It has always been believed that the Incorporation owes its existence to a "Gift or Seal of Cause by the Magistrates and Town Council of Glasgow, with concurrence of the Archbishop, dated 4th June, 1528." Mr. Crawfurd so states in "A Sketch of the Trades' House of Glasgow," published in 1856, and in a small pamphlet published by this Incorporation in 1888, the preamble of the Act of Parliament passed in 1681, is quoted as the actual wording of the Seal of Cause granted by the Magistrates of Glasgow, on 4th June, 1528. No copy of that document has been preserved.
