The Worshipful Company of Launderers

The Coat of Arms

The central feature on the shield of the Coat of Arms is a representation of a mechanical washing machine, invented in 1782 by Henry Sidgier of London. It operated on a rotary principle which set a trend for successive machines for the next 150 years. Sidgier's machine comprised two cages, one inside the other, the inner being perforated and fixed to a handle for rotation by hand. As it was turned, with the garments inside it, water was passed through the outer cage and the perforations of the inner cage to clean the clothes by agitation. Surrounding Sidgier's machine on the shield art-three antique flat irons.

On the crest sits a domestic cat the cleanest of all animals. Surrounding it are lilies and sunflowers, symbols of purity, warmth and brightness qualities which launderers and cleaners aspire to provide for their customers.

The right hand, or dexter, supporter of the shield (to the viewer's left) commemorates a royal laundress, Princess Nausicaa. Her story is taken from the sixth book of Homer's Odyssey, which recounts how the Princess and her maidens are surprised by the shipwrecked Odysseus as they are washing the linen of the royal household on the beach.

The sinister, or left-hand supporter (to the viewer's right), is an eighteenth century laundrywoman of contrastingly humbler origins. She carries a dolly which, with the tub, was long considered the only apparatus necessary for the washing of clothes. It was a natural progression from the beating of clothes in running water.

The motto 'Cleanliness is Next to Godliness' comes originally from the Talmud, the ancient book of Jewish law and literature. It came into widespread use in England after its adoption by John Wesley for use in his sermons.