ABSTRACT
Though the link with the craft had become tenuous, the Company was still a powerful force within the City. It was during Sir William Ashurst’s mayoral year, 1693–94, that the Bank of England was instituted, and he went on to serve as Director several times in the new century. The Company’s greatest pride was the Hall itself, with the handsome new screen, grand main staircase wainscoted a yard high, and elegant marble fireplaces in the Parlour and King’s Chamber. Comparatively little maintenance was needed through the first half of the eighteenth century. The Court minutes have become almost entirely concerned with the management of the Company’s property and with the welfare of the schools and almshouses. The school in Suffolk Lane continued its steady existence throughout the century with John Criche as headmaster from 1730 to 1760; he had been a boy at the school and had served as usher for nineteen years before taking control.
