Richard Whittington

Richard Whittington ( March 1423) of the parish of St Michael Paternoster Royal, City of London, was an English merchant and a politician of the late medieval period. He is also the real-life inspiration for the English folk tale Dick Whittington and His Cat. He was four times (appointed once, elected three times) Lord Mayor of London, a member of parliament and a Sheriff of London. In his lifetime he financed a number of public projects, such as drainage systems in poor areas of medieval London, and a hospital ward for unmarried mothers. He bequeathed his fortune to form the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington which, nearly 600 years later, continues to assist people in need. Origins He was born, in around 1354, into an ancient and wealthy Gloucestershire gentry family, the 3rd son of Sir William Whittington (d.1358) of Pauntley, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, a Member of Parliament, by his wife Joan Maunsell, a daughter of William Maunsell (or Mansel), MP for Gloucestershire, Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1313. His elder brothers were Robert Whittington (d.1423/4), six times a Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire, and William Whittington, MP, the eldest brother. Early life As a younger son, under the system of primogeniture he would not expect to inherit his father's estate, and thus was sent to the City of London to learn the trade of mercer through an apprenticeship. He was a contemporary of John Abbot who was the first Mercer to leave property to the Company to support a school. He became a successful merchant, dealing in valuable imports such as silks and velvets, both luxury fabrics, much of which he sold to royalty and nobility from about 1388. There is indirect evidence that he was also a major exporter to Europe of much sought after English woollen cloth such as broadcloth. From 1392 to 1394 he sold goods to King Richard II worth £3,500. He also began money-lending in 1388, preferring this to outward shows of wealth such as buying property. By 1397 he was also lending large sums of money to the king. In 1384 Whittington had become a Councilman of the City of London. 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 and was appointed Sheriff of the City of London by the incumbent mayor, William Staundone, as well as becoming a member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers.