page_title: Robert Geffrye
hierarchical_section_title: Robert Geffrye
caption_attribution_description: English: The Geffrye Museum Sir Robert Geffrye's will dated February 1703-4, directed that the residue of his real and personal estate should be paid to the Ironmongers' Company to purchase a piece of ground for an almshouse. The building was opened to the public in 1914 as the Geffrye Museum. See http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/
context_page_description: Sir Robert Geffrey was an English merchant, slave trader and Lord Mayor of London.
  He 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. 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 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, "to keep up with shifts in society — and problems pronouncing its name".
  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.
context_section_description: Sir Robert Geffrey (Robert Geffrye) (1613–1703) was an English merchant, slave trader and Lord Mayor of London.
  He 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. 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 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, "to keep up with shifts in society — and problems pronouncing its name".
  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.
caption: The statue of Geffrye at the Geffrye Museum, after an original by John Nost
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