The Worshipful Company of Distillers is one of the Livery Companies of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

. The Distillers' Company was incorporated under a

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, b ...

in 1638 as proposed by

Thomas Cademan Sir Thomas Cademan (1590?–1651) was an English recusant physician. Life Cademan was born in Norfolk about 1590. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and proceeded B.A. in 1606 and M.A. in 1609. He then took the degree of M.D. at the U ...

and Theodore de Mayerne, physicians to Queen

Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria (french: link=no, Henriette Marie; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. She was ...

. It was empowered to regulate and supervise the production of spirits and liquors. Nowadays, the Company no longer exercises such powers but focuses on charitable distributions, including educational scholarships and bursaries. The Distillers' Company ranks sixty-ninth in the

order of precedence An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of nominal importance and can be applied to individuals, groups, or organizations. Most often it is used in the context of people by many organizations and governments, for very formal and state o ...

of City Livery Companies and its membership, comprising executives from the drinks industry and those whose families were involved in the distilling business, enjoys an active social life. A short history of the Company by Michael Berlin was published in 1996,''The Worshipful Company of Distillers: a short history''
/ref> and its heraldic motto is ''Drop as Rain, Distil as Dew''.

References

External links

Worshipful Company of Distillers Website
{{authority control Distillers 1638 establishments in England Charities based in London