Members of a Yorkshire livery company broke with tradition for the first time in 372 years when they allowed their wives to sit down to dinner with them at the annual Cutlers' Feast.
The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire has held the annual event since 1625 and for centuries the only women invited to sit at the table were a handful of female members and those women invited in their own right.
But this year, Master Cutler Gordo
n Bridge decided that he would like his wife Janet and the wives of other members to be given the opportunity to attend the event, which is held in Sheffield's prestigious Cutlers' Hall.
Until this year, the women have been invited to a separate event in the Hall on Church Street organised by the Master Cutler's wife – known by the guild as the Mistress Cutler.
The wives were only allowed into the main event to hear the speeches, and even then they were confined to a balcony away from their husbands.
This year's main speaker was William Hague, Shadow Foreign Secretary and Conservative Richmond MP.
Mr Bridge, who took over as the Master Cutler last October, is the chief executive of industrial seal company AES Seal, based in Rotherham, and in his role is expected to speak up for manufacturing in South Yorkshire.
The Company of Cutlers was initially set up by an Act of Parliament to regulate the Sheffield's cutlery industry, which then employed a massive number of people in and around the city.
It also controlled apprenticeships, maintained quality and registered trademarks.
More qualifying trades were included through further Acts, significantly with the steelmakers in 1860. Even now, the company still regulates trademarks which use the word Sheffield.
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