Why was Benjamin Franklin rumoured to be a serial killer?

What exactly was discovered at Benjamin Franklin's former home?

Following decades of neglect, the property at Craven Street underwent conservation in the late 1990s. But work came to a halt when a series of human and animal bones were unearthed at the back of the site. This area had originally been a garden some two centuries earlier.

About 1,200 bones from an estimated 15 individuals were eventually recovered from a small pit.

A coroner determined the bones were more than 100 years old, negating the need for a criminal inquest. Subsequent scientific analysis determined them to be over 200 years old.

Why were there bones at 36 Craven Street?

One crucial find among the pile of bones was the discovery of a turtle’s spine and traces of mercury. This gave a tangible link to William Hewson, one of the most capable anatomists of the late 18th century. In 1770, he had demonstrated the flow of mercury through a turtle to the Royal Society in London.

Hewson was the son-in-law of Margaret Stevenson, the owner of 36 Craven Street and Benjamin Franklin’s landlady. Throughout this time, Hewson used Craven Street as an anatomy school, discarding the remnants of his experiments in the garden.

Georgian London was an unsanitary and dangerous city with a high mortality rate. Although the bodies of convicts executed for murder were earmarked for dissection, the capital hosted a thriving illegal trade in cadavers, courtesy of so-called ‘resurrectionists’, also known as ‘body snatchers’.

• Read more | 10 dangers of Georgian London

In May 1774, Hewson contracted septicaemia during a dissection and died. When Franklin wrote of news to his wife Deborah (who had remained in Philadelphia), he described the young surgeon in glowing terms as “an excellent young Man, ingenious, industrious, useful, and belov’d by all that knew him”.

Why was Benjamin Franklin in London?

Franklin is best known to posterity as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, and later ambassador to France, securing the Franco-American alliance with his grandson, William Temple Franklin. But prior to the American Revolutionary War, the polymath had spent several years living in London as a colonial emissary of the Pennsylvania Assembly.

Though born in Boston, Massachusetts, for nearly 16 years between 1757 and 1775 he resided at 36 Craven Street. As well as political matters, Franklin’s time in London saw him pursue many of his literary and scientific interests. It was in this period that he constructed a musical instrument – the glass armonica – which remains one of his most famous inventions.

• Read more | Benjamin Franklin’s greatest inventions – and famous kite experiment

The polymath was also known to indulge in ‘air bathing’ at the house. This involved him sitting nude in front of an open window, confident that the airflow invigorated his health and wellbeing.

Throughout his long stay in London, Franklin grew close to Margaret Stevenson and her daughter, Polly. When Polly married Hewson, it was Franklin who walked her down the aisle. He later became godfather to their first child, William.

Even after the American Declaration of Independence, Franklin maintained a close correspondence with the family, and, Polly, who later emigrated to the new United States, was at his bedside when he died on 17 April 1790 in Philadelphia.

Is 36 Craven Street still standing today?

Today, 36 Craven Street holds the distinction as the only building left standing on either side of the Atlantic that Franklin once called home. It now hosts the Benjamin Franklin House museum.