Queen Elizabeth the First - EC1

Born 7th September 1533
Died 24th March 1603

Inscription reads:
Sir Christopher Hatton was born in 1540 and died in 1591. He was Lord Chancellor of England
and according to some, a secret lover of Elizabeth I. She granted him the grounds of Ely Palace
on which Hatton House was built. A generous gift which did much to fuel the rumours. Hatton House
was demolished in the 1600s to make way for a new small town called Hatton Garden: This became the
centre of London’s jewellery trade. By 1850, all of the houses in the area had become a workshop
or a diamond merchant’s {sic}. In 1987, 80% of the world’s diamonds passed through Hatton Garden
where De Beers has its headquarters.