The Legend of Dick Whittington
Dick Whittington came from a poor Lancashire family. All the encyclopadia's claim he was a Gloustershire chap. My claim is based on a poem. The first verse said that Dick was from Lancashire!
He went to London to make his fortune. At first things did not go too well for Dick. He decided that London was not the place for him. He set off one day. He was walking away from London.
Suddenly he recognised a call in the Lodon Church bells. They seemed to be saying,
' Turn again Whittington, three times Lord Mayor of London!.'
He returned to London. His cat was the beginning of his fortune because he got paid for hiring it out to kill rats and mice that had infested a warehouse.
He became a very wealthy silk merchant and was Lord Mayor of London three times in the 15th Century.
Where was Dick when he heard theChurch bells?
Dick Whittington was walking away from London. He had reached Highgate Hill. At the bottom of the hill is a small stone. It looks like a mile stone. It is a marker at the edge of the pavement. It has a cat on it. It is the Whittington memorial. It was at this spot that Whittington heard the church bells calling him back to London. It is near a pub called the 'Dick Whittington.' This is but a short walk up Highgate Hill from the Archway Tube Station.
A Poem called Dick Whittington Thrice Lord-Mayor of London
The important verses.
A 17th Century poem
Here must I tell the praise of worthy Whittington, Known to be in his age Thrice Lord Mayor of London But of poor parents. Born was he, as we hear, and in his tender age Bred up in Lancashire.
Poorly to London then came this simple lad, where with merchant-man,soon he a dwelling had...
He meat and drink was his pay: therefore he ran away...
But as he went along, in a fair summer's morn London bells sweetly rung.'Whittington, back return!'
Evermore sounding so, 'Turn again Whittington For thou in time shall grow Lord-Mayor of London.'
But see his happy chance(Whittington) had a cat which did his state advance....they brought Whittington's nimble cat ( to chase and catch the mice and rats)...heaps of gold were given for that....
Sir Richard Whittington came to be thrice Lord Mayor of London.
Anonymous
'A Children's English History in Verse' Ed By Kenneth Baker
More on Dick Whittington.
"Turn again, Dick Whittington, three times Lord Mayor of London."
Richard Whittington was Lord Mayor of London three times.
He was Lord Mayor of London between 1397- 99.
Second time 1406-07.
Third time 1419 -20.
He died in 1423.
The cat and his early poverty were added to the legend late in the 17th Century.
