Margaret Rooke Stevenson
Landlady to Benjamin Franklin
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Margaret Rooke Stevenson (1706–1783) was a British landlady and close friend of Benjamin Franklin. Franklin rented rooms from her during both of his stays in London: 1757–1762 and 1764–1775.[1]
She was married to Addinell Stevenson, a merchant, and they had one child, Mary (better known as Polly), in 1739.[2] Her husband died in about 1747.[2] After his death, Stevenson and her daughter moved to 36 Craven Street, near Charing Cross, London, and began letting rooms to lodgers.[1] The listed building is now known as Benjamin Franklin House.[3]
Her most famous tenant was American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, who rented a suite of four rooms in the house beginning in 1757.[2] The widowed Stevenson took on many of the social responsibilities of a wife for Franklin: she accompanied him to functions around London and hosted dinner parties with him.[2] In a letter to his wife Deborah (who remained in Philadelphia), Franklin called Stevenson "a certain very great Lady, the best Woman in England".[4]
Even though Stevenson found writing an "oddieus taske", she maintained an active correspondence with Franklin while he returned to America.[1][5] After Franklin's wife died in 1774 Stevenson hoped that he might marry her, but this did not happen.[6]
Stevenson died in 1783.