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City subjects: great names from the City’s past

The City has been home, birthplace and final resting stop for some of the nation’s greatest. Here’s ten.

Image: a blue plaque reading, 'St Thomas A Becket was born in a house near this spot

1 Saint Thomas Becket c.1118-1170

Saint, martyr and Archbishop of Canterbury (1162-1170); born in Cheapside.

2 Richard (Dick) Whittington c.1350-1423

Mercer (dealer in costly fabrics such as silk), wool merchant, royal financier and Lord Mayor of the City of London three times (in 1397, 1406 and 1419).

Image: a bust of Shakespeare which can be found in St Mary Aldermanbury Garden

3 William Shakespeare 1564-1616

Playwright, poet, actor; lived in the parish of St Helen's Bishopsgate in the mid 1590s and, in 1604, in Cripplegate. His play Twelfth Night was first performed in Middle Temple Hall.

4 John Milton 1608-1674

Poet and polemicist (author of Paradise Lost); born in a house on Bread Street off Cheapside and educated at St Paul’s School.

Image: St Paul's Cathedral, designed by architect Sir Christopher Wren

5 Sir Christopher Wren 1632-1723

Architect of many City landmarks including The Monument, St Paul's Cathedral and a large number of the City’s churches; lived in Walbrook where the parish church he designed still stands (listed by Pevsner as one of the ten most important buildings in England); buried in St Paul’s Cathedral.

6 Samuel Pepys 1633-1703

Diarist, English naval administrator and MP; born in Salisbury Court off Fleet Street, baptised at St Bride’s Church, educated at St Paul’s School and buried at St Olave’s, Hart Street.

Image: St Bartholomew the Great where Hogarth was baptised

7 William Hogarth 1697-1764

Painter and printmaker (of Rake’s Progress fame); born in a house on Bartholomew Close and baptised in the church of St Bartholomew the Great.

Image: Dr Johnson's house in Gough Square where he compiled his dictionary

8 Samuel Johnson (Dr Johnson) 1709-1784

Essayist, poet, biographer, critic and lexicographer; lived at 17 Gough Square (1748-1759) where he compiled the first comprehensive English dictionary.

9 Isabella Mary Mayson (Mrs Beeton) 1836-1865

Cookery writer and author of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management; born in Milk Street, off Cheapside.

10 Sir John Betjeman 1906-1984

Poet Laureate, broadcaster; lived at 43-44 Cloth Fair.