This hammer was presented to the Company on 26th October 1909 by the then 'Deputy Master' Mr CTD Crews. The Master of the Company at this time was Sir George Truscott who was also the Lord Mayor. The Court Minutes of 26/10/09 record the presentation with the following words:
"The Deputy Master Mr C.T.D. Crews presented an Ivory Hammer richly gilt for the use of the Master and on the proposition of the Master seconded by the Senior Warden he was thanked for his further liberality"
The planned design of the Hammer had been discussed at the previous Court Meeting on July 13th 1909, the Minutes record that:
"The Deputy Master expressed his intention of presenting a Master's Hammer to the Company and the design for such Hammer was inspected and much admired".
The Court Minutes quoted above can be seen on pages 113 and 105 respectively of the year 1909 in Minute Book 9 - Click Here
The third edition of the first Company Handbook - edited by Clifford B Edgar, published in 1915, actually contains details of this gift from Crews and offers an illustration of it in its original box. Click on the image left to see a larger picture.
Mr Charles T.D. Crews was a very successful stockbroker, a prominent amateur musician and one of the most generous benefactors of the Company. He was clothed with the Livery in January 1880.
Besides the ceremonial gavel, decorated with the Company’s Arms, he presented the Company with two silver-gilt Loving Cups and gave to St Paul’s Cathedral, in the Company’s name, a stained glass window depicting St Cecilia, and to Westminster Abbey a replica of the bust of Orlando Gibbons in Canterbury Cathedral. The window in the north transept of St Paul’s was destroyed in the blitz on 9 October 1940 - Click Here for more details.
It was also Mr Crews who paid the Fines and Fees when Percy Godfrey, composer of the 1902 Coronation March was made a Liveryman, another generous gesture.
As President of the Livery Club in 1906, it was he who initiated the Company’s first evensong in St Paul’s Cathedral, a tradition that happily continues to this day.
A photograph taken in 1905. L-R are Edward Ernest Cooper (Senior Warden), CTD Crews (The Master), TC Fenwick (Clerk), Sir Homeward Crawford (Junior Warden).
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