Pre-Great Fire London had seven churches dedicated to the Archangel Michael, all but one (St Michael le Querne) of which were rebuilt after the Great Fire.
 The earliest record of St Michael’s is as St Michael of Paternosterchierch and is dated 1219.
 The suffix comes from its location on Paternoster Lane, (now College Hill), which, in turn was named after the sellers of paternosters – or rosaries – based there.
 The suffix Royal is first recorded in the next century and refers to another nearby street, now vanished, called Le Ryole, which was a corruption of La Reole, a town in Bordeaux.
 This street was so named due to the presence of numerous wine merchants.

A local resident in the early 15th century was Richard Whittington, four times Lord Mayor of London.
 One of his earlier philanthropic acts, made in 1409, was to pay for the rebuilding and extension of St Michael Paternoster Royal after a vacant plot of land was acquired in Le Ryole.
 He later founded the College of St Spirit and St Mary within the church, so that St Michael's became a collegiate church, i.e. it was administered by a college of priests, in this case five, instead of a rector.
 It was commonly known as Whittington's College, or Whittington College.
 (The college was relocated from College Hill to Highgate Hill c. 1820s, and removed again in 1966 to Felbridge, West Sussex.)

Adjacent to the church, Whittington also founded an almshouse.
 The college was dissolved by Edward VI in 1548; but was re-established in a new entity a few years later under Queen Mary.
The title seems in any case to have persisted for the church, giving the names of College Street, and College Hill.
The almshouse moved to Highgate in 1808 and later to its present location in East Grinstead in 1966.

Sir Richard was buried in St Michael’s in 1423 on the south side of the altar near his wife, Alice.
 John Stow records that Whittington’s body was dug up by the then Rector Thomas Mountain, during the reign of Edward VI, in the belief that he had been buried with treasure.
 He was not, so Mountain took his leaden shroud.
 The grave was dug up again during the reign of Mary I and his body re-covered in lead.
 An attempt to find his grave in 1949 did uncover a mummified cat, but no Lord Mayor's body.

Other worthies buried in the pre-Fire church were William Oldhall (d. 1459) Speaker of the House of Commons, the Lord Mayors John Yonge (d. 1466) and William Bayley (d. 1524), Peter Blundell (d. 1601) founder of Blundell's School, (mentioned in Blackmore's novel Lorna Doone) and the Cavalier poet John Cleveland (d. 1658).

After the church’s destruction in the Fire, the parish was united with that of St Martin Vintry, also destroyed but not rebuilt.
 Construction of a new church began in 1685 (one of the last of the 51 churches to be rebuilt) and stopped in 1688 owing to the financial uncertainty associated with the Glorious Revolution.
 Building began again the next year, supervised by Wren's master mason Strong: it was finished in 1694.
  Its steeple was built between 1713 and 1717.
 The cost of the rebuilding totalled  £8,937.

A monument to another Lord Mayor, Sir Samuel Pennant, sculpted by Michael Rysbrack, survives from 1750.
 Pennant died from jail fever caught from prisoners in the court dock.

St Michael’s underwent a number of renovations in the 19th century, by James Elmes in 1820, William Butterfield in 1866 and Ewan Christian in 1894.
 Their work was lost on 23 July 1944 when the church was hit by a V1 flying bomb, leaving only its walls and tower.

Services continued in the remaining shell until 1955.
 A proposal by the diocese to demolish the walls and preserve the tower only was successfully opposed by the City of London Corporation, and the church restored by Elidir Davies between 1966 and 1968.
 It is the latest City church to be restored.

St Michael’s was reopened by the Duke of Edinburgh on 19 December 1968 as the Headquarters of the Mission to Seamen (now Mission to Seafarers), an Anglican organisation which supports chaplains in ports around the world.
It is also support
Pre-Great Fire London had seven churches dedicated to the Archangel Michael, all but one (St Michael le Querne) of which were rebuilt after the Great Fire.  The earliest record of St Michael’s is as St Michael of Paternosterchierch and is dated 1219.  The suffix comes from its location on Paternoster Lane, (now College Hill), which, in turn was named after the sellers of paternosters – or rosaries – based there.  The suffix Royal is first recorded in the next century and refers to another nearby street, now vanished, called Le Ryole, which was a corruption of La Reole, a town in Bordeaux.  This street was so named due to the presence of numerous wine merchants.
A local resident in the early 15th century was Richard Whittington, four times Lord Mayor of London.  One of his earlier philanthropic acts, made in 1409, was to pay for the rebuilding and extension of St Michael Paternoster Royal after a vacant plot of land was acquired in Le Ryole.  He later founded the College of St Spirit and St Mary within the church, so that St Michael's became a collegiate church, i.e. it was administered by a college of priests, in this case five, instead of a rector.  It was commonly known as Whittington's College, or Whittington College.  (The college was relocated from College Hill to Highgate Hill c. 1820s, and removed again in 1966 to Felbridge, West Sussex.)
Adjacent to the church, Whittington also founded an almshouse.  The college was dissolved by Edward VI in 1548; but was re-established in a new entity a few years later under Queen Mary. The title seems in any case to have persisted for the church, giving the names of College Street, and College Hill. The almshouse moved to Highgate in 1808 and later to its present location in East Grinstead in 1966.
Sir Richard was buried in St Michael’s in 1423 on the south side of the altar near his wife, Alice.  John Stow records that Whittington’s body was dug up by the then Rector Thomas Mountain, during the reign of Edward VI, in the belief that he had been buried with treasure.  He was not, so Mountain took his leaden shroud.  The grave was dug up again during the reign of Mary I and his body re-covered in lead.  An attempt to find his grave in 1949 did uncover a mummified cat, but no Lord Mayor's body.
Other worthies buried in the pre-Fire church were William Oldhall (d. 1459) Speaker of the House of Commons, the Lord Mayors John Yonge (d. 1466) and William Bayley (d. 1524), Peter Blundell (d. 1601) founder of Blundell's School, (mentioned in Blackmore's novel Lorna Doone) and the Cavalier poet John Cleveland (d. 1658).
After the church’s destruction in the Fire, the parish was united with that of St Martin Vintry, also destroyed but not rebuilt.  Construction of a new church began in 1685 (one of the last of the 51 churches to be rebuilt) and stopped in 1688 owing to the financial uncertainty associated with the Glorious Revolution.  Building began again the next year, supervised by Wren's master mason Strong: it was finished in 1694.   Its steeple was built between 1713 and 1717.  The cost of the rebuilding totalled  £8,937.
A monument to another Lord Mayor, Sir Samuel Pennant, sculpted by Michael Rysbrack, survives from 1750.  Pennant died from jail fever caught from prisoners in the court dock.
St Michael’s underwent a number of renovations in the 19th century, by James Elmes in 1820, William Butterfield in 1866 and Ewan Christian in 1894.  Their work was lost on 23 July 1944 when the church was hit by a V1 flying bomb, leaving only its walls and tower.
Services continued in the remaining shell until 1955.  A proposal by the diocese to demolish the walls and preserve the tower only was successfully opposed by the City of London Corporation, and the church restored by Elidir Davies between 1966 and 1968.  It is the latest City church to be restored.
St Michael’s was reopened by the Duke of Edinburgh on 19 December 1968 as the Headquarters of the Mission to Seamen (now Mission to Seafarers), an Anglican organisation which supports chaplains in ports around the world. It is also support
St Michael Paternoster Royal