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The Worshipful Company of Bowyers
Lt Cdr RNR Sarah Pearce
The Worshipful Company of Bowyers
is one of the older and smaller of the
City of London’s 110 livery companies; ranking 38th in the order of precedence and with a proud history dating back to the 14th century when Longbow making first began in London. We celebrate our place in history, we are very committed to our charitable activities, and we provide a convivial social environment that keeps our members engaged.
The Company is around 150 strong and our members are drawn from a wide variety of backgrounds. With our origins in arms manufacturing, albeit in medieval times, and our motto ‘Crecy, Poitiers, Agincourt’, harking back to the great English victories of the Hundred Years War, it is no surprise that we maintain strong connections with the Armed Forces. The Company remains incredibly proud of its affiliation with the Mercian Regiment, as well as with Royal Navy frigate HMS Northumberland. We also have affiliations with cadet units, 338 West Ham Sqn Air Cadets and Brentwood Sea Cadet Unit.
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has, of course, provided us with some challenges in that the opportunities for members to meet in person have been greatly reduced and, as for so many others, the majority of our lives and business has been conducted over Zoom. However, the Company
survived the Great Plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of London the following year, so we shall weather this one.
Unlike all other Livery Companies, the Master Bowyer holds office for a tenure of two years. Following some agile planning by our former Clerk, Lt Col Tony Marinos, the Bowyers’ Installation was able to take place in July in a socially-distanced and somewhat adapted form. We welcome
Mr David Laxton, who was installed as
the Master Bowyer in our ‘home’ Church of St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate. Nigel Heilpern was installed as Upper Warden and Alderman Sir David Wootton as Renter Warden. Mr Ian Spring, whom we thank
for his leadership and hard work over the last two years, has now taken over as Immediate Past Master.
As many readers will know that the Worshipful Company of Bowyers continues to support the excellent work of the Mercian Regiment Benevolent Fund through its
own Bowyers’ Charitable Trust. Guided by a small committee and overseen by the Master and Trustees, the Trust selects, visits and maintains links with a wide
range of worthy causes where it hopes
that it can make a positive impact. Whilst respecting Government guidelines, we
were very pleased to be able to host The Mercian Regimental Secretary, Brig (Retd) Peter Dennis CBE, and the Regimental
The Bowyers’ Window at our Church, St Botolph- without-Bishopgate, London (Image: Jake Sugden MBA LRPS)
Mr David Laxton, Master Bowyer 2020- 22, at his Installation Service in July 2020 (Image: Jake Sugden MBA LRPS)
Through Life Care Officer, Lt Col (Retd)
Bill Temminck BEM, for a charity supper evening at The Market Porter pub in London in September. As well as maintaining our much-cherished close relationship with the Mercian Regiment, the aim of the evening was to raise funds for the Mercian Regiment Benevolent Fund.
Following an introduction from Court Assistant Mark Elliott, the assembled group of Bowyers settled down to hear an update on the work of the Mercian Regiment Benevolent Charity from Bill Temminck,
and an intriguing and entertaining talk
on his time as a member of the British Commander in Chief’s Mission in East Germany. It was an extraordinary and fascinating talk about Bill’s time playing cat and mouse with Warsaw Pact forces in East Germany and captured the imagination of all present.
2020 has seen a change of Clerk as
well as Master. We would like to thank our outgoing Clerk, Lt Col Tony Marinos, for all his hard work and we have been delighted to welcome him back to the Company as an Honorary Liveryman. We wish him all the very best as he returns to life in uniform, having accepted an FTRS appointment in Warminster. We would also like to welcome our new Clerk, Lt Cdr Sarah Pearce RNR, who joined us in late September. Sarah served as a Warfare Officer in the Royal Navy for 16 years – including in our own affiliated Ship, HMS Northumberland.
The latter part of Sarah’s career saw her deployed to HQ British Forces South Atlantic Islands, within several US Navy Carrier Strike groups on operations in the Middle East and within a Vice Admiral’s Outer Office in the MOD, Whitehall.
On leaving the regular Service, Sarah transferred to the Maritime Reserves. No stranger to Army life, Sarah’s husband (RTR) is currently serving at the Land Warfare Centre.
We look forward to maintaining our strong links with the Regiment, and we wish all Mercians and their families the very best for 2021 wherever they may be serving. We Bowyers are proud of our affiliation with The Mercian Regiment and hope to continue to build on that relationship over the coming year.
You can find out more about the Bowyers by visiting www.bowyers.com
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