1670s

1670 – Guild of Fannmakers petition to Parliament

1690s

1697 – Date on Company Mace

1700s

1709 – Charter granted on 19th April by Queen Anne

1710s

1710 – Company’s Hall in Red Cross Street

1711 – Drawing up of (failed) By-laws

1720s

1726 – Silver fan added to the Company Mace

1740s

1741 – By-laws revised

1747 – First Extant Records

1750s

1759 – Master Richard Ringwood added Company Arms to the Mace

1770s

1775 – Earliest surviving Minute Book

1800s

1809 – Company granted livery of 60 on 20th June by the Court of Aldermen

1840s

1846 – Company entertained the Lord Mayor for the first time

1870s

1870 – The first competitive exhibition of fans, under Queen Victoria’s patronage at South Kensington Museum. Also a period of low interest in the Company due to declining trade caused by foreign competition

1877 – Rebirth of the Company under Master Sir Homewood Crawford Banner of Company Arms presented

1878 – Master’s Badge purchased by the Court Company Seal presented Second competitive exhibition of fans at the Drapers’ Hall

1879 – Permission granted by the Court of Aldermen to increase the Livery Company from 60 to 100

1880s

1888 – Sir James Whitehead became the first Fan Maker to become Lord Mayor

1890s

1897 – Company presented a fan to Queen Victoria on 18th June, marking her Diamond Jubilee, and inaugurated the ‘Royal Autograph Fan’.

1899 – Sir Alfred Newton becomes the second Fan Maker to be elected Lord Mayor

1900s

1902 – Presentation of fan to Queen Alexandra on 24th June on her Coronation

1904 – Sir John Pound becomes third Fan Maker to be elected Lord Mayor

1907 – Sir John Bell becomes fourth Fan Maker to become Lord Mayor

1910s

1910 – Company presents fan to Queen Mary on her Coronation

1915 – Wardens’ Badges of Office presented to the Company

1917 – Cook Fund established to benefit Liverymen of the Fan Makers in need

1918 – Freedom of the Company presented to The Rt Hon Lord Morris for services to the British Empire

1920s

1926 – Honorary Freedom of the Company presented to HRH The Princess Royal, Princess Mary

1930s

1934 – Sir Stephen Killik elected fifth Lord Mayor Inauguration of the Latchford Prize Competition

1937 – Presentation of ostrich feather fan to HM Queen Elizabeth on her Coronation

1939 – Air conditioning recognised by the company as a modern form of the craft of fan making

1940s

1944 – St Dionis Hall, Lime Street, first used as the Company Hall

1945 – Sir Charles Davis elected as the Company’s sixth Lord Mayor

1946 – First presentation of a fan to the Lord Mayor’s Lady

1948 – Honorary Freedom of the Company presented to HRH Princess Alice, The Duchess of Gloucester. First modern Fan Maker elected Master

1950s

1951 – The Poor Fund was instituted by Trust Deed for the relief of poverty, to supplement the Cook Fund, to advance education and religion, and for general charitable benefit

1952 – Church Hall of St Botolph Without, Bishopsgate, restored and opened on 23rd October by HRH The Duchess of Gloucester as the official Company headquarters

1953 – Fan presented to HM Queen Elizabeth II on her Coronation. Geoffrey Woods initiated prizes at Cranfield Institute

1956 – HRH The Duchess of Gloucester became the first member of the Royal Family to dine with the Company at Skinners’ Hall, and presented five fans to the Company

1959 – Company celebrated its 250th Anniversary of Charter at the Fishmongers’ Hall and the Mansion House attended by TRH The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester

1960s

1960 – Gowns for the Master and Wardens presented to the Company

1963 – Burglary at the Hall resulted in the loss of Princess Alice’s fans (inherited from Princess Louise)

1966 – Increase in the Livery from 200 to 250 granted

1968 – Ladies permitted to attend the Annual Livery Dinner, at the Mansion House, for the first time. Past Master Hector Young initiated the Hector Young Fund

1970s

1972 – HRH The Prince and Princess Richard of Gloucester attend the Annual Livery Banquet at the Mansion House. Fan presented to the Princess to commemorate her marriage

1973 – Fan Makers’ Charitable Trust Fund established, amalgamating the Cook Fund, the Poor Fund and the Hector Young Fund

1974 – HRH The Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, presents 30 fans to the Company collection

1975 – HRH The Duchess of Gloucester (formerly Princess Richard of Gloucester) received the Honorary Freedom of the Company on 10th April. The Fan Circle International inaugurated at the Fan Makers’ Hall

1980s

1985 – HRH The Princess of Wales attends the Annual Livery Dinner at the Mansion House

1988 – 217 (London) Field Squadron Royal Engineers adopted by the Company. The first traditional fan maker for at least 60 years is admitted to the Freedom and the Livery

1990s

1991 – Letters Patent issued for the Company’s Coat of Arms

1992 – Company moved to Skinners’ Hall in Dowgate Hill

1993 – Elizabeth Lansbury Nursery School adopted by the Company

1994 – HMS Westminster adopted by the Company

1996 – No. II Squadron (AC) RAF adopted by the Company

2000s

2000 – Millennium Exhibition

2005 – HRH The Duchess of Gloucester is installed as the first Lady Liveryman in modern times

2009 – The Company celebrated the 300th anniversary of the granting of its Royal Charter