The
Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks is one of the
Guilds of the
City of London. It has no
livery, because "[i]n the 16th century, the Parish Clerks declined to take the Livery on the grounds that the
surplice was older than the Livery and was the proper garb of members of the Company." It is not, therefore, technically a
livery company although to all intents and purposes it acts as such. It is one of two such historic companies without livery, the other being the
Company of Watermen and Lightermen.