Jane Franklin
Encyclopedia
Jane, Lady Franklin was an early Tasmania
n pioneer, traveller and second wife of the explorer John Franklin
.
Jane was the second daughter of John Griffin, a liveryman and later a governor of the Goldsmith's Company
, and his wife Jane Guillemard. There was Huguenot
blood on both sides of her family. She was born in London, where she was raised with her sisters Jane and Mary at the family house, 21 Bedford Place. She was well educated, and her father being well-to-do had her education completed by much travel on the continent. Her portrait painted when she was 24 by Amelie Romilly at Geneva
shows her to have been a pretty girl with charm and vivacity. Jane Franklin Hall
is a residential college in Hobart, Tasmania, that was named in honour of her.
, who died early in 1825. In 1828, Griffin became engaged to him. They were married on 5 November 1828 and in 1829 he was knighted. During the next three years, she was parted for lengthy periods from her husband who was on service in the Mediterranean. In 1836, he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Tasmania
disembarking the immigrant ship Fairlie on 6 January 1837.
and Sydney. In April that year, she visited the new settlement at Melbourne
, where she received an address signed by 63 of the leading citizens which referred to her "character for kindness, benevolence and charity". With her husband, she encouraged the founding of secondary schools for both boys and girls. In 1841, she visited South Australia
and persuaded the governor, Colonel George Gawler
, to set aside some ground overlooking Spencer Gulf
for a monument to Matthew Flinders
. This was set up later in the year. In 1841-42, she was the first European woman to travel overland from Hobart
to Macquarie Harbour
.
She had much correspondence with Elizabeth Fry
about the female convicts, and did what she could to ameliorate their lot. She was accused of using undue influence with her husband in his official acts but there is no evidence of this. No doubt he was glad to have her help in solving his problems, and probably they collaborated in the founding of the scientific society which afterwards developed into the Royal Society of Tasmania
. When Franklin was recalled at the end of 1843, they went first to Melbourne by the schooner Flying Fish and then to England by way of New Zealand on board the barque Rajah.
Their popularity was such in the Australian colonies that when it was learned that Lady Franklin was organising an expedition using the auxiliary steamship Isabel
in 1852, subscriptions were taken up and those in Van Diemens Land alone totalled £1671 13/4.
Lady Franklin sponsored seven expeditions to find her husband or his records (two of which failed to reach the Arctic):
By means of sponsorship, use of influence and by offering sizeable rewards for information about him, she instigated or supported many other searches. Her efforts made the expedition's fate one of the most vexed questions of the decade. Ultimately evidence was found by Francis McClintock in 1859 that Sir John had died twelve years previously in 1847. Prior accounts had suggested that, in the end, the expedition had turned to cannibalism
to survive, but Lady Franklin refused to believe these stories and poured scorn on explorer John Rae
, who had in fact been the first person to return with definite news of her husband's fate.
Although McClintock had found conclusive evidence that Sir John Franklin and his fellow expeditioners were dead, Lady Franklin remained convinced that their written records might remain buried in a cache in the Arctic. She shared this opinion with fellow expedition sponsor Henry Grinnell
of New York, and the two corresponded regularly. She provided moral and some financial support for some later expeditions that planned to seek the records, including those of William Parker Snow
and Charles Francis Hall
in the 1860s. Finally, in 1874 she joined forces with Allen Young
to purchase and fit out the former steam gunboat HMS Pandora
to undertake another expedition to the region around Prince of Wales Island. The expedition left London in June 1875, but Lady Franklin herself died in London on 18 July 1875. At her funeral on 29 July, the pall-bearers included Captains McClintock, Collinson
and Ommanney
, R.N., while many other "Old Arctics" engaged in the Franklin searches were also in attendance. The Pandora expedition returned in December, unsuccessful, as ice prevented her from passing west of the Franklin Channel.
