1938 UK: American Room

The Fydell House has been a Boston, Lincolnshire fixture since 1702 and was put up for sale after the death of George Fydell Rowley in October 1933. The vicar of St. Botolph’s, Canon Arthur Malcom Cook and John Holman-Sutcliffe (a local barrister) purchased the house to save Boston’s architectural heritage from demolition.

In July 1934, Canon Cook organized a meeting to establish a fund-raising committee that included a number of Americans and a few months later, £1,600 (10%) of the purchase price had been raised. On 10 July 1935, the Boston Preservation Trust was established and the Fydell House was placed under its guardianship. On the 18^th of July 1938, US Ambassador to Great Britain, Joseph P. Kennedy visited Boston, Lincolnshire and formally dedicated the American Room of the Fydell House.

The American Room has portraits of several migrants from Boston, Lincolnshire that helped found the city of Boston, Massachusetts including Simon Bradstreet, Richard Bellingham, and John and Thomas Leverett.