Heritage Gallery Exhibition

London teenager Stephen Lawrence, who was killed in a racially motivated murder in 1993, and City philanthropist and four-times Mayor of London, Richard Whittington, are remembered at this new exhibition on display at the City of London Heritage Gallery from 20 January.

John Roan School: report from headteacher following the murder of Stephen Lawrence

Stephen Lawrence and Richard Whittington deaths - nearly six centuries apart – have provided important legacies for London and the UK; one, for raising awareness of systematic failures in police investigations into race crimes; the other, for how an individual’s vast fortune was able to provide much-needed support for poor and vulnerable Londoners.

The display includes a report by the headteacher of John Roan School in Greenwich, following Stephen Lawrence’s death. Brief and starkly worded, the minutes from a meeting at the school refer to its student’s murder committed by individuals motivated by racism.

Richard Whittington Display

Richard Whittington’s display comprises his last will and testament, his seal on a receipt for a manor house in Hertfordshire, and a book recording his third election as Mayor in 1406 and showing his decorated coat of arms.

LCC Bomb Damage Map

The third item in the trio of displays is a Bomb Damage Map, showing the extent of damage to Rotherhithe and part of the Isle of Dogs during a German Luftwaffe raid in September 1940.

Produced by London County Council, the maps surveyed and recorded bomb damage inflicted on London during the Second World War and are now used by architects, surveyors, geologists, town planners, and local and family historians.

Crossrail engineers have used them to try and identify where unexploded ordnance may still be found underneath London’s twenty-first century streets.

We recommend that you book a free general admission ticket to gain entry to the Heritage Gallery.