Lady Franklin was a woman of unusual character and personality. One of the earliest women in Tasmania who had had the full benefit of education and cultural surroundings, she was both an example and a force, and set a new standard in ways of living to the more prosperous settlers who were now past the stage of merely struggling for a living. Her determined efforts, in connection with which she spent a great deal of her own money to discover the fate of her husband, incidentally added much to the world's knowledge of the arctic regions.
Lady Franklin herself travelled to Out Stack
, the northernmost of the British isles, to get as close as she could to her missing husband.
From soon after her husband sailed on his final voyage until shortly before her own death, Lady Franklin herself travelled extensively around the world, generally accompanied by her husband's niece Sophia Cracroft, who remained her secretary and companion until her death. Most of Lady Franklin's surviving papers are held by the Scott Polar Research Institute
.
The ballad Lady Franklin's Lament
commemorated Lady Franklin's search for her lost husband. It was said: 'What the nation would not do, a woman did'.
The Lady Franklin Museum is a classical temple built by Lady Franklin in 1842, and named Ancanthe, 'blooming valley'. Wife of Lt-Governor Franklin, Lady Franklin was shocked at Tasmania's lack of cultural institutions, and colonists' indifference. She built the temple as a museum, and left 400 acres (1.6 km²) in trust to ensure the continuance of what she hoped would become the focus of the colony's cultural aspirations. A century of apathy and forsaken duty by the administrators of the Anglican Church and the city of Hobart followed, with the museum used as an apple shed among other functions; but in 1949 it was made the home of the Art Society of Tasmania, who rescued the building. In its arcadian setting at Lenah Valley, it sits like a 'tiny Temple of Athene' – at once ineffable and enchanting.
On 29 October 2009 a special service of thanksgiving was held in the chapel at the Old Royal Naval College
in Greenwich, to accompany the rededication of the national monument to Sir John Franklin
there. The service also included the solemn re-internment of the remains of Lieutenant Henry Thomas Dundas Le Vesconte, the only remains ever repatriated to England, entombed within the monument in 1873. The event brought together members of the international polar community and invited guests included polar travellers, photographers and authors and descendants of Franklin, Captain Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier and their men, and the families of those who went to search for them, including Admiral Sir Francis Leopold McClintock
, Rear Admiral Sir John Ross
and Vice Admiral Sir Robert McClure
among many others. The gala was directed by the Rev Jeremy Frost and polar historian Dr Huw Lewis-Jones
and was organised by Polarworld and the High Commission of Canada to the United Kingdom. It was a celebration of the contributions made by the United Kingdom in the charting of the Canadian North, which honoured the loss of life in the pursuit of geographical discovery. The Navy was represented by Admiral Nick Wilkinson, prayers were led by the Bishop of Woolwich
and among the readings were eloquent tributes from Duncan Wilson, chief executive of the Greenwich Foundation and H.E. James Wright, the Canadian High Commissioner. At a private drinks reception in the Painted Hall which followed this Arctic service, Chief Marine Archaeologist for Parks Canada
Robert Grenier spoke of his ongoing search for the missing expedition ships. The following day a group of polar authors went to London's Kensal Green Cemetery
to pay their respects to the Arctic explorers buried there. After some difficulty, McClure's gravestone was located. It is hoped that his memorial, in particular, may be conserved in the future. Many other veterans of the searches for Franklin are buried there, including Admiral Sir Horatio Thomas Austin
, Admiral Sir George Back
, Admiral Sir Edward Augustus Inglefield
, Admiral Bedford Clapperton Trevelyan Pim
, and Admiral Sir John Ross
. Lady Franklin, is also interred at Kensal Green in the vault, and commemorated on a marble cross dedicated to her niece Sophia Cracroft.
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
n pioneer, traveller and second wife of the explorer John Franklin
John Franklin
Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
.
Jane was the second daughter of John Griffin, a liveryman and later a governor of the Goldsmith's Company
Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths
The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Company, which has origins in the twelfth century, received a Royal Charter in 1327. It ranks fifth in the order of precedence of Livery Companies. Its motto is Justitia Virtutum Regina, Latin for Justice...
