Master Cooper Private Dinner Invitation
24th October 2023Cooper’s Hall
One of the most exciting privileges of being a livery master is meeting fellow masters, who in turn open up a myriad of new industries, businesses, hobbies and personalities that are intriguing, interesting and worthy of investigation. By delving deeper I have discovered that there is more to the six degrees of separation than is exhibited in science fi movies. My non livery friends, on more than one occasion, know, are friends with, have taken courses with, or have worked with fellow livery masters. This enriches and deepens our relationships.
Covid scuppered face to face meetings of Wardens; so, there was a lot to learn once the term began! I met Master Cooper, John Fahy at an event promoting a very worthy military charity, we bonded not over Russian or French — or indeed our shared study of politics — ;but, over consorts: our brilliant professional daughters who are consorts. While in Seoul for business, I received a wonderful invitation to attend a Coopers Court Meeting- and to deliver the toast.
Six degrees of separation also plays a role in the varied activities and professions of each livery company. Over time you discover that many of the company’s themselves overlap in the same six degrees of separation. In the case of the Coopers and our Company, the Coopers made the hogsheads used to store and ship leaf tobacco for over a century. It was an honour to have an opportunity to share our common history with the Coopers and their guests at their exquisite hall, the smallest one in the City. It is an extraordinary townhouse, which exudes the warmth and welcome that is complemented by their own members’ gracious hospitality. The evening was truly one to remember.
Below are my remarks:
Master, Wardens, Fellow Guests,
I am not a member of the Science Fiction fandom and I was sceptical of the concept of six degrees of separation: all people are 6 or fewer social connections away from one another. It always seemed like a plot twist for science fiction movies or ancestry.com. However, my opinion changed in Rio de Janeiro. You see I hail from the State of North Carolina and before attending UNC Chapel Hill, I went to a very small Southern girls school called St Mary’s. In the US, it is customary to wear a class ring from your high school or college. I used to explain the black onyx ring on my finger by saying ‘anywhere in the world anyone who sees this ring will know I went to St Mary’s.’ In reality, that means anyone residing in certain areas within North Carolina, South Carolina or Virginia!! At least that was what I thought until I was standing at baggage claim at the International Airport in Rio and was approached by someone who asked: Did you go to St Mary’s? There might be more to the Six degrees of separation theory than I thought!! While I may remain slightly sceptical of a personal relationship in six moves or less, there is no denying ideological connections! It is a small world after all.
Fast forward to June 2023 when I became the Master of the Worshipful Company of Tobacco Pipe Makers and Tobacco Blenders. COVID scuppered many of the customary meetings between future Masters and being a working Master who was trying to get ahead before I quickly fell behind in my professional obligations meant that I went blindly into the livery world with a polished badge and a dogeared copy of the book of Masters and Consorts.
However, it wasn’t long before the six degrees of separation took hold, and I discovered a mutual friend here and a mutual interest there. The livery movement is an unusual blend of the groups from high school and the familiarity of a family reunion. You never have to worry if you forget a name, mention Master and all but the Basketmaker’s, Blacksmith’s, Goldsmith’s, Sadler’s, Shipwright’s, or Weaver’s will respond!
So having met Master Cooper at an event promoting a very worthy military charity, we bonded not over Russian or French — or indeed our shared study of politics — ;but, over consorts: our brilliant professional daughters who are our consorts- definitely not Mistresses! During a recent business trip to Seoul, my clerk informed me that I had been invited to give the toast from the esteemed guests, should I in true Mission Impossible style be up to the challenge. I asked my clerk to respond to the Cooper’s Learned Clerk that I would be honoured. In my mind’s eye, I pictured my clerk with her head in her hands.
However, she did not know about the six degrees of separation nor hogsheads!!! For those of you who may find my accent slightly challenging, I am referencing hogsheads and not hogsback, the brewery in Surrey!!! I see the whisky drinkers amongst you smiling because of course a hogshead cask is the second most commonly used cask for scotch maturation. However, technically a hogshead is a unit of measurement equal to 54 to 130 gallons of a barrel, made by the Coopers of course and used to hold the aforementioned liquor or beer, as well as flour, sugar, molasses, and other products- specifically in my world: tobacco! The final weight when full of tobacco is 1000 pounds. Perhaps hogsheads of tobacco should be the new standard for the Coopers annual cask race in Guildhall!
Arthur, Edmund Morgan in his book about the Colonial United States explained that tobacco held such importance that property was sometimes sold and taxes taken based on the hogshead of tobacco. The Coopers, therefore, had to follow strict instructions from colonial governments to avoid punishment for making hogsheads too big. The colony of Virginia’s 1752 Acts of Assembly state that “Coopers shall be placed under oath not to make tobacco hogsheads larger than permitted by law, and to mark the true weight of every hogsheads made. Generally, Hogsheads stood out as easy to regulate, leaving the Coopers as masters of construction but also of trade.
In the United Kingdom, the livery movement safeguards many trades and traditions. In the United States, it is individuals who fiercely hold tight to their conventions. Certainly deserving of an honorary membership in the Cooper’s is Francis M. Gasperich. In 1977 the Washington Post wrote an article about Francis M. Gasperich, 48, and his 90-year-old father, Francis G., who built 10 hogsheads, each of which measured approximately five feet by three feet and packed into them the harvest from their five acres of tobacco. An obscure Maryland law requires that all tobacco sold in hogsheads must go through an elaborate leaf inspection ritual, which is why five bewildered state employees gathered at a Tobacco Authority warehouse, believed to be the last hogshead market in the country - and now storing other property, such as voting machines and discarded official records to literally inspect the leaf. In yet another illustration of six degrees of separation, Cooper’s Learned Clerk, Stephen Borthwick viewed hogsheads during a visit to Williamsburg, Virginia, an area steeped in history where the crop was so important it even became currency for fines for breaking laws.
I noticed with interest that COMMANDER LAURA HARRISON Volunteer Reserve joined the Maritime Trade Operations branch after passing out of HMS Raleigh. Sir Walter Raleigh of course has historically been credited with bringing tobacco to England from Virginia in 1573. One legend tells of how Sir Walter’s valet, seeing him smoking a pipe for the first time, threw water over him, fearing him to be on fire. The pipe in question would be a clay pipe, which is in fact the basis of my company: The Worshipful Company of Tobacco Pipe Makers, which was founded in 1619. We expanded to include the Tobacco Blenders and wider industry in 1954. Given that modern day pipes use a special three in one tool resembling cutlery, I would not be at all surprised if Master Michael Pocock’s ancestors and Members of the Cutler’s Company had manufactured these handy tools.
Pipes have historically been smoked at events like this amazing Court Dinner. I refer to the Roman definition of a barrel, which is both a careful measure of volume that was standardized and something indicating an unlimited quantity, as I thank Master Cooper for affording me this opportunity to share our six degrees of separation and enjoy a barrel of your hospitality! On behalf of the guests, I would like to extend our appreciation to the Coopers and their catering team for providing a feast worthy of the traditional pipe ceremony!
Would my fellow guests be upstanding as I offer this toast “To the Worshipful Company of Coopers, Root & Branch, may it continue and flourish forever”