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This carved and gilded crest once adorned the stern of the Merchant Taylors’ barge, which was used in water processions. In 1799, the Company commissioned London shipwright, Richard Roberts, to build them a new processional barge. The Company hired barges for the annual Lord Mayor’s Show and other civic water processions from 1406. They bought their first barge built in 1640, and four others between that and their last one of 1800. The 1800 barge completed by Richard Roberts is depicted in the staircase mural.
This sternboard was carved by Messrs Batten and Glover of Horseferry, Rotherhithe, and painted and gilded by Messrs Fairchild and Sarney of 202 Bishopsgate Without. The carving depicts a central crest of the Company arms, with the pavilion and two mantles in the centre, and a lion above. At the top of the crest is the Company emblem of the Lamb of God in a sunbeam. The crest is flanked by two camels, and beneath the shield is the Company motto- ‘Concordia Parve Res Crescunt’ (In Harmony Small Things Grow).
On the reverse side, is a carved sunbeam, with a woman’s head in the centre. When the Company barge sailed down the Thames, accompanying the Lord Mayor to be sworn in at Westminster, this sternboard would have clearly identified the Merchant Taylors Company and their prominent place in these civic processions.
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In 1846, the barge was sold to Messrs Wyld and Noulton for £63, including everything “save and except all the Armorial Bearings and Inscriptions appertaining to or connected with the said Company.” The sternboard is the only one of these armorial bearings that the Company seems to have maintained, and it has been on display in the Hall ever since.
Wyld and Noulton sold the barge to Oxford University Boat Club for £125, and it was used as their barge for a number of years. In 1854 it was passed onto the University College Boat Club, who used it until 1878. Nothing further is known of the fate of the last Merchant Taylors’ Company barge from that point onwards.