, and his wife Jane Guillemard. There was Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
blood on both sides of her family. She was born in London, where she was raised with her sisters Jane and Mary at the family house, 21 Bedford Place. She was well educated, and her father being well-to-do had her education completed by much travel on the continent. Her portrait painted when she was 24 by Amelie Romilly at Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
shows her to have been a pretty girl with charm and vivacity. Jane Franklin Hall
Jane Franklin Hall
Jane Franklin Hall in South Hobart, Tasmania, is a non-denominational residential college of the University of Tasmania. Familiarly referred to as ‘Jane’, it was founded by the Tasmanian Council of Churches in 1950 as a residential college for women before becoming co-educational in 1973...
is a residential college in Hobart, Tasmania, that was named in honour of her.
Marriage to John Franklin
As a young woman, Jane had been strongly attracted to a London physician and scientist, Dr. Peter Mark Roget. She once said he was the only man who made her swoon. But nothing ever came of their relationship. Jane had been a friend of John Franklin's first wife, Eleanor Anne PordenEleanor Anne Porden
Eleanor Anne Porden was a British Romantic poet and the first wife of the explorer John Franklin.She was born in London, the younger surviving daughter of the architect William Porden and his wife Mary Plowman...
, who died early in 1825. In 1828, Griffin became engaged to him. They were married on 5 November 1828 and in 1829 he was knighted. During the next three years, she was parted for lengthy periods from her husband who was on service in the Mediterranean. In 1836, he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
disembarking the immigrant ship Fairlie on 6 January 1837.
Relationship with the colonies of Australia
Lady Franklin at once began to take an interest in the colony and did a good deal of exploring along the southern and western coast. In 1839, Lady Franklin became the first European woman to travel overland between Port PhillipPort Phillip
Port Phillip Port Phillip Port Phillip (also commonly referred to as Port Phillip Bay or (locally) just The Bay, is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia; it is the location of Melbourne. Geographically, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly . Although it is extremely shallow for...
and Sydney. In April that year, she visited the new settlement at Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, where she received an address signed by 63 of the leading citizens which referred to her "character for kindness, benevolence and charity". With her husband, she encouraged the founding of secondary schools for both boys and girls. In 1841, she visited South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
and persuaded the governor, Colonel George Gawler
George Gawler
-External links: – Memorials and Monuments in Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK...
, to set aside some ground overlooking Spencer Gulf
Spencer Gulf
The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost of two large inlets on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. The Gulf is 322 km long and 129 km wide at its mouth. The western shore of the Gulf is the Eyre Peninsula, while the eastern side is the...
for a monument to Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
. This was set up later in the year. In 1841-42, she was the first European woman to travel overland from Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
to Macquarie Harbour
Macquarie Harbour
Macquarie Harbour is a large, shallow, but navigable by shallow draft vessels inlet on the West Coast of Tasmania, Australia.-History:James Kelly wrote in his narrative "First Discovery of Port Davey and Macquarie Harbour" how he sailed from Hobart in a small open five-oared whaleboat to discover...
.
She had much correspondence with Elizabeth Fry
Elizabeth Fry
Elizabeth Fry , née Gurney, was an English prison reformer, social reformer and, as a Quaker, a Christian philanthropist...
about the female convicts, and did what she could to ameliorate their lot. She was accused of using undue influence with her husband in his official acts but there is no evidence of this. No doubt he was glad to have her help in solving his problems, and probably they collaborated in the founding of the scientific society which afterwards developed into the Royal Society of Tasmania
Royal Society of Tasmania
The Royal Society of Tasmania was formed in 1844.The RST was the first Royal Society outside the United Kingdom. It started as the "Tasmanian Society" formed by Sir John Franklin assisted by Ronald Campbell Gunn....
. When Franklin was recalled at the end of 1843, they went first to Melbourne by the schooner Flying Fish and then to England by way of New Zealand on board the barque Rajah.
