Royal appointment an 'immense honour' for south Staffordshire butcher as he receives freedom of City of London
A south Staffordshire butcher has spoken of the immense honour and privilege of being awarded the freedom of the City of London.
Craig Thomas was given the freedom of the city through redemption, which means becoming a Freeman of London by paying a fee or fine, a historical method alongside apprenticeship/servitude or patrimony/inheritance to gain the right to trade within the City.
The honour as a freeman is now mostly a symbolic one which recognises a strong connection to London, often through a Livery Company, granting membership in a historic tradition rather than modern legal rights, and was granted to Mr Thomas in a ceremony at the Guildhall in the city on Friday, December 5.
He was also clothed at Butchers Hall in the city at a second ceremony to the Worshipful Company of the Art or Mistery of Butchery.
It's the latest honour to be granted to the sixth generation butcher, who is the treasurer of the National Craft Butchers, and comes a year after he was first approached about becoming a freeman, a process he said was a long one.
