Freedom of the City

this might become part of a more generalised article on freedom of cities.

There are still freemen of the City of London - and in fact it is not too difficult, if you work in the City and have a few contacts, to arrange to be awarded this honour by the Lord Mayor. Many freemen are also members of masonic lodges - which gives an idea of the kind of people who tend to aspire to becoming freemen. New freemen receive a scroll that lists the various privileges they are entitled to. One is the right to drive sheep and cattle over London Bridge. However, there are also a couple of practical privileges. Freemen's children get preference in finding places for their children at the City of London School and the City of London School for Girls. Also, the City of London has its own police force. If its officers find a freeman drunk and incapable, they will bundle him into a taxi and send him home rather than throw him in a cell and later charge him.