Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey was an English magistrate whose mysterious death caused anti-Catholic uproar in England. Contemporary documents also spell the name Edmundbury Godfrey.
A print depicting the murder of Godfrey
Godfrey coat of arms
Contemporary newspaper with the headline "Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey's Murder Made Visible".
Anti-papist pipe tamper with the head of the pope inscribed with "The church subverted takes on the face of the Devil" and Edmund Godfrey with "E(dmundbury) Godfrey by his death re-established the state", 1678.
Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace originally belonging to the Duke of Somerset. The present Somerset House was designed by Sir William Chambers, begun in 1776, and was further extended with Victorian era outer wings to the east and west in 1831 and 1856 respectively. The site of Somerset House stood directly on the River Thames until the Victoria Embankment parkway was built in the late 1860s.
Courtyard of Somerset House from the North Wing entrance (September 2007)
The Somerset House Conference 19 August 1604
Old Somerset House, in a drawing by Jan Kip published in 1722, was a sprawling and irregular complex with wings from different periods in a mixture of styles. The buildings behind all four square gardens belong to Somerset House.
The Thames from the Terrace of Somerset House Looking Towards St. Paul's, c. 1750 by Canaletto
