The Chester Companies in the Seventeenth Century

Peter Bolton — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 08:46:36 PDT

Relying on extensive new research of primary source material, this article examines the history of the manufacturing and trading guilds or companies of Chester during the seventeenth century. The article assessed the function, operation, organisation and membership of the companies as well as the commercial, community, social and welfare roles they played throughout the century. At the heart of the article is a detailed assessment of the impact of the civil war of the 1640s upon company membership and operations. It is shown that although Chester’s involvement in the war inevitably disrupted company life and affairs, the impact was neither fatal nor long-lasting and most companies quickly recovered and, indeed, flourished in the immediate post-war and post-plague years, well before the Restoration of 1660.

History

The Chester Companies in the Seventeenth Century