Kenway Mansion

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The Kenway Mansion

The Kenway Mansion was the London estate of the Kenway family following the pirate-turned-Assassin Edward Kenway's return to England from the Caribbean.

History

18th century

After he was pardoned by Robert Walpole, Edward Kenway and his daughter Jennifer Scott moved to London. He purchased the manor on Queen Anne's Square with help from Tessa Stephenson-Oakley, whom he eventually married. Though no longer a pirate, Kenway kept memorabilia of his life on the sea at the mansion, including a secret basement vault which concealed Assassin history and other mementos, such as the wheel of his old ship the Jackdaw.

In 1735, the mansion was attacked by mercenaries under the employ of the Templar Reginald Birch. Kenway was killed and the house was set ablaze. Afterwards, Tessa allowed Birch to take legal guardianship of her son with Edward, Haytham, unaware of Birch's role in the attack. She oversaw repairs to the mansion and passed away following a fall in 1747. After Birch's death at the hands of Haytham, who had become a Templar himself, and Jennifer ten years later, Jennifer returned to Queen's Anne Square to live in the mansion as a spinster, but only kept a skeleton staff to maintain the place.

In April 1788, the French Templar Élise de la Serre and her maidservant Hélène infiltrated the mansion at the behest of Peter Carroll and his wife. Disguised as "Yvonne Albertine" and her maidservant, respectively, Élise and Hélène were tasked by the Carrolls to retrieve Haytham Kenway's letters, missives written to Jennifer during Haytham's time in the Colonies and hidden within the house. Although claiming to be requesting a favor by having Élise retrieve the letters, in reality the Carrolls saw the documents as treasonous and wished to destroy them, since they detailed Haytham's dream of ending the Assassin-Templar War by uniting the two Orders.

When Jennifer and Élise left the house on a visit to Hyde Park, during which Jennifer told the young woman the history of the Kenways, Hélène used the opportunity to search the house once more for the letters. Though caught and apprehended by the household staff, she refused to tell them anything that would break the ruse. Returning from the outing to the games room, Jennifer revealed she had investigated Élise's story as "Yvonne", saying not only was the name an alias for a nonexistent person, but that the Carrolls had murdered Lucio Albertine and his mother some weeks earlier. Despite equal animosity towards Assassins and Templars alike for the indiscriminate violence wrought in their perpetual conflict, Jennifer believed Élise could learn from Haytham's words and ultimately decided to give her the letters, but on the conditions that the Templars leave Jennifer alone for the remainder of her life, and that Élise would attempt to unite both factions.

19th century

The Templars, out of respect for Haytham, let the mansion be. However, they quietly bought the estate after Jennifer Scott's death in 1805. Decades later, in 1868, the mansion was infiltrated by the Assassins Evie Frye and Henry Green in search of clues to the whereabouts of Precursor artifacts, specifically a Shroud of Eden. There, they found Edward's vault, but had to abandon it to avoid being caught by the Templar Lucy Thorne.

In 1888, twenty years after Evie and her brother Jacob had weakened the British Templars' hold over London, Lady Olwyn Owers hosted a meeting at the Kenway Mansion to make an announcement regarding her efforts to save prostitutes in Whitechapel from their sinful ways. In her investigations into the actions of Jack the Ripper, the Master Assassin Evie Frye infiltrated the meeting, where she learned from Nellie that Lady Owers was providing information to Jack via her network of brothels, allowing the killer to rule the streets of London through fear.

Staff

• Jack Digweed – Edward's valet (c. 1723 – 3 December 1735)
• Ms. Davy – Tessa's lady's maid (unknown – 3 December 1735)
• Fayling – Haytham's tutor (unknown – 3 December 1735)
• Edith † – Haytham's nursemaid (unknown – 3 December 1735)
• Betty – Edith’s assistant (unknown – 3 December 1735)
• Emily – Chambermaid (unknown – 3 December 1735)
• Mrs. Searle – Kitchen staff (unknown – 3 December 1735)
• Three unnamed assistants to Searle (unknown – 3 December 1735)
• Smith – Jennifer's butler (1788)
• Mills – Jennifer's footman (1788)