Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T14:16:27.571Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘…which an affectionate heart would say’: John Franklin's personal correspondence, 1819–1824

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Richard C. Davis
Richard C. Davis
Affiliation:
Department of English, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Personal letters written by John Franklin to his relatives and friends between 1819 and 1824 reveal the Admiralty's 1819–1822 overland expedition from a unique perspective. All the official journals of that expedition have been published, as have the most important pieces of correspondence between Franklin and the Admiralty, the Colonial Office, and fur-trade officers. Previously unpublished personal correspondence, however, offers the possibility of a more candid response, as well as an opportunity to view the experience from an altered position. In these personal communications, Franklin sometimes expresses opinions that contradict those that appear in his public narrative and official records. But more importantly, they help construct an image of Franklin's personality around the time of his first overland expedition. The letters reveal a modest man with close familial attachments and a strong sense of personal relationships, in spite of the increasingly technological nature of his subsequent Arctic undertakings.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 33 , Issue 186 , July 1997 , pp. 189 - 212
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Davis, R.C. (editor). 1995. Sir John Franklin's journals and correspondence: the first Arctic land expedition, 1819–1822. Toronto: The Champlain Society.Google Scholar
Franklin, J. 1819. Letter to Sister (Isabella Cracroft?), 9 September 1819. Scott Polar Research Institute MS 248/298/11.Google Scholar
Franklin, J. 1820. Letter to Isabella Cracroft, 28 November 1820. Scott Polar Research Institute MS 248/298/12.Google Scholar
Franklin, J. 1822. Letter to Sarah Sellwood, 10 October 1822. Gell MS Collection.Google Scholar
Franklin, J. 1823. Narrative of a journey to theshores of the Polar Sea in the years 1819, 20, 21, and 22. 2 vols. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Franklin, J. 1824a. Letter to John Richardson, May 1824. Gell MS, Letter 91.Google Scholar
Franklin, J. 1824b. Letter to John Richardson, 18 May 1824. Gell MS, Letter 23.Google Scholar
Franklin, J. 1829. Journey to the shores of the Polar Sea, in 1819–20–21–22; with a brief account of the second journey in 1825–26–27. 4 vols. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Holland, C. 1988. John Franklin and the fur trade, 1819–22. In: Davis, R.C. (editor). Rupert's Land: a cultural tapestry. Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press: 97–111.Google Scholar
Houston, C.S. (editor). 1974. To the Arctic by canoe 1819–1821: the journal of Robert Hood, midshipman with Franklin. Montreal and London: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar
Houston, C.S. (editor). 1984. Arctic ordeal: the journal of John Richardson, surgeon–naturalist with Franklin 1820–1822. Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houston, C.S. (editor). 1994. Arctic artist: the journal and paintings of George Back, midshipman with Franklin, 1819–1822. Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, R.E. 1976. Sir John Richardson: Arctic explorer, natural historian, naval surgeon. London: Taylor and Francis.Google Scholar
MacLeod, M.A., and Glover, R.. 1971. Franklin's first land expedition as seen by the fur traders. Polar Record 15 (98): 669–682.Google Scholar
Owen, R. 1978. The fate of Franklin. London: Hutchinson & Co.Google Scholar
Traill, H.D. 1896. The life of Sir John Franklin. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Wentzel, W.F. 1889–1890. Letters to the Hon Roderic McKenzie. In: Masson, L. (editor). Les bourgeois de la compagnie du nord-ouest, récits de voyages, lettres et rapports inédits relatifs au nord-ouest publiés avec une esquisse historique et des annotations. Volume 1, part 2. Quebec: A Cote.Google Scholar
Wiebe, R. 1994. A discovery of strangers. Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada.Google Scholar