Robert Geffrye

Sir Robert Geffrye (also spelled Geffrey) (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

Geffrye was born at Landrake, near Saltash, Cornwall and moved to London, where he became an eminent East India merchant. Part of Geffrye's investment was in the forced labour and trading of slaves, and he part-owned a slave ship, China Merchant.[2] Geffrye 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 the Museum of the Home (formerly the Geffrye Museum), which has displays of domestic life from 1600 to the present day.[3][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 in the village.[5]

References
  1. "Geffrey, Robert", Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, Volume 10 (wikisource).
  2. "Museum to keep slave-trader statue on building". BBC News. 30 July 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  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.
  5. "Sir Robert Geffery's School". www.ironmongers.org. Retrieved 1 November 2020.


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