Freud House is named after Anna Freud the pioneer of child psychoanalysis. She lived and worked at 20 Maresfield Gardens, Hampstead for over 44 years. Born in Vienna, she was the youngest child of Sigmund Freud and worked with him before starting her own psychoanalytic practice.
Anna and her father escaped from Austria to London 1938 and after the outbreak of the Second World War, set up the Hampstead War Nursery to provide foster care to children. This became the Hampstead Child Therapy Course and Clinic and established her international reputation. The clinic offered psychoanalysis for disturbed children and established the world’s first full time training course on child psychotherapy in 1947. Now called the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, it is a centre for training, therapy and research.
She made important contributions in the field of psychology and is regarded as the founder of psychoanalytic child psychology.
Harrison house is named after John Harrison (1693-1776) a carpenter and clock maker who invented the marine chronometer, a device for solving the problem of establishing longitude (a ship’s position east or west) at sea He lived in Red Lion Square, Holborn and is buried in the Churchyard at Hampstead Parish Church on Church Row, Hampstead.
Establishing longitude was considered so important, the British Parliament offered a prize to anyone who could solve it. Harrison worked on the problem all his life and made many advances in time keeping technology. Toward the end of his life, he gained recognition and reward from Parliament and his invention is considered to have revolutionised navigation and improved safety of long distance sea travel, opening up trade and travel globally. His timepieces are on display at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich and the Science Museum.
Robeson House is named after the African American singer, actor and political activist Paul Robeson who was one of the first black performers to achieve world renown. At the peak of his fame in 1929-1930 he lived at The Chestnuts, 1 Branch Hill, Hampstead.
Paul Robeson was born in Princeton, New Jersey, USA, the son of an escaped slave. He studied law at Columbia University where he was also a highly successful football player. When racism shut him out of the legal profession, he turned to the stage. He appeared in Show Boat in London, followed by a hugely successful appearance as Othello. The play moved to Broadway and became the longest running Shakespeare production of all time.
He was highly politically engaged and became a leading figure in the struggle against colonialism, facism and racism.
