Dick Whittington and His Cat

Richard Whittington was born around 1354. As the third son in a wealthy family (his father was a Knight and member of Parliament), he couldn't count on inheritance, but his family was willing to pay a scholarship. This meant he had to leave home and try to earn his own fortune.

Just like Dick in the story who was poor, couldn't count on any serious opportunity in his village, and decided to go. Dick in the story is an orphan and real Richard lost his father when he was about four, what is another similarity.

Real Richard and fictional Dick both left their homes and went to London. Dick in the fairy tale believed he'll immediately become rich in London where even the streets are paved with gold. Well, he soon found out that life in London wasn't any better than in his home environment. But some people in London were rich and when fe found one with a good heart, an opportunity came.

Richard came to London to study. He knew that knowledge and connections could bring him money, maybe even more than he would inherit if he was a firstborn. But he also knew that he should work for his success. London wasn't a nice place but it offered opportunities that were not available elsewhere.

The majority of fairy tales are located in unspecified places. To place Dick Whittington in London is unusual.

Dick Whittington gets shelter and a job at Mr. Fitzwarren who is a merchant ad has a daughter Alice who likes the boy and later becomes his wife. This is another deviation from the standard practice in fairy tales. Characters rarely have names and almost never surnames. In cases where they are named, their names are common like Hans or Jack.

Real Dick Whittington married Alice Fitzwaryn. The name is the same as in the fairy tale and her surname is very similar.

In the story, we have a merchant who takes the boy under his roof. He insists that Dick sends his only possession overseas and tries to trade it which makes Dick (who was just a kitchen boy at the time) a merchant as well. He gets extraordinary wealth for his cat.

Richard Whittington went to London to become a mercer. He not only succeded in his profession but became rich beyond expectation. He was so successful that many important people including two (!) kings became his debtors.

In the fairy tale, Dick sends the cat by the ship. It was a very usual way of trading.

Richard Whittington got permission to export woolen cloth from the king and imported luxury goods like velvet and silk. He built a large part of his fortune by trading but his lending was probably even more important because it gave him leverage on influential people.

The fairy tale explicitly tells that trading is done in another kingdom where the king has a lot of gold but can't get rid of the rats.

Real Whittington also traded with foreign countries. He just didn't rely on one shipment.

We have already mentioned that Dick's wealth came from the king who was thankful for the extermination of mice and rats.

We have also mentioned that the real Richard lent money to real kings. These were Henry IV and Henry V. They both helped him with many permissions he had to acquire to trade specific goods.

Poor boy in the fairy tale almost overnight became so rich he could 'buy nice clothes for himself and presents for everybody in the house of Fitzwarren'. The story ends with his marriage and the statement that he is very rich now.

Richard Whittington became rich and important (four times a mayor of London and member of Parliament, among other achievements). He established many charitable projects during his life and left to charity a huge amount of money (several millions of pounds in today's money. Today, six centuries after his death, some of those projects are still active.

Dick in the fairy tale married Alice, the daughter of his landlord. We expect that they live happily ever after.

In reality, Richard married Alice when he was already way over forty and she was about two decades younger. Their marriage was childless and she died relatively young about a decade before him.

The cat in the story serves as the tool. It kills rodents and is sold to the king overseas.

There is no evidence that the real Richard Whittington ever had a cat. But there is a drawing with Richard and a cat. This picture was made in the 19th century by a printer who didn't like the original painting (made many years after Richard's death by Reginald Elstrack) where the mayor sits with a hand leaning on the skull. The fairy tale with Richard and the cat was already popular in the 19th century and the printer just wanted to meet the expectations of his customers.

My resources and further reading:

https://past-tense.mystrikingly.com/blog/dick-whittington
https://robert-anning-bell.weebly.com/dick-whittington-and-his-cat.html
https://vintageillustrators.weebly.com/aunt-louisa-nursery-favorite.html
https://pippicliparts.wordpress.com/2024/03/14/how-to-convert-a-color-image-to-black-and-white-in-inkscape/