Associations of traders or craftsmen are known to have existed in Mesopotamia and Pharonic Egypt. Ancient Rome organised its citizens into trades companies, which gave rise to the Roman collegia opticum, for training young people in the profession or trade of their parents.
When the Romans left Great Britain, the collegia traditions persisted, gradually becoming known by the Anglo Saxon word guild' denoting paid membership of a fraternity. Then Friendly Societies sometimes arose from the congregation of a particular church, where members of a particular craft met and formed a guild.
Some of these religious and social societies later evolved into trade and craft companies and new ones formed, with grant of Royal charter, as in York, Bristol and London, others by Act of Parliament, as in the Craft Companies of the Trades House of Glasgow and the Cutlers of Hallamshire (including Sheffield), between the thirteenth and the seventeenth centuries.
Those in London became known as 'Livery Companies", a term that is unique to London, initially because of their distinctive dress and regalia. Their charters entitled them to regulate trade, to ensure a high standard of work or quality of goods, and to ensure an adequate supply of skilled traders and craftsmen, through a system of apprenticeship that they controlled.
Following the Industrial Revolution, there was a general decline in the influence of the guilds. The Municipal Corporation Act of 1835 formally removed all guild restrictions on trade and industry, so that most unchartered guilds soon disbanded. Guild members also lost their voting roles in municipal elections, except in London, where Liverymen (members of Livery Companies) still elect the Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs, and the Court of Common Council still governs the City of London's Square Mile.
However, since 1835, the role of Livery Companies, as well as chartered trade and craft companies elsewhere, has changed so that most of them no longer regulate trade. Now they continue to foster high standards in professions, trade and industry, mainly through charitable work, including educational activities and awards for craft achievements.