Benjamin Franklin House, London

Right in the center of London, a few blocks from Trafalgar Square, behind the famous Sherlock Holmes Pub, is the Benjamin Franklin House at 36 Craven Street.  Believe it or not, but it is the only surviving house that Benjamin Franklin ever lived in!  His boyhood home in Boston is gone, as well as his house in Philadelphia. 

Franklin lived here for sixteen years as a diplomat in England from 1757 to 1775.  While he was here he served as Deputy Postmaster for the Colonies (which his wife, Deborah, fulfilled back in Philadelphia), explored science, and music.  Franklin was a Fellow of the Royal Society and perhaps the most famous scientist of his day while he lived in London. 

The house was built about 1730.  Today it serves as a museum house, science center for children, an archive for Franklin’s papers, and for public events.  There are architectural tours, special lectures, and on Tuesdays (when the house is closed to the public) there are science events for young students. 

The Benjamin Franklin House website:  http://www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org 

A good book to read:

Benjamin Franklin in London: The British Life of America’s Founding Father, by George Goodwin, Yale University Press, 2016 (George Goodwin is currently the author in residence at the Benjamin Franklin House in London). 

Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790) is my 1^st cousin, 8 generations removed.  His mother, Abiah Folger, who married Josiah Franklin, is the sister to Bathsheba Folger, who married Joseph Pope, my 7^th great grandparents.   Peter Folger (1617- 1690) and Mary Morrill (1623 – 1704) are the parents of the two Folger sisters, and my common ancestors with Benjamin Franklin.

Here is the FOLGER Surname Saturday post from 2014 that shows my FOLGER lineage:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/11/surname-saturday-folger-of-watertown.html 

Click here for all my FOLGER posts:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Folger 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Benjamin Franklin House, London”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 3, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/05/benjamin-franklin-house-london.html: accessed [access date]).