Richard Whittington

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Sir Richard Whittington and his Cat

Richard Whittington (c1350 — 1423), medieval merchant and politician, was the real-life inspiration for the pantomime character, Dick Whittington.

He was probably born at Pauntley in Gloucestershire, the son of Sir William Whittington, Lord of the Manor, and so was from an affluent family. (His date of birth is sometimes given as late as 1359.) However, he was a younger son and so would not inherit his father's estate. Consequently he was sent to London to learn the trade of mercer. He became a successful trader, dealing in valuable imports such as silks and velvets, much of which he sold to the Court from about 1388. There is indirect evidence that he was also a major exporter of wool cloth. From 1392 to 1394 he sold goods to Richard II worth £3500. He also began money-lending in 1388, preferring this to outward shows of wealth such as buying property. By 1397 he was lending large sums of money to the King.

In 1384 Whittington had become a councilman. In 1392 he was one of the city's delegation to the King at Nottingham at which the King seized the City of London's lands because of alleged misgovernment. By 1393, he had become an alderman, as well as a member of the Mercers' Company. When Adam Bamme, the mayor, died in June 1397, Whittington was imposed on the city by the King as Lord Mayor of London in 1397 to fill the vacancy. Within days Whittington had negotiated with the King a deal in which the city bought back its liberties for £10,000. He was elected mayor by a grateful populace on 13 October 1398.

The deposition of Richard II in 1399 did not affect Whittington and it is thought that he merely acquiesced in the coup. Whittington had long supplied the new king, Henry IV, and so his business continued as before. He also lent the new king substantial amounts of money. He was elected mayor again in 1406 and in 1419, becoming a living legend in the process. In 1416, he became a Member of Parliament, and was also influential with Henry IV's son, Henry V, also lending him large amounts of money and serving on several Royal Commissions of oyer and terminer. For example, Henry V employed him to supervise the expenditure to complete Westminster Abbey. Despite being a moneylender himself he was sufficiently trusted and respected to sit as a judge in usury trials in 1421. Whittington also collected papal revenues and import duties.

From his life, historians detect an austere correctness and great trust from the people he dealt with. A long dispute with the Company of Brewers over standard prices and measures of ale was characteristically won by Whittington. In his lifetime he donated much of his profit to the city. He financed:

the rebuilding of the Guildhall
a ward for unmarried mothers at St Thomas' Hospital
drainage systems for areas around Billingsgate and Cripplegate
the rebuilding his parish church, St Michael Paternoster Royal
a public toilet in the parish of St Martin Vintry that was cleansed by the Thames at high tide
most of Greyfriars library.

He also provided accommodation for his apprentices in his own house. He passed a law prohibiting the washing of animal skins by apprentices in the River Thames in cold, wet weather because many young boys had died through hypothermia or in the strong river currents.

Whittington died in March 1423. In 1402 he had married Alice, daughter of Sir Ivo FitzWarin (or Fitzwarren) of Wantage in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), but she predeceased him in 1411. They had no children. In the absence of heirs, Whittington left £7000 in his will to charity, in those days a large sum. Some of this was used to

rebuild Newgate Prison
build the first library in Guildhall
repair St Bartholomew's Hospital,
build almshouses and an adjoining hospital
install some of the first public drinking fountains

The almshouses were relocated in 1966 to Felbridge near East Grinstead. Sixty elderly women and a few married couples currently live in them. The Whittington Charity also disburses money each year to the needy through the Mercers' Company.

There is no evidence that Whittington kept a cat, and as the son of gentry he was never very poor. However the gifts left in Whittington's will made him famous, and the legends may have arisen because it was not widely known how he made his money. By 1605 most of the pantomime legend had developed and appeared in a play, The History of Richard Whittington, of his lowe byrth, his great fortune. Some have suggested that one of the most popular legends about Whittington — that his fortunes were founded on the sale of his cat, who had stowed away on a merchant vessel, to the rat-beset Emperor of China — originated in a popular early engraving of the lord mayor in which his hand rested on a cat. Modern analysis of the engraving reveals that the oddly-shaped cat was in fact a later replacement for what had originally been a skull, a popular prop for illustrations of the period. Whether the engraving gave rise to the legend or the reverse is uncertain.

The Whittington hospital (at Archway, London Borough of Islington), is named after him, and a small statue of a cat along Highgate Hill further commemorates his legendary cat.

Despite knowing three kings, there is no evidence that he was knighted, though it is highly probable.