In 1959 the late Robert Spence presented his magnificent collection of historical gloves to the Livery Company.

This collection covers the period from the late 16th century until the middle of the 19th century, but its richest exhibits fall within the period of c.1590 to c.1680. Spence obviously admired the splendidly decorated gauntlet gloves of this period and tried to assemble as wide a variety as possible. The combination of fine doeskin or kid gloves, with their narrow attenuated fingers and the richly embroidered gauntlet seem to have exerted a special fascination for him, as it still does for enthusiasts today. Such gloves were the finest example of the work of two City Companies, the Glovers and Broderers. The embroidery can incorporate multi-coloured silks, gold thread, seed pearls and applied metal strip sometimes worked on satin, sometimes worked directly on to the leather. The majority of pairs use popular motifs of the period, flowers, leaves, birds and beasts, but some actually tell a story, as does the pair which, in embroidery, depicts the allegory of Jonah and the Whale.

Such splendid gloves were popular presents, and there are many references to them in household and royal accounts of the time. Occasionally they served as a cover for even richer gifts. Sir Thomas More, as Chancellor, was given as a New Year present, by a lady in whose favour he had settled a legal dispute, a pair of gloves containing 40 angels (an old English coin). Sir Thomas, a scrupulous man, commented, "It would be against good manners to forsake a gentlewoman's New Year gift, and I accept the gloves. The lining you will bestow elsewhere".

Other types of gloves in the collection include an interesting group of knitted silk ecclesiastical and secular gloves, mostly Italian and Spanish in origin. The ecclesiastical gloves incorporate knitted Christian symbols in gold thread. The secular examples depict stylised flower and leaf patterns knitted in rich yellows, blues, reds and greens. The earliest pair of gloves in the collection are ecclesiastical, deep crimson silk with a gold thread pattern, probably Italian in origin. The collection also contains samples of fabric gloves, mostly dating from the first half of the l9th century, and printed leather gloves. The latter include a small group of exquisite Spanish gloves, all wristlength women's gloves of white kid printed in black with simple geometrical designs or figures from popular engravings.