| Description | The majority of the foundation documents of the Company's early charities are contained within the Book of Deeds and Wills [CL/A/4/4], with any surviving original documents relating to estates being held within the records of the relevant estate.
From the early nineteenth century, even before the reforms of Thomas Massa Alsager, there seem to have been attempts to produce a more coherent system and deeds were copied for reference (see the notes and copy documents within the Clerk's records, CL/F/1/3). This process was continued by Alsager, with additional impetus coming from the work of the Royal Commission on Livery Companies.
After the destruction of the Hall and the current filing system in 1941, an attempt was made to reconstruct the Trust files and new files were opened for each Trust. These included copies of Trust deeds and other constitutional documents, correspondence with the Charity Commission, especially regarding registration of the Trusts after the Charity Act of 1960, Trust Accounts and correspondence.
The Trusts were further rationalised from the early 1970s. After the establishment of The Clothworkers' Foundation (whose records are catalogued separately) in 1977, the individual Trusts were gradually taken over by the Foundation and the majority were combined to form larger Trusts with more coherent funding policies. The process of amalgamation is documented in the files and summarised in The Clothworkers' Charity Manual [1991] 'the 'Grey Book'). When a Trust ceased to operate as a separate entity, its file was closed and moved to the Paper Store. These files were weeded and transferred to the Archive in 2007. |