Stockfishmonger

By a charter of 24 King Henry VII., dated 20th September 1508, the stockfishmongers of the City of London were incorporated by the name of “The Wardens and Commonalty of the Mistery of Stockfishmongers of the City of London,” with perpetual succession and a common seal.[…]The stockfishmongers were subsequently, in 1537, incorporated with the Fishmongers’ Company as one company, and in the same year a charter was granted by King Henry VIII. confirming such incorporation. By such incorporation of the two companies the property and the rights and privileges of the stockfishmongers passed to the present corporation of the “Fishmongers of the City of London.”

East Coast ports, with old-established stockfishmongers and “stockfish rows”, hard hit by the collapse of business with Bergen, were naturally foremost in developing the possibilities of Iceland.

St Michael, Crooked Lane provides an example of the small London parish dominated by one trade, in this case the stockfishmongers.

Crowding High Street and its crisscrossing rows and alleys, a plethora of taverns, victuals, brew houses, hostelries, bathhouses, brothels, bearbaiting and bullbaiting arenas jostled for space with shops of stockfishmongers, garlicmongers, and bakemongers.

In 1392, two citizens of Lynn received a licence to send their ships to Norway to buy stockfish, and two London stockfishmongers stood their sureties. A London guild had no monopoly over its trade, so a stockfishmonger could also trade in other goods if he so wished. Many stockfishmongers were active in the corn trade between eastern English towns and London, which must have grown out of transporting their stockfish from eastern ports to the city.