Robert Geffrye

Sir Robert Geffrye (also spelled Geffrey or Geffery) (1613–1703) was an English merchant, slave trader,[1] and Lord Mayor of London for 1685/86.

[2] Geffrye was born to poor parents at Landrake, near Saltash, Cornwall, and moved to London, where he became an eminent East India merchant.

[4] Elected President of Bridewell and Bethlehem Hospitals in March 1692–3, Geffrye was a significant trader in tobacco,[2] part of whose investment was in the Atlantic slave trade as well as partial ownership of a slave ship, the China Merchant.

[6] On his death Geffrye left about £10,000[7] divided in legacies to friends, relatives, hospitals and clergymen's widows, and in establishing certain trusts under the charge of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers.

Sir Robert Geffrye's Trust continues to maintain two almshouses in Hampshire – one at Hook, built in 1976 and enlarged in 1987, and one at Basingstoke that opened in 1984; they give sheltered housing to 125 retired people of limited means.