Robert Geffrye

Sir Robert Geffrey (Robert Geffrye) (1613–1703) was an English merchant, slave trader and Lord Mayor of London.[1]

The statue of Geffrye at the Geffrye Museum, after an original by John Nost

He was born at Landrake, near Saltash, Cornwall and moved to London, where he became an eminent East India merchant, and slave trader[2], and was knighted in 1673. He was also Master of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers, appointed a Sheriff of London in 1674 and elected Lord Mayor of London in 1685.

Under his bequest 14 almshouses, mainly for widows of ironmongers, were constructed in 1715 in Shoreditch. The almshouses now house what was formerly known as the Geffrye Museum; it was announced in 2019 that, following renovation, it would be renamed the Museum of the Home,[3] "to keep up with shifts in society — and problems pronouncing its name".[4]

In his will he also left money to the school master and the poor of Landrake and St Erney in Cornwall. Today there is a Sir Robert Geffery's School [sic] in the village.

References
  1. "Geffrey, Robert", Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, Volume 10 (wikisource).
  2. Geffrye Museum | Our Story
  3. Mark Brown, "Geffrye to reopen as Museum of the Home after £18m overhaul", The Guardian, 27 November 2019.
  4. David Sanderson, "Tongue-twister Geffrye museum of the home clears its name", The Times, 27 November 2019.


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