This noble building is on Tower Hill. It was founded by Sir Thomas Spert, in the year 1515, at a period when the British navy began to assume a warlike appearance. It is a corporation consisting of a master, four wardens, eight assistants, and eighteen elder brethren, selected from commanders in the navy and merchant service; as a compliment some of the nobility are occasionally admitted. They may be considered as the guardians of our ships, military and commercial.
They examine the children in Christ's Hospital, and the masters of king's ships, they appoint pilots for the river Thames, settle the rates of pilotage, erect lighthouses, and sea-marks, grant licenses to poor seamen, not free of the city, to row on the Thames, hear and determine complaints of officers and men in the merchant service, and all business connected with the river Thames.
Other London Buildings:
New Court House, or Westminster Guildhall
General List of other Noblemen's Residences
Source: Leigh's New Picture of London. Printed for Samuel Leigh, 18, Strand;
by W. Clowes, Northumberland Court. 1819