The Worshipful
Company of Plumbers

Illustrations taken from a sanitary ware catalogue at Hughenden Manor, the home of Benjamin Disraeli.

The Plumbers support the charities chosen by this year's Lord Mayor Alderman Fiona Woolf CBE - Beating Bowel Cancer, Princess Alice Hospice, Raleigh International and Working Chance. Liverymen and their families can meet the Lord Mayor on 27th July at the Weald and Downland Museum Singleton

The Plumbers drink tap water. Do you? Tap water should be drunk cold - like white wine. Putting a jug of tap water in the fridge for a few hours before drinking makes all the difference. Every year 11th March is World Plumbing Day. Watch out for details.

Plumbing can be experienced at Blists Hill, Telford, Shropshire in a Victorian Town where you can meet the Victorians in their shops, cottages and workplaces and at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum Singleton where you can discover the history and craft of the plumbing and lead working trade.

The Company supports the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering that aims to protect public health and to improve standards of plumbing.

160 years ago in 1854, London was in the grips of cholera outbreak. John Snow, a physician, identified a water pump in Broad Street Soho as the source of the disease in that locality. Removal of the pump handle brought the outbreak under control. Plumbing in practice!

The Company and the plumbing industry were represented at the National Workman�s Exhibition, which was held at the Agricultural Halls, London in 1893. The Company issued large impressive Gold, Silver and Bronze medals, which were engraved by the celebrated Allan Wyon FSA (1843�1907.

There is no craft training provision in the conservation of of our highly prised decorative leadwork. The Plumbers' Company is spearheading an initiative for the conservation of historic leadwork.

Our Royal Charter was granted in 1611 in Latin as shown. In English it begins, "James by the Grace of God of England Scotland France and Ireland King Defender of Faith. To all to whom our present Letters shall come Greeting." To read the full Charter and Ordinances go to About Us:Our History 1611

On 24 November 1588, The Principal Herald and King of Arms presented the Company with their Grant of Arms. This shield forms part of the Arms and depicts tools used by plumbers, who primarily worked on lead roofing, at that time. Further details under AboutUs:Our history

235 photographs taken at the Annual Banquet are now available on Select Online Gallery at the bottom, then Livery Companies and Finally Plumbers Banquet.