Their popularity was such in the Australian colonies that when it was learned that Lady Franklin was organising an expedition using the auxiliary steamship Isabel
Auxiliary Steamship Isabel (1850)
The Isabel was a vessel intended to be used in four planned expeditions in search of the fate of the missing Franklin Expedition between 1852 and 1856, although she only managed to reach the Arctic once, in 1852...
in 1852, subscriptions were taken up and those in Van Diemens Land alone totalled £1671 13/4.
Following the disappearance of her husband
Her husband started on his last voyage in May 1845, and when it was realized that he must have come to disaster, Lady Franklin devoted herself for many years to trying to ascertain his fate.Lady Franklin sponsored seven expeditions to find her husband or his records (two of which failed to reach the Arctic):
- 1850 Prince Albert under Charles Codrington Forsyth and William Parker SnowWilliam Parker Snow-Early life:William Parker Snow was born at Poole, England on 27 November 1817, the eldest son of Lieutenant William John Snow , a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars and War of 1812,and Harriet nee Parker...
, - 1851 Prince Albert under William KennedyWilliam Kennedy (explorer)William Kennedy was born at Cumberland House, Saskatchewan, a son of the Hudson's Bay Company Chief Factor there, Alexander Kennedy and his Cree wife, Aggathas. At thirteen, he was sent to his father’s birthplace in the Orkney Islands for his education...
and Joseph René BellotJoseph René BellotJoseph René Bellot was a French Arctic explorer.Bellot was born at Paris, the son of a farrier, but moved to Rochefort with his family in 1831. With the aid of the authorities of Rochefort he was enabled at the age of 15 to enter the Ecole Navale at Brest, in which he studied two years and earned...
, - 1852 IsabelAuxiliary Steamship Isabel (1850)The Isabel was a vessel intended to be used in four planned expeditions in search of the fate of the missing Franklin Expedition between 1852 and 1856, although she only managed to reach the Arctic once, in 1852...
(one under Donald Beatson aborted, the other under Edward Inglefield explored GreenlandGreenlandGreenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
), - 1853 Isabel (William Kennedy and Robert Grate, aborted),
- 1857 FoxFox (ship)The steam yacht Fox was the vessel commanded by Francis Leopold McClintock on an expedition of the Arctic in northern Canada searching for the fate of the missing expedition of Sir John Franklin in 1857-1859.-Construction and Early History:...
under Francis Leopold McClintockFrancis Leopold McClintockAdmiral Sir Francis Leopold McClintock or Francis Leopold M'Clintock KCB, FRS was an Irish explorer in the British Royal Navy who is known for his discoveries in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.-Biography:...
, and - 1875 PandoraUSS Jeannette (1878)The first USS Jeannette was originally HMS Pandora, a Philomel-class gunvessel of the Royal Navy, and was purchased in 1875 by Sir Allen Young for his arctic voyages in 1875-1876. The ship was purchased in 1878 by James Gordon Bennett, Jr., owner of the New York Herald; and renamed Jeannette...
under Allen YoungAllen YoungSir Allen Young was an English master mariner and explorer, best remembered for his role in Arctic exploration including the search for Sir John Franklin.-Early life:...
.
By means of sponsorship, use of influence and by offering sizeable rewards for information about him, she instigated or supported many other searches. Her efforts made the expedition's fate one of the most vexed questions of the decade. Ultimately evidence was found by Francis McClintock in 1859 that Sir John had died twelve years previously in 1847. Prior accounts had suggested that, in the end, the expedition had turned to cannibalism
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
to survive, but Lady Franklin refused to believe these stories and poured scorn on explorer John Rae
John Rae (explorer)
John Rae was a Scottish doctor who explored Northern Canada, surveyed parts of the Northwest Passage and reported the fate of the Franklin Expedition....
, who had in fact been the first person to return with definite news of her husband's fate.
