Lustrings Act 1697

XIII. Recital of Letters Patent of 14th Oct. 4. W. & M. to the Earl of Pembroke and others, for dressing Silks, &c. and forming them into a Company.

and that the said Company had brought the said Manufacture to Perfection, but that they had been obstructed in the Enjoyment thereof.; The said Company constituted a Body Corporate, by the Name of the Royal Lustring Company.

And whereas the Kings most Excellent Majesty together with the late Queen (of blessed Memory) by their Letters Patents or Charter under the Great Seal of England bearing Date the Fifteenth Day of October in the Fourth Year of their said Majesties Reign reciting or taking Notice that severall Persons therein named did obtain the late King James the Seconds Letters Patents bearing Date the Three and twentieth Day of November in the Fourth Year of His Reign for the sole Use Exercise and Benefit of a new Invention of making dressing and lustrating of Silks called Plain Black Alamodes Renforcez and Lustrings for the Terme of Fourteen Years from the Day of the Date of the said Letters Patents Their said Majesties did for the encourageing so commendable X1 Undertaking give grant constitute declare and appoint Thomas Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery and several other Persons in the said Charter mentioned and contained and such others as should be admitted into their Society to be from thenceforth One Body Corporate and Politick in Deed and in Name by the Name of the Royal Lustring Company for making and dressing Alamodes Renforcez and Lustrings in England and by that Name to have perpetual Succession and divers and sundry Priviledges Liberties Powers and Authoritys with other Matters and Things in the said Charter of Corporation mentioned and expressed were thereby granted to and vested in the said Company and their Successors in such Sort Manner and Forme as in and by the said Charter or Letters Patents or Inrollment thereof is mentioned and expressed and as thereby more fully appears and forasmuch as the said Company have with great Labour and Charges brought the said Manufacture to Perfection but by reason of the fraudulent Importation of Alamodes and Lustrings by divers Persons more regarding their own Interest then the Welfare of England their Duty to the King and Obedience to the Laws of the Land the said Company have not enjoyed the Benefit and Advantage intended them in and by the said Charter but wasted their Time and Stock in contesting with many Difficulties and Obstructions which they have met with since the granting thereof and it appearing that the said Manufacture cannot be so well carryed on and secured to this Kingdom by any other Means as by establishing a Company to carry on the same Be it therefor enacted by the Authority aforesaid That the aforesaid Company and their Successors shall and may X2 from [X3 thenceforth ] stand continue and be a Body Politick and Corporate in Deed and in Name by the Name of the Royall Lustring Company and that the said Company and their Successors shall and may have do use exercise and enjoy all and singuler the Liberties Priviledges Powers Authorities Matters and Things in the said Letters Patents or Charter of [X4 Corporation ] mentioned to be granted to them as amply fully and largly to all Intents Constructions and Purposes as if the same were Word for Word recited and set down at larg in this present Act.

Editorial Information

X1 Variant reading of the text noted in The Statutes of the Realm as follows: an O. [O. refers to a collection in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge]

X2 at all times O. & King's Printer's Copy.

X3 Variant reading of the text noted in The Statutes of the Realm as follows: henceforth O. [O. refers to a collection in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge]

X4 Variant reading of the text noted in The Statutes of the Realm as follows: Incorporation O. [O. refers to a collection in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge]