The Milk Street mystery: Thomas More’s birthplace

Abstract

Cresacre More’s assertion that Thomas More was born at Milk Street has frequently been taken at face value, and there is no existing scholarly discussion of its veracity. This article begins by laying out the material which supports the case for Milk Street, namely that More’s father, John More, lived there. However, this evidence only places John More at Milk Street in the 1520s or, at the earliest, in 1499. On the other hand, there is significant archival evidence to suggest that John More raised his family near where he and More’s mother married, at St Giles without Cripplegate. The suggestion that the Mores lived in the extramural area around Cripplegate fits with recent research into these areas and lifecycle mobility around London. This article contends that the balance of evidence weighs more heavily against a location on Milk Street as the birthplace for Thomas More, and toward one in Cripplegate without.