Re-election of Master and Wardens
12 July 2021
We are delighted to announce that, on Thursday 8 July 2021, the Master and Wardens for the coming year were elected and installed at a meeting of the Court. In light of the huge disruption caused by the pandemic over the last year, the Court took the unusual, but not unprecedented decision to re-elect the current incumbents of these positions.
Richard Fuller, Non-Executive Director at Fuller, Smith & Turner, will remain in post as Master until July 2022. He will be supported by the following Wardens:
- Upper Warden – Jonathan Neame, Chief Executive, Shepherd Neame
- Middle Warden – James Staughton, President, St Austell Brewery
- Renter Warden – Katherine Smart, Technical Director, Diageo
Presiding over the election ceremony, the Senior Past Master on Court, Richard Everard (Master 2004) thanked the Master and Wardens for their service during a difficult year and wished them all the best for a better year to come. The Master pledged to continue to serve the Company diligently.
Records of the Company’s Masters date back to 1563 when the practice of electing a Master annually began. In the early days it was more common for Masters to serve for more than one year, however, in recent times this has become very rare. The last time it happened was during World War II, when Commander Redmond Walter McGrath remained in post as Master between 1939 and 1945.
The celebration of the election and installation of the Master and Wardens is usually a wonderful opportunity for members of the Livery to come together at a popular luncheon. Sadly, we were only able to hold a small, COVID-secure luncheon for members of the Court on this occasion, although it was lovely to hold even a small event after so long. We are looking forward to Tuesday 21 September when all of our Liverymen are invited to come and join the Master and Wardens in celebrating their installation at our first full-scale Court Luncheon in nearly 18 months.
