Digging into Mercer kept leading me back to two strange "livery companies". These are 500+ year old guilds that form part of the government and structure of the City of London:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worshipful_Company_of_Haberdashers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worshipful_Company_of_Mercers
The Haberdashers' motto is "Serve and Obey".
Liverymen are the only people who can vote in the election of the Lord Mayor of London, not to be confused with the Mayor of London.
The Haberdashers and Mercers now run schools, the most elite secondary schools in the UK, with famous graduates such as former UK Home Secretary Leon Brittan, accused of participating in the Westminster VIP child abuse ring.
Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Boys seems to be the most prominent of the schools, and according to a fictionalized account by a former student, the atmosphere at the school was sexualized:
https://mg.co.za/article/1996-10-25-school-for-scandal/