John Julius Angerstein (1735-1822), London merchant, Lloyd's under-writer, and patron of the fine arts, was born in St Petersburg, Russia (it has - wrongly - been suggested that he was an illegitimate son of Catherine the Great!) and settled in London about 1749. Events 16 April - The London premiere of Alcina by George Frideric Handel, his first the first Italian opera for the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. ... 1822 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... St Stevens Tower - The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster which contains Big Ben London (see also different names) is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... Lloyds of London is a British insurance market. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the delta of the river Neva at the east end of the Gulf of Finland... Catherine II (Екатерина II Алексеевна: Yekaterína II Alekséyevna, April 21, 1729 - November 6, 1796), born Sophie Augusta Fredericka, known as Catherine the Great, reigned as empress of Russia from June 28, 1762, to her death on November 6, 1796. ... Events While in debtors prison, John Cleland writes Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure). ...

In his role as a merchant he was said to own a third share in slave estates in Grenada, using profits from the slave trade to build up his art collection (and also benefitting from Lloyd's underwriting of the slave trade).

His collection of paintings, consisting of about forty of the most exquisite specimens of the art, purchased by the British government, after his death, formed the nucleus of the National Gallery. The National Gallery from Trafalgar Square The National Gallery is an art gallery in London, located on the north side of Trafalgar Square. ...

He lived for some years in Greenwich in south-east London, building a house, Woodlands, in 1774 in an area now known as Westcombe Park, part of a wide area on the north-eastern fringes of Blackheath that he sought to enclose in 1801. Greenwich (pronounced gren-itch , or by the locals) is a town, now part of the south eastern urban sprawl of London, on the south bank of the river Thames in the London Borough of Greenwich. ... Westcombe Park is a largely residential area close to the Blackheath Standard area of Blackheath in the London Borough of Greenwich. ... Blackheath is a place in London, divided between the London Borough of Lewisham and the London Borough of Greenwich (the borough boundary runs across the middle of the heath, with the Village in Lewisham and the Blackheath Standard area and Westcombe Park in Greenwich), whose name derives from the dark...

In 1972, his house, now owned by the local council, the London Borough of Greenwich, opened - appropriately enough - as an art gallery, the Woodlands Art Gallery. (In late 2003, there were fears that the Gallery might have to close; the council was seeking new funding for the adjacent Mycenae House and proposals included closure of the Gallery and redevelopment of the building.) The London Borough of Greenwich is a London borough in southeast London, formed in 1965 my merging the former metropolitan boroughs of Greenwich and Woolwich. ... Woodlands Art Gallery is housed in a Georgian villa, next door to Mycenae House, in the Westcombe Park area of Greenwich, London. ...

An active churchgoer, Angerstein worshipped in Greenwich town centre at St Alfege's Church - where he was also churchwarden. St. ... A Churchwarden is a lay official in an Anglican parish. ...

His connections with the borough are still remembered. Angerstein Lane, near the heath at Blackheath, bears his name. A public house, The Angerstein, is on Woolwich Road, close to the Woolwich flyover (Blackwall Tunnel A102(M) southern approach) - on the opposite side of which lies the Angerstein Business Park (owned by Greenwich Enterprise Board). Just behind this, is the 'Angerstein Railway Line' (in 2003 believed to be only used for commercial freight, mainly aggregate transport) linking the peninsula at north Greenwich with the main railway network; as a result, an area of largely industrial land in between the lines to the east of the A102(M) is still sometimes referred to as the 'Angerstein Triangle'. The Blackwall Tunnel is a road tunnel underneath the River Thames in London, linking the London Borough of Greenwich with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. ...