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The City of London

Guildhall is still the seat of the Corporation of London now. The Mayor was not called ‘Lord Mayor' as
he is today until much later.
The Dick Whittington myth
The gifts left in Whittington's will originally made him famous. However, Londoners did not know
how he first made his money. Stories began about how a poor boy became rich with the help of his
cat. There is no evidence that Whittington kept a cat, and as the son of a Lord he was never very
poor. Despite being untrue the stories still flourished and a play produced in 1606 tells most of the
story. There are many different versions, but essentially the tale was that Dick Whittington was a
poor boy from Gloucestershire who walked to London to seek his fortune. He found work in the
house of a rich merchant, Fitzwarren, and fell in love with Fitzwarren's daughter, Alice. Dick had a cat
to keep down the mice in the attic where he slept. Fitzwarren invited his servants to put money into
a sailing voyage, but Dick had no money, so he gave his cat to the captain to sell.
Dick then decided that there was no future for him in London, and left to go
home to Gloucestershire. He stopped on top of Highgate Hill on the way out
of London, where he heard the bells of London ringing - they seemed to say:
‘Turn again, Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London'. It is on Highgate Hill
that he is commemorated in the, now famous, statue, pictured on the left.
Dick thought this was a good omen and returned to Fitzwarren's house. He
learnt that the ship had returned with great news. The sailing party arrived
in a foreign land where the king's court was overrun by rats. Dick's cat killed
or drove out all the rats. In thanks the king paid a huge sum of gold to buy
the cat. Dick was now a very wealthy man. He married Alice Fitzwarren, and
eventually became Lord Mayor of London.
Dick Whittington's Statue
The story continued to grow in the 17th and 18th centuries and appeared in many children's books.
In the 19th century, the story became the subject for pantomimes and other characters were added.
The story is still told today in pantomimes and new versions of the story are often published. Even
now, Dick Whittington and the cat that made his fortune are familiar to people who have never heard
of the ‘real’ Richard Whittington.
Much of this article has been developed from material published by the Museum of London, which is
a prime source of information about the City of London and is the location of many of the free
Gresham Lectures which the Worshipful Company of Constructors often attend. They are organised
by Gresham College which was founded in 1597 and has been providing free lectures within the City
of London for over 400 years.

If you wish to comment on this edition of the Journal, you can contact the editor at thejournal@virginmedia.com.
If you require more details of the Company, please contact the Clerk at:
constructorsclerk@constructorscompany.co.uk or write to Kim Tyrrell Esq at:
The Clerk, The Worshipful Company of Constructors, 5 Delft Close, Locks Heath, Southampton SO31 7TQ

Autumn 2015 | The Journal of the Worshipful Company of Constructors | 39