fan Makers from at least the reign of Charles II, today’s Fan Makers’ Company is the youngest of the ‘old’ City Livery Companies being the last to receive a Royal Charter for nearly 300 years and becoming the 76th Livery Company in order of precedence. Those that have followed have usually been incorporated by the City alone.
The Company, like other Livery Companies, is one of those sturdy oaks rooted in the past but maintaining its strength through new ideas and adaptation, in our case to the exciting of the aerospace age and renewing it’s freshness year by year.
Presentation of a bespoke ladies’ fan to HRH The Duchess of Sussex
In keeping with tradition since the time of HM Queen Victoria, on particular occasions the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers present a unique fan to Members of The Royal Family. Consequently, following her marriage to HRH The Duke of Sussex last year, the Master (Dr...
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A Master’s year: part five of five ‘reflection’
It is often said that the Mansion House Banquet in December is the culmination of the Master Fan Makers’ year. In a sense, it is. It takes place almost at the end of the calendar year, ten months into the Company’s annual cycle, and is undoubtedly a truly wonderful...
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A Master’s year: part four
After the summer break, business as usual commenced in September with a General Purposes and Finance Committee meeting. Other work that month included the Livery and Recruitment Committees, and the production of a suitably fine fan for potential presentation to a...
read moreRoyal Affiliations
The Fan Makers’ Company is honoured to have HRH The Duchess of Gloucester as our first Lady Liveryman. The Duchess is part of a long line of Royal Ladies associated with the Company. Granted its Royal Charter by Queen Anne in 1709, the Company received great encouragement from Queen Victoria as it struggled to fend off competition from foreign fan imports and further support from her fourth daughter, Princess Louise, herself an accomplished artist. HRH The Princess Royal was admitted as an Honorary Freeman in 1926 and HRH The Princess Alice, then Duchess of Gloucester, in 1948 followed by her daughter-in-law (today’s Duchess of Gloucester) in 1975.
Press release: Fan Makers to support the re-establishment of a fan craft in the United Kingdom
The Worshipful Company of Fan Makers, one of the 110 Livery Companies in the City of London is pleased to announce that it has received a substantial bequest that will be used to help re-establish the craft of fan making within the United Kingdom. In May 2017 the...
read moreThe Banquet at the Mansion House
As usual the Banquet was a glittering and memorable occasion. The attendance was high and the guests distinguished and numerous. There is no more impressive venue than Mansion House and the Company is doubly fortunate to be able to use it and to do so in the festive...
read moreA Master’s year: part three
The third article in this series starts with the Master and Mistress’s attendance at the Ironbridge Gorge Livery Weekend from 8th. to 10th. June, a superb event bringing together all the Livery and Guild Masters, Prime Wardens and their Consorts, and the Lord Mayor...
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