ABSTRACT
The London livery companies from the time of Elizabeth onwards supply theorists with examples of a development which was common to the larger industries throughout Western Europe, and which found perhaps an even more complete and logical expression in some continental organizations than in those of England. Three classes within the company: the craftsmen, the merchant employers and the exporters. The records of the clothworkers’ Company, together with numerous references in the State Papers, supply fairly complete illustration of the constitution and working of a typical London company. The capitalists of the company, as represented in the ruling body, showed no desire to encourage larger methods of production. In 1575 the grievance remained, and had become a source of serious difference of feeling in the company. The persistence of the artisan clothworkers with the project seemed at one moment on the point of leading to their secession in a body, and the formation of a separate company.
