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. It was located in Queen Anne's Square in London, England.

History[]

18th century[]

After he was pardoned by Robert Walpole, Edward Kenway and his daughter Jennifer Scott moved to London.^[1] He purchased the manor on Queen Anne's Square with help from Tessa Stephenson-Oakley, whom he eventually married.^[2] 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 helm of his old ship the Jackdaw.^[3]

In 1735, the mansion was attacked by mercenaries under the employ of the British 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.^[2] 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.^[4]

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. Posing as "Yvonne Albertine" and her aide, the two women had been tasked to retrieve Haytham Kenway's letters, missives written to Jennifer during Haytham's time in the Colonies that were kept somewhere in the house.^[4]

During their visit, Jennifer took Élise to Hyde Park, where she told the young woman her family's history; in the mean time, Hélène used the opportunity to search the house for the letters. Although she ended up being 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 that she had investigated "Yvonne" and concluded she did not exist.^[4]

In addition, she informed Élise that the Carrolls had murdered Lucio Albertine and his mother some weeks earlier. Despite equal animosity towards the Assassins and the Templars 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, on the conditions that the Templars leave Jennifer alone for the remainder of her life, and that Élise would attempt to unite both factions.^[4]

19th century[]

ACS Playing It by Ear 6 — Evie and Henry uncovering the entrance to Edward's vault

Out of respect for Haytham, the Templars stayed away from the mansion, at least until the death of Jennifer Scott in 1805, following which they quietly purchased the estate. Decades later, in 1868, the mansion was infiltrated by the Assassins Evie Frye and Henry Green, who were in search of clues to the whereabouts of Precursor artifacts, specifically a Shroud of Eden. Their investigation led them to uncover Edward's secret vault, but they were forced to abandon it to avoid being caught by the Templar Lucy Thorne.^[5]

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.^[6]