Minute book of the hammermen of St Andrews

Details

ID

msDA890.S1H2

Title

Minute book of the hammermen of St Andrews

Description

Minute book of the incorporated trades of the Hammermen of St Andrews, Fife, 1553-1792.
Copy of the start of John chapter 1, in Latin, followed by the oath to be taken on admission to the guild, and the acts and ordinances of the trade, in Scots. Includes election of office bearers, admission of members and apprentices, election of magistrates and councillors of St Andrews town council, collecting arrears, lists of council members, leases of property, rents and other income. They later became known as the Smiths trade.
Pasted to upper board are cuttings of letters of D Semple and D Hay Fleming to the St Andrews Citizen concerning the volume.
Loose within the volume are three letters concerning transfer of volume to the University of St Andrews Library, 1878:
Autograph letter, signed, David Semple of Paisley to D E Smith requesting the dispatch of the volume to the University of St Andrews.
Signed David Semple.
Paisley, 22 November 1878. (2pp)
Autograph letter signed, David Semple to John Tulloch, Principal of St Mary's College, University of St Andrews, offering the volume to the university.
Signed David Semple.
Paisley, nd. (4pp)
Autograph letter signed, David Semple to Robert Walker, Librarian to the University of St Andrews, advising him of the dispatch of the volume.
Signed David Semple
Paisley, 27 November 1878. (1p)
Illustration: line drawing of the Crucifixion and of a memento mori [f.1v]
Index of names available in Reading Room

Collection

Individual Manuscripts and Small Collections

Parent record

Individual Manuscripts - Library of Congress Parent record level Collection

Hierarchy

View hierarchy

Created by

• St Andrews Guild of Hammermen

Date

1553 - 1792

Admin history

Hammermen were any craftsmen working with metal, including silversmiths, goldsmiths, armourers, blacksmiths, wheel-wrights, cutlers and pewterers, saddlers and lorimers (who made metal horse-trappings). In St Andrews the Hammermen were the most prestigious and largest of the craft organisations, with their own written constitution, including membership rules and an admission oath. The large number of religious institutions in the town kept them in business.

Archival history

Found by John Bowes, builder, of Paisley.

Arrangement

Single item

Physical description

Binding: decorated calf, embossed "Hammerm. Trad's Book". ff.1-3, 144 vellum: 20x30cm approx. Other folios - paper: 20.1x30cm. First three folios completely detached from binding.

Extent

• 1 volume, 183ff. Three letters loose (each 1 sheet folded).

Department

Special Collections - Archive Collections

Record level

Item

Credit line

Courtesy of the University of St Andrews Libraries and Museums, ID: msDA890.S1H2