Richard Whittington left no children and his fortune to London; his executors rebuilt Newgate prison and founded almshouses that still operate

Richard Whittington, born about 1356, became a London mercer and was Lord Mayor in 1397 to 1398, 1406 to 1407 and 1419 to 1420. He lent money to Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V nearly 60 times. He signed his will on 5 September 1421 as a widower with no children and left his fortune to charity; the Guildhall Library puts it at £7,500. It set aside £500 for prisoners, paid at 40 shillings a week, £100 for the marriages of young women and £100 for road repairs. His executors were John Coventre, John White, John Carpenter and William Grove; Carpenter was paid £40. The will was proved in the London Husting in March 1423. The executors rebuilt Newgate prison, built a gate for St Bartholomew's Hospital, founded the first library at Guildhall, paved Guildhall with marble, made his parish church of St Michael Paternoster a college of priests, and built an almshouse for 13 poor people under ordinances of 21 December 1424. The will gave the Mercers' Company charge of the college and his land. The college was dissolved in 1547, and the Mercers kept the almshouses. In 1824 they rebuilt them at Highgate for £20,000. A 1962 road plan stopped further rebuilding there, the Highgate buildings were demolished in 1967, and the residents moved to a new Whittington College at Felbridge, near East Grinstead. The story of the poor boy and his cat first appears in a play printed in 1605.