Erection date: 1904
{Beneath the portrait:}
Sir Thomas More
{Above the portrait:}
1478 1535
{On the stained-glass plaque:}
Sir Thomas More, author of "Eutopia", friend of Erasmus and Holbein, lived as Lord Chancellor of England at Eltham. He excelled in sacred learning, & was courageous of the truth, suffering death at hands of his king.
We can find no confirmation that More lived at Eltham, though he probably visited his daughter, Margaret Roper, at her home there. From even before become Lord Chancellor More lived at Chelsea, where easy access to the Thames facilitated his frequent attendances on the King at both Richmond and Greenwich.
Site: Woolwich Town Hall 1 (6 memorials)
SE18, Wellington Street, Greenwich Town Hall
In 1906 this building replaced the previous, also purpose-built, 1842 Woolwich town hall which still survives, nearby, on the corner of Calderwood Street and Polytechnic Street.
Designed by Alfred Brumwell Thomas, this building was built as Woolwich Town Hall which it was until 1965 when, following a shake-up of local councils, it became Greenwich Town Hall, Greenwich having had two previous town halls.
For another window and the Queen Victoria statue see Woolwich Town Hall 2.
We understand there are still more stained-glass windows in the town hall: depicting historic events in the parishes of Woolwich, Plumstead and Eltham and showing Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and the Launching of the ship Henry Grace à Dieu at Woolwich Dockyard in 1514. We could not find them, so they may be in private rooms.
The windows all date from 1904 and are by Geoffrey Webb.
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of plaquesoflondon.co.uk
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