The Regional Head, State Bank of India UK, Mr Sharad Chandak has received The Freedom of the City of London. The ceremony was held at The Mansion House and The Rt. Hon The Lord Mayor was in attendance.
The Freedom of the City of London is a recognition awarded to people who have achieved success, recognition or celebrity in their chosen field. It’s one of the oldest surviving traditional ceremonies still in existence today and is believed to have been first presented in 1237. Receiving the Freedom of the city of London is one of the oldest and most privileged title.
The medieval term 'freeman' meant someone who was not the property of a feudal lord but enjoyed privileges such as the right to earn money and own land. Town dwellers who were protected by the charter of their town or city were often free – hence the term 'freedom' of the City.
From the Middle Ages and the Victorian era, Freedom was the right to trade, enabling members of a Guild or Livery to carry out their trade or craft in the Square Mile.
In 1835 eligibility for the freedom of the City was extended to anyone who lived in, worked in or had a strong connection to the City. The freedom that citizens enjoy has long associations with privileges in the governance of the City.
Whilst this no longer carries many substantive rights and largely exists as a tradition, the freedom is a pre-requisite for standing for election to the Common Council and Court of Aldermen of the City of London. Both the sheriffs and the Lord Mayor of the City must first become aldermen, and hence must also be freemen.
