The FitzWarins of Wantage
The FitzWarin family were lords in Wantage for much of the Middle Ages. The Victoria County History traces one of the town’s manors to Fulk FitzWarin before 1224, and a later branch held another Wantage manor from the mid-fourteenth century. Sir William FitzWarin, who died in 1361, lies under an altar tomb with alabaster effigies in the parish church, and planned a chantry there. His son, Sir Ivo (also written Ives) FitzWarin, held lands across several counties, with his main seat at Caundle Haddon in Dorset, as well as property in Wantage. Ivo’s will provided for a daily Mass at the altar of St John the Baptist in Wantage church.
Alice and Richard Whittington
Alice was one of Sir Ivo’s two daughters and co-heirs. In 1402, when she was probably in her early twenties, she married Richard Whittington, a wealthy London mercer then around 48 years old. Whittington came from Pauntley in Gloucestershire, not from Wantage. He was Mayor of London four times: appointed in 1397 and elected in 1397, 1406 and 1419.
Settlements made at the marriage gave the couple estates in Somerset and Wiltshire. Alice fell ill in 1409 and died in 1410 or 1411, before her father, leaving no children. Her sister Eleanor became sole heir to their father’s estates. Whittington never remarried, and having no heirs, he left his fortune to charitable works in London, including almshouses and the rebuilding of Newgate prison.
From history to pantomime
Alice’s name survives in the Dick Whittington pantomime, where ‘Alice Fitzwarren’ is the daughter of Dick’s merchant master. The story of the poor boy, the cat and the bells of Bow grew up long after the real Whittington’s death, but it kept the name of his wife’s family.
What to see locally
- Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul, Wantage: a full-length brass of an armed knight, Sir Ivo FitzWarin (died 1414), in the north transept, and the altar tomb of Sir William FitzWarin with alabaster effigies.
There is no record that Alice was born or buried in Wantage. Her link to the town is through her father and family.