The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1920-07-03

Elik ING ltS name lTOu the
French 'Drapperie." meaning
CLOTH work. the Diapers
company, aS early as llSO,
has been associated with the textile
trade of London; and has numbered
many distinguished men among its
members since the proud day. in the
reign of Henry J. when Henry Fttz-
Alvin, member of the company, ee-
came LOndOn'S first lord mayor,
which office he continued to hold for
"a years.
Between 1881 and 1714 no less than
Sa diapers were thus hOnOred, nays the
Christian Science Monitor. Not only
did Fitz-Alwin bring civic dignity TO
the company. hut he left it all his
lands in st. Merry BOthawe.
Cloth was made in England from
very early days, but from Saxon times
onward the chief seat of the indus
try was The Netherlands. whose
weavers obtained the raw wool from
England. Edward III, anxious TO fos-
ter il as a British trade, forbade both
the export of English wool, and the
import of clOtE, and invited balloon
weavers to settle in England. He
gave the first charter TO the Diapers
company in 1864, to enable II TO en-
force the statues relating TO the sale
Of cloths.
Growth Of the Industry.
The industry had so rapidly In
creased by 13S5 that Sir Nicholas
Brembre. mayor II London. issued an
order separating drapery from tailOry
and the weaving business.
Busy times we're the fairs of st
Bartholomew, West Smithfield and
Southwark, where an enormous trade
IN textiles was done: and which
the diapers and the merchant tailor:
attended for their trade search, so a:
to Keep sharp guard over Illicit prac
tices, such as cloth of unlawful width
or short measure.
Edward III is credited with present
Ing the "Drapers' Ell" to the company
and frequent items in their accounts
are disbursements for new yards" o.
companies standards" and also fo
cases in which to keSp them.
By the reign Of Henry vi tn
drapers had become 50 powerful tina
the king granted them their charte
of incorporation in 1888. which, witt
their six other charters, is still pre-
served. II Is very splendid affair
beautifully illuminated with head
niece of gold, aud cOlors of the fines
work. and Is IN a perfect state o
preservation.
A Tilt With Royalty.
ROYAL extOrtions and levies do no
appear to have affected the draper
as much as some Of the other com
panies, but In 1921 we read Of grea
activity being displayed by them, il
conjunction with the "divers auncyan
felishippes" who assembled at "Frer
Austyns" to discuss how they coul
either avoid or lessen the heavy con
tributfon demanded of them by Henri
VIII toward the fitting out of nv
ships for the explorer, Sebastian
Cabot. With great bravery they In
formed the king that he had no lega
right to extort their contributions
and that It was 'a sore adventure {
jopard We ships with men and good
unto the said island Newfoundland
upon the singular trust Of one man,
but finally a peremptOry messag
from my Lord CardynaI" brought tn
truculent spirits into due submission
Keen business men were these sta
wart diapers. for not only do thei
records contain many entries illustra
tive of their trade activities, but the
show that the management of thei
charities was equally alert. In l52
they entered into a prolonged disput
with the Criticized Friars, regardin
the boundaries of the ground pun
chased for almshouses by Sir job
Milborn. and Of the keeping up by tn