Although McClintock had found conclusive evidence that Sir John Franklin and his fellow expeditioners were dead, Lady Franklin remained convinced that their written records might remain buried in a cache in the Arctic. She shared this opinion with fellow expedition sponsor Henry Grinnell
Henry Grinnell
Henry Grinnell was an American merchant and philanthropist.-Career:In 1818, Grinnell moved to New York City where he became a clerk in the commission house of H.D. & E.B. Sewell. He married Sarah Minturn in 1822. In 1825, Henry joined his brother Joseph Grinnell in Fish, Grinnell & Company...
of New York, and the two corresponded regularly. She provided moral and some financial support for some later expeditions that planned to seek the records, including those of William Parker Snow
William Parker Snow
-Early life:William Parker Snow was born at Poole, England on 27 November 1817, the eldest son of Lieutenant William John Snow , a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars and War of 1812,and Harriet nee Parker...
and Charles Francis Hall
Charles Francis Hall
Charles Francis Hall was an American Arctic explorer. Little is known of Hall's early life. He was born in the state of Vermont, but while he was still a child his family moved to Rochester, New Hampshire, where, as a boy, he was apprenticed to a blacksmith. In the 1840s he married and drifted...
in the 1860s. Finally, in 1874 she joined forces with Allen Young
Allen Young
Sir Allen Young was an English master mariner and explorer, best remembered for his role in Arctic exploration including the search for Sir John Franklin.-Early life:...
to purchase and fit out the former steam gunboat HMS Pandora
USS Jeannette (1878)
The first USS Jeannette was originally HMS Pandora, a Philomel-class gunvessel of the Royal Navy, and was purchased in 1875 by Sir Allen Young for his arctic voyages in 1875-1876. The ship was purchased in 1878 by James Gordon Bennett, Jr., owner of the New York Herald; and renamed Jeannette...
to undertake another expedition to the region around Prince of Wales Island. The expedition left London in June 1875, but Lady Franklin herself died in London on 18 July 1875. At her funeral on 29 July, the pall-bearers included Captains McClintock, Collinson
Richard Collinson
Sir Richard Collinson was an English naval officer and explorer of the Arctic.He was born in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, then part of County Durham...
and Ommanney
Erasmus Ommanney
thumb|right|Sir Erasmus OmmanneyAdmiral Sir Erasmus Ommanney KCB, FRS, FRGS, JP was a Royal Navy officer and an Arctic explorer of the Victorian era.-Early life:...
, R.N., while many other "Old Arctics" engaged in the Franklin searches were also in attendance. The Pandora expedition returned in December, unsuccessful, as ice prevented her from passing west of the Franklin Channel.
Lady Franklin was a woman of unusual character and personality. One of the earliest women in Tasmania who had had the full benefit of education and cultural surroundings, she was both an example and a force, and set a new standard in ways of living to the more prosperous settlers who were now past the stage of merely struggling for a living. Her determined efforts, in connection with which she spent a great deal of her own money to discover the fate of her husband, incidentally added much to the world's knowledge of the arctic regions.
Lady Franklin herself travelled to Out Stack
Out Stack
Out Stack or Ootsta in Shetland, Scotland, is the northernmost of the British Isles, lying immediately to the north of Muckle Flugga and north of the island of Unst. It is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands and lies within the Hermaness National Nature Reserve.Out Stack is little more...
, the northernmost of the British isles, to get as close as she could to her missing husband.
From soon after her husband sailed on his final voyage until shortly before her own death, Lady Franklin herself travelled extensively around the world, generally accompanied by her husband's niece Sophia Cracroft, who remained her secretary and companion until her death. Most of Lady Franklin's surviving papers are held by the Scott Polar Research Institute
Scott Polar Research Institute
The Scott Polar Research Institute is a centre for research into the polar regions and glaciology worldwide. It is a sub-department of the Department of Geography in the University of Cambridge, located on Lensfield Road in the south of Cambridge ....
.
