The Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers is one of the ancient Livery Companies of the City of London. The organisation, which engaged not only in tallow candle making but also in the trade of oils, first received a Royal Charter in 1462.
Traditionally tallow chandlers operated separately from wax chandlers: beeswax candles customarily being used in churches, while tallow (animal fat) candles were generally used in homes. As is the case with most other Livery Companies, the Tallow Chandlers' Company is no longer a trade association of candlemakers, its decline precipitated by the advent of electric lighting. The Company now exists as a charitable institution, and supports education in oil-related fields.
The company ranks twenty-first in the order of precedence of City Livery Companies. Its motto is Ecce Agnus Dei, Ecce Qui Tollit Peccata Mundi: Latin for Behold the Lamb of God, Who Takes Away the Sins of the World, in reference to Jesus.
Famous quotes containing the words company and/or tallow:
“There is no such thing as “the Queen’s English.” The property has gone into the hands of a joint stock company and we own the bulk of the shares!”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“In the end we will listen to the voice of the machines. We will have to. There is no choice. We will not go back to tallow dips while the great shining wheels are there to bring us light.”
—Mary Heaton Vorse (1874–1966)