On Tuesday 22nd March, 2022, Mr Andrew Marsden addressed the Company of Entrepreneurs of the City of London “On Freedom”.
 
He congratulated the Company on an historic first, since, for the very first time, it had exercised its right to nominate members for election to the Freedom of the City of London in preparation - he hoped - for them to become Liverymen in just a couple of years.
 
As a Past Master Marketor, Mr Marsden was thrilled to be present in celebration of the friendship of the Marketors’ Company and the Company of Entrepreneurs. Indeed, seven years ago as Master Marketor, Mr Marsden had attended Dan Doherty’s installation as Master Entrepreneur and honoured a promise the Marketors’ had made to the Entrepreneurs when they were established.
 
Mr Marsden’s present to the Entrepreneurs was a gavel and block – still in use at every Court. It was, he said, the tradition to recognise the freedom of a group by presenting them with a gavel: to govern themselves and to preserve order. Critically, the passing of the gavel also signalled the orderly succession of one Master to another – Mr Marsden recalled presenting the gavel to Sir Paul Judge, who then passed it to Dan. “Sadly,” he said, “we lost both those remarkable people within two years.”

 

 

The Company of Entrepreneurs © Sillett Photography

 

He went on,
 
“Master, the concept of Freedom which we celebrate today is complex.
 
Many of you were admitted to the Freedom of the Company today. Your contract requires you to be obedient to the Master, Wardens, and Clerk. To be loyal to your country and the rule of law, to give back to your profession and society, to uphold the good name and fame of the Company.
 
Critically, many of you had the high honour of being admitted to the Freedom of the City of London by the mellifluous Murray Craig, Clerk to the Chamberlain’s Court - and thus you became ‘Citizens and Entrepreneurs of the City of London’.
 
In return for keeping the Queen’s Peace & reporting infringements to the Lord Mayor you are no doubt reflecting on the right to drive sheep and cattle over London Bridge; to a silken rope, if hanged; to carry a naked sword in public; or that if drunk that the City of London Police will bundle you into a taxi and send you home rather than throw you into a cell. 
 
25 years ago, Murray Craig administered that same oath to a certain Andrew Marsden – Citizen and Marketor. This last quarter of a century has been a joy.”
 
-o0o-
 
He continued,
 
“That word “Citizen” is important. As Citizens of London and of the world it would be wrong of me in the present company, not to mention that, at the other side of Europe, there is war about Freedom.
 
The Ukrainians are no strangers to indescribable horror. I visited the Ukraine in the late 80s when it was part of Russia. One of my abiding memories was a visit to the Kalinovka Mine near Donetsk. The German occupation of Ukraine between October 1941 and September 1943 saw mass executions of the resistance, POWs and Jews. Between 75,000 & 100,000 people were indeed thrown down the Kalinovka mine…many whilst still alive. 
 
Here also ‘The Holocaust by bullets’ saw 1.5m Jews, a quarter of all Jews murdered in the war, shot. Between 5-7m Ukrainians perished in the war.
 
Almost 50 years later, Ukraine declared independence from Russia. In subsequent years it has grown to be a world leader in agricultural exports -  exporting almost 20% of the world’s sunflower seeds and 12% of all corn, barley and wheat exports.
 
But, 30 years after that independence, the Russians are back. Putin’s blanket shelling of citizens, a despicable war crime, has resulted in countless deaths and 4m people - a quarter of her population - homeless. President Zolenski would no doubt echo the words of another actor President – Ronald Regan:
 
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same” 
 
Or as Pericles more succinctly put it:
 
“Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it””
 
-o0o-
 
He concluded,
 
“Master, your Company's motto is Dare, Create, Succeed. 
 
Innovation is born out of frustration, & I would argue that there has never been a greater need for entrepreneurship and innovative solutions to the great frustrations and their intertwined complexities that face our world – long Covid, long Brexit and the climate crisis -  to which we must now add the weaning of Europe off our 60% reliance on Russian gas, 20% crude oil and 80% of nitrogenous fertilisers - a existential threat to our energy and food security. This is a generational task for all entrepreneurs.”
 
To you, Master, I wish you well in your Company’s continued route to the Livery status, and on your very prescient Entrepreneurs’ Award in Social Innovation.
 
To your new Freemen, wherever the next 25 years take you, I know that you will all prove to be an inspiration to the society of which today you have become a member, and I, too, wish you “Joy!””
 
© Andrew Marsden https://andrewmarsden.london/

 

The Company of Entrepreneurs © Sillett Photography  

(c)The Company of Entrepreneurs / BritAsia.tv