The ballad Lady Franklin's Lament
Lady Franklin's Lament
"Lady Franklin's Lament" is a broadside ballad indexed by George Malcolm Laws commemorating the loss of Sir John Franklin's British Arctic Expedition of 1845...
commemorated Lady Franklin's search for her lost husband. It was said: 'What the nation would not do, a woman did'.
The Lady Franklin Museum is a classical temple built by Lady Franklin in 1842, and named Ancanthe, 'blooming valley'. Wife of Lt-Governor Franklin, Lady Franklin was shocked at Tasmania's lack of cultural institutions, and colonists' indifference. She built the temple as a museum, and left 400 acres (1.6 km²) in trust to ensure the continuance of what she hoped would become the focus of the colony's cultural aspirations. A century of apathy and forsaken duty by the administrators of the Anglican Church and the city of Hobart followed, with the museum used as an apple shed among other functions; but in 1949 it was made the home of the Art Society of Tasmania, who rescued the building. In its arcadian setting at Lenah Valley, it sits like a 'tiny Temple of Athene' – at once ineffable and enchanting.
On 29 October 2009 a special service of thanksgiving was held in the chapel at the Old Royal Naval College
Old Royal Naval College
The Old Royal Naval College is the architectural centrepiece of Maritime Greenwich, a World Heritage Site in Greenwich, London, described by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation as being of “outstanding universal value” and reckoned to be the “finest and most...
in Greenwich, to accompany the rededication of the national monument to Sir John Franklin
John Franklin
Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
there. The service also included the solemn re-internment of the remains of Lieutenant Henry Thomas Dundas Le Vesconte, the only remains ever repatriated to England, entombed within the monument in 1873. The event brought together members of the international polar community and invited guests included polar travellers, photographers and authors and descendants of Franklin, Captain Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier and their men, and the families of those who went to search for them, including Admiral Sir Francis Leopold McClintock
Francis Leopold McClintock
Admiral Sir Francis Leopold McClintock or Francis Leopold M'Clintock KCB, FRS was an Irish explorer in the British Royal Navy who is known for his discoveries in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.-Biography:...
, Rear Admiral Sir John Ross
John Ross (Arctic explorer)
Sir John Ross, CB, was a Scottish rear admiral and Arctic explorer.Ross was the son of the Rev. Andrew Ross, minister of Inch, near Stranraer in Scotland. In 1786, aged only nine, he joined the Royal Navy as an apprentice. He served in the Mediterranean until 1789 and then in the English Channel...
and Vice Admiral Sir Robert McClure
Robert McClure
Sir Robert John Le Mesurier McClure was an Irish explorer of the Arctic.In 1854, he was the first to transit the Northwest Passage , as well as the first to circumnavigate the Americas.-Early life and career:He was born at Wexford, in Ireland, the posthumous son of one of Abercrombie's captains,...
among many others. The gala was directed by the Rev Jeremy Frost and polar historian Dr Huw Lewis-Jones
Huw Lewis-Jones
Huw Lewis-Jones is a British historian, editor, broadcaster and art director. Formerly historian and Curator of Art at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Dr Lewis-Jones left Cambridge in June 2010 to pursue a number of book and broadcasting projects...
and was organised by Polarworld and the High Commission of Canada to the United Kingdom. It was a celebration of the contributions made by the United Kingdom in the charting of the Canadian North, which honoured the loss of life in the pursuit of geographical discovery. The Navy was represented by Admiral Nick Wilkinson, prayers were led by the Bishop of Woolwich
Bishop of Woolwich
The Bishop of Woolwich is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Southwark, in the Province of Canterbury, England....
and among the readings were eloquent tributes from Duncan Wilson, chief executive of the Greenwich Foundation and H.E. James Wright, the Canadian High Commissioner. At a private drinks reception in the Painted Hall which followed this Arctic service, Chief Marine Archaeologist for Parks Canada
Parks Canada
Parks Canada , also known as the Parks Canada Agency , is an agency of the Government of Canada mandated to protect and present nationally significant natural and cultural heritage, and foster public understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment in ways that ensure their ecological and commemorative...
