the unusual perks of London’s oldest members’ club

This article is part of FT Globetrotter’s guide to London

The south side of Southwark Bridge is a place well known to me because it abuts the FT’s former headquarters. But standing here on a sunny Sunday it all seems rather different. There is a man in front of me in a red cape, and ahead of him are half a dozen sheep that I and a group of fellow freemen of the City of London are going to drive north across the Thames and towards the Square Mile as part of an ancient rite.

The reason I am able to do this is that, 11 years ago, I unexpectedly became a freeman. Out of the blue, a friend who worked as a fundraiser at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama sent me a nomination form, citing my “services to financial journalism”. She even added a cheque for the “fine”, the name given to the application fee.

I submitted the form and was invited to the Corporation of London’s headquarters for a formal interview. I remember being a little nervous as I waited in reception, wondering what I would be asked. I needn’t have been concerned. The first question the clerk asked was: “Would you like your freedom framed or in its pouch?” It was clearly a done deal.

The Freedom of the City of London is one of the oldest-surviving traditions of the capital’s Square Mile, believed to have first been presented in 1237. While no longer carrying many of its previous substantive rights and largely existing as a tradition, the freedom remains a prerequisite for standing for election to the Common Council and Court of Aldermen of the City of London and a key to joining the financial quarter’s various livery companies, often known as worshipful companies, which act as networking groups for different professions.

A few weeks after my initial meeting I was called back for a swearing-in ceremony, at another oak-panelled room in the Corporation’s headquarters, where I pledged allegiance to the Queen, to maintain the franchises and customs of the City and to be of good character in order to receive my sheepskin parchment document.

It was about this time that the Worshipful Company of Woolmen, which represents the wool industry, revived the original tradition of freeman taking sheep across London Bridge, raising money for good causes by getting them to pay to take part. It is now second only to the Lord Mayor’s Parade in terms of annual public gathering in the Square Mile, according to the Woolmen. Its popularity was one reason why it is now on the less-busy Southwark Bridge.

I am surrounded by a menagerie of characters: the actor and freeman Damian Lewis is the celebrity draw. His maternal half-brother William Russell was the lord mayor during Covid-19, following in the footsteps of their grandfather and great-grandfather. Then there is a pageant of City elders dressed in ermine and wool gowns, velvet caps or in some cases feathery tricorne hats, and their chains of office. The Worshipful Company of Woolmen has also lined up a sheep shearer, demonstrating the traditional method of the blades, plus a few women dressed as Bo Peep.

The freemen, a mix of men and women, are doing the sheep driving, leading a group of a dozen sheep from Spitalfields City Farm. Waiting alongside me for a turn on the bridge was a businessman who had just been accepted into the Worshipful Company of Environmental Cleaners, an accountant and a pensioner.

At the beginning of proceedings, the Rev Paul Kennedy, the honorary chaplain of the Woolmen’s Company (and whose church in the City, St Mary Aldermary, has a very good coffee shop), says a prayer over the sheep, that they be “delivered”. I presume his rather grand full-length black cloak is a perk of the Woolmen job.

A man looking a lot like a farmer in flat cap and tweeds (there is a lot of tweed at the Sheep Drive) is guarding the sheep as we approach. I ask him where he has a farm. “Oh, no. I’m a wine merchant, but I know how to do this job too,” he says.

The Freedom of the City of London is not the only medieval city freedom still in existence — York maintains it as a right — but it is probably the most well known. It has also attracted the most stories about what rights it confers. Notable among these is a popular belief that those with freeman status can bare a naked sword in the Square Mile, and, if found drunk on the streets, will be put in a taxi and sent home by the nearest City of London policeman.

Andrew Buckingham is a spokesman for the Corporation of London, the City’s local authority, with a particular focus on the Freedom of the City of London. “Freemen played a key role in the success of the City and with their hard-earned rights came responsibilities, and they often left their money to help the public good,” Buckingham says. “[They] paid for the City, its streets, maintenance, bridges and services and, as a result, they had access to a number of services, such as hospices, charitable assistance and the City Livery, and took part in the ceremonial and political aspects of the City.”

That bit is still partially true in that being a freeman is the entry-level requirement for joining a livery company linked to your chosen profession, though the donations you make now support charitable endeavours, not filling in potholes. And it is not cheap. The Stationers’ Company, which I looked at joining a few years ago because it lists journalism among its represented trades, charges an £840 joining fee to freemen (reduced to £205 if you are under 40 and £105 for those aged 20 to 30) and then a standard annual “Quarterage” charge of £209 (which is also cheaper for the under-40s and over-70s). That will get you invites to events, but the expectation is also that you will help bring in money for the company’s good causes.

The sheep-driving freedom relates to a time when London Bridge was the only Thames river crossing, apart from ferry boat, and a toll was charged to fund it. Freemen who owned livestock could take them over London Bridge for sale and slaughter at Smithfield Market without paying the toll at any time. Today this privilege is bestowed but once a year.

What about bearing a naked sword? Buckingham had some detail and context, related to the practice at the time of people being press-ganged into joining the Royal Navy by people who had no compulsion in using a bit of coercion or alcohol to get their way.

“A freeman would have expected to be able to carry a sidearm to protect themselves in what was a dangerous city, and it is probably true that they were exempt from the press gang,” Buckingham says.

“The trades and skills of London were protected, and valuable artisans could not just be dragged on to boats, because they were needed here in case of invasion. The protection of the ‘drunk and disorderly’ is also likely to [have come from] beadles, and other enforcement professionals are likely to have stepped in.

“We cannot be sure of most of the rights but, as in the example of the ‘drunk and disorderly’ myth, there may be some truth in many of the claims.”

It seems that as most of the advantages of being a freeman have waned, the fame and diversity of those receiving the honour have broadened. The Corporation of London has also seen opportunity of using it as a gong for good service. The day I received my freedom, I was followed by the new ambassador from Poland. More recently, the Corporation has bestowed its freedom on mathematical physicist and Nobel laureate Sir Roger Penrose and Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, who initiated and led the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

There is something quite humbling about being considered worthy enough to stand among people like these as a fellow freeman. And if you can drive a few sheep on the bridge outside your old workplace, then that’s a bonus.

Have you taken part in the City of London freemen’s Sheep Drive? Tell us about it in the comments below. And follow FT Globetrotter on Instagram at @FTGlobetrotter

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