This medal commemorates the foundation of the City of London School in 1834 by the Corporation of London.  The school was built by the same organization between 1835 and 1837.

The reverse of this medal commemorates John Carpenter, who founded an earlier school on the same site in 1442 and established a fund that paid for the later school. A Town Clerk of the City of London in the reign of Henry V, Carpenter rose in stature, eventually becoming a member of Parliament. In his will Carpenter endowed funds from which originated the City of London School in order to provide for food, apparel and learning for poor children. The establishment of this City of London School itself occurred in 1834, under the architectural direction of James Bunstone Bunning (whose name appears in the exergue of the obverse of this medal).  Bunning was also the architect of the New Coal Exchange.  A new City of London School was opened in 1882.