Robert Grenier spoke of his ongoing search for the missing expedition ships. The following day a group of polar authors went to London's Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in Kensal Green, in the west of London, England. It was immortalised in the lines of G. K. Chesterton's poem The Rolling English Road from his book The Flying Inn: "For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen; Before we go to Paradise by way of...
to pay their respects to the Arctic explorers buried there. After some difficulty, McClure's gravestone was located. It is hoped that his memorial, in particular, may be conserved in the future. Many other veterans of the searches for Franklin are buried there, including Admiral Sir Horatio Thomas Austin
Horatio Thomas Austin
Sir Horatio Thomas Austin was a British officer in the Royal Navy, and an explorer of the Canadian arctic. Following the 1849 failure of James Clark Ross's attempt to locate the lost Franklin Expedition, Austin led an 1850 expedition that also attempted to find Sir John Franklin and his crew....
, Admiral Sir George Back
George Back
Admiral Sir George Back FRS was a British naval officer, explorer of the Canadian Arctic , naturalist and artist.-Career:...
, Admiral Sir Edward Augustus Inglefield
Edward Augustus Inglefield
Sir Edward Augustus Inglefield was a Royal Naval officer who led one of the searches for the missing Arctic explorer John Franklin during the 1850s. In doing so, his expedition charted previously unexplored areas along the northern Canadian coastline, including Baffin Bay, Smith Sound and...
, Admiral Bedford Clapperton Trevelyan Pim
Bedford Clapperton Trevelyan Pim
Admiral Bedford Clapperton Trevelyan Pim, RN, MP, FRGS was a Royal Navy officer, Arctic explorer, barrister, and author...
, and Admiral Sir John Ross
John Ross (Arctic explorer)
Sir John Ross, CB, was a Scottish rear admiral and Arctic explorer.Ross was the son of the Rev. Andrew Ross, minister of Inch, near Stranraer in Scotland. In 1786, aged only nine, he joined the Royal Navy as an apprentice. He served in the Mediterranean until 1789 and then in the English Channel...
. Lady Franklin, is also interred at Kensal Green in the vault, and commemorated on a marble cross dedicated to her niece Sophia Cracroft.
See also
- Lady Franklin's RevengeLady Franklin's RevengeLady Franklin's Revenge: A True Story of Ambition, Obsession and the Remaking of Arctic History is a non-fiction book by Canadian historian and writer Ken McGoogan...
, a history of explorations of the Arctic funded by Lady Franklin - Lady Franklin BayLady Franklin BayLady Franklin Bay is an Arctic waterway in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. The bay is located in Nares Strait and is an inlet into the northeastern shore of Ellesmere Island....
, a bay on Ellesmere IslandEllesmere IslandEllesmere Island is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Lying within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, it is considered part of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, with Cape Columbia being the most northerly point of land in Canada...
in NunavutNunavutNunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
, Canada - Lady Franklin Rock, an island in the Fraser River near Yale, British ColumbiaYale, British ColumbiaYale is an unincorporated town in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was founded in 1848 by the Hudson's Bay Company as Fort Yale by Ovid Allard, the appointed manager of the new post, who named it after his superior, James Murray Yale, then Chief Factor of the Columbia District...
named at the end of her visit there during the Fraser Canyon Gold RushFraser Canyon Gold RushThe Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River. This was a few miles upstream from the Thompson's confluence with the Fraser River at present-day Lytton... - Lady Franklin Rock, a rock near Vernal Fall in Yosemite National ParkYosemite National ParkYosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
in California, United States
External links
- Bits of Travel at Home, Helen Hunt JacksonHelen Hunt JacksonHelen Maria Hunt Jackson, born Helen Fiske , was a United States writer who became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of Native Americans by the U.S. government. She detailed the adverse effects of government actions in her history A Century of Dishonor...
, 1878 - Lady Jane Franklin National Library of Australia, Newspaper Digitisation Project.