Benjamin Loxley

Loxley Place court entrance from Arch Street

A depiction of Benjamin Loxley house in Philadelphia at 177 South Second Street.

Loxley built a home in Philadelphia around 1744 which became known as Loxley's Place.[3] He constructed a second group of houses known as Loxley's Court.[3] One of his houses was on 177 South Second Street and known as the Benjamin Loxley house.[3][4]

Loxley then became a partner with carpenter William Henderson.[2] He was a member of the Carpenters' Company of the City and County of Philadelphia with architects Thomas Nevell and Robert Smith.[2] They purchased a lot on Chestnut Street for the Carpenters' Company and built the Carpenters' Hall there.[5]

Pennsylvania did not have an official militia, since it had been founded by pacifist Quakers, and so prominent Pennsylvanians like Benjamin Franklin established a voluntary organization, known as the Philadelphia Associators, to help defend the province. Loxely had joined the Associators by 1742, and would serve for the next thirty years, primarily as an artillery officer. He trained recruits during King George's War (1744–1748).[6] With the coming of the French and Indian War in 1754, Loxely was appointed captain lieutenant in the Associators. He received training in artillery from British officers and in turn trained other colonists.[7]

In 1758, when British General John Forbes was preparing an expedition into western Pennsylvania to expel the French, he put Loxley in charge of military supplies stored in Philadelphia.[8] Loxley did not see action in the French and Indian War, but in 1764, a frontier vigilante mob known as the Paxton Boys marched on Philadelphia. Loxley arranged his cannons and artillerymen in the streets while Franklin negotiated with the Paxton leaders, which ended the crisis.[9]

With the coming of the American Revolution, one of Loxley's first acts was to turn over the city stores he was in charge to the Patriots, who were then labeled "Rebels" by the British. He was elected to the Philadelphia Committee of Safety in 1775.[10] After news was received of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Philadelphia Associators was reorganized, with Captain Loxley placed in command of the 174 men of the 1st Company of the Artillery Battalion under Major Samuel Mifflin.[10][11]

In July 1776, Loxley took his company in boats down the Delaware River to an engagement with British gunboats at the Battle of Red Bank.[12] He was promoted to the rank of major in August 1776.[13]