Mary Stevenson Hewson

Mary "Polly" Stevenson Hewson (15 June 1739 – 14 October 1795) was a self-educated English polymath and friend and correspondent of Benjamin Franklin. Franklin lived in her home as a boarder during both of his stays in London: 1757–1762 and 1764–1775.

She was born on 15 June 1739 to Margaret (–1783) and Addinell Stevenson (d. ). Her father died while she was young and her middle-class mother let rooms to lodgers in their home at 36 Craven Street, near Charing Cross. Their correspondence indicate that Stevenson selected topics she wished to study, and Franklin obliged to share his knowledge with her. but in 1769 she informed Franklin that she'd met an anatomist, William Hewson, whom she would marry the next year. The marriage was short, as her husband died only four years later.

Stevenson and Franklin continued corresponding until his death in 1790. Stevenson died in 1795.