Ben Franklin, and All Those Bodies They Dug Out of his Basement
Benjamin Franklin is a figure of historic importance. He is what used to be called a “man of letters” and a polymath, but this only goes so far in explaining how important he was during his life, and how important he remains after his death.
Franklin is a founding father of the United States, for a start. He was one of the writers of the Declaration of Independence, and his signature appears at the bottom of the document.
Putting aside his political contributions, he was also a prolific inventor. Fascinated with electricity, he constructed a lightning rod to harness the energy in thunderstorms, and came up with a crude battery fully fifty years ahead of Alessandro Volta and his pile.
He invented bifocal glasses, and a special “Franklin” stove designed to reduce smoke and promote efficient heat generation. None of his inventions were patented, all were free for anyone to use who so wished.
He was fascinated with population growth both within the fledgeling United States and elsewhere, feeling that an understanding of population trends was essential to good governance. He turned his hand to oceanography, naming the Gulf Stream across the Atlantic.
He was a successful newspaper publisher by the age of 23, and would serve the United States as her first postmaster general. He even invented a way of making decision by writing out a list of pros and cons and weighing them up, something which seems commonplace and obvious today.
He travelled extensively, living for a time in London while America was still a colony of Great Britain. It was here that workmen stumbled across fifteen dead bodies that had been buried in his basement, all while he had lived there.
Wait, What?
It is a troubling detail to attach to the great man’s life, isn’t it? What does it mean? The bones certainly come from Franklin’s time as occupant of the house, situated at 36 Craven Street, near the Strand in the heart of London.
It was not just adult bodies which were found, either. The bodies of at least six children were found in the relatively loose clay earth which makes up the floor of the basement. And ironically, it was Franklin himself who caused the discovery.
Not in his lifetime, to be sure. The first body was not unearthed until 1998, when the building was undergoing restoration as the only surviving house in which Franklin had lived. It was to be opened as a museum to the great man.
The find was entirely unexpected and raised many questions as to a potential hidden part of Franklin’s life. Could he have been a serial killer, stalking the streets of London before making good his escape?
Sadly, the reality is likely to be much more prosaic. Although Franklin himself was not particularly interested in matters medical, he had an associate who was, named William Hewson.
Hewson is remembered today as the “father of haematology” for his isolation of the protein fibrin in blood and his work on coagulation. He was a close acquaintance of Franklin, living in the same house for two years and marrying Franklin’s friend Mary Stevenson.
Hewson also ran a small private anatomy school from the back rooms of 36 Craven Street, which is believed to be the reason for the bodies. It is thought that he would take receipt of cadavers for his classes and then, once they were too far gone to be useful as test subjects, he disposed on them by burying them downstairs.
This is supported by the bodies themselves, several of which show evidence of dissection. It seems beyond belief today that human corpses would be buried in a house amongst the living, but for Hewson it was done simply for convenience’s sake.
Franklin, of course, must have known of the bodies beneath his feet but for some reason this prodigious man of letters never thought to mention it in any of his copious correspondence, much of which survives. An odd omission, that even in passing.
Was there something untoward about Hewson leaving the bodies down there? Had he come into possession of them through underhand means? Graverobbers and unscrupulous mortuary attendants could make good money passing on corpses to medical students.
And, of course, this is only the explanation which most readily fits the facts. We do not know for sure why there are dead bodies buried in Benjamin Franklin’s basement, and although it does look like they were anatomy subjects all we can truly say is that when Franklin left the house to return to the colonies he left behind fifteen more dead people than were there when he arrived.
Header Image: When Benjamin Franklin moved out of his digs in London, he left behind fifteen bodies buried in his basement. Source: Joyofmuseums / CC BY-SA 4.0.
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