Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-21T18:22:26.964Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Franklin’s men and their families: New evidence from the Allotment Books

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 December 2018

Ralph Lloyd-Jones
Ralph Lloyd-Jones*
Affiliation:
Mapperley Library, 454 Westdale Lane West, Nottingham NG3 6DG, UK
*
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A rich seam of scientific research has been opened by the recent location of both shipwrecks from the disastrous 1845 Franklin northwest passage expedition. Even more than the forensic study of any human remains, the contents of Her Majesty’s Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror have already begun to illuminate the day-to-day lives of Victorian sailors in the Arctic. Yet many hitherto unexamined but informative documents have survived too, both in the British National Archives and at local levels throughout the United Kingdom, which also enable us to focus upon those men, their work and families, thereby gaining a far better understanding of their meticulously planned but ultimately doomed voyage. This article examines the previously ignored Royal Navy Allotment Books and cross-references them with other contemporary records, such as censuses and parish registers, to give us new insights into the backgrounds of the crews of HMSs Erebus and Terror.

Keywords

1845ExpeditionFamiliesFranklinSailors
Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 54 , Issue 4 , July 2018 , pp. 267 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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

ADM 27/90/92 Allotment declaration lists recording the sending of wages (1845) to next of kin by Warrant Officers, ratings and Royal Marines from HMS Terror.Google Scholar
ADM 27/90/93 Allotment declaration lists recording the sending of wages (1845) to next of kin by Warrant Officers, ratings and Royal Marines from HMS Erebus.Google Scholar
ADM 29/116 Royal Navy, Royal Marines, coastguard and related services: Officers’ and ratings’ service records (Series II): Boatswains’ service register 1848–1871.Google Scholar
ADM 38/0672 Admiralty: Ships’ Musters (Series III) Muster Book of HMS Erebus: 4 March 1845–19 May 1845.Google Scholar
ADM 38/1962 Admiralty: Ships’ Musters (Series III) Muster Book of HMS Terror: 3 March 1845–17 May 1845.Google Scholar
P71/ALL/021/71 London Metropolitan Records: Register of Banns of marriages, All Saints Rotherhithe: Lower Road, Southwark (available online via www.ancestry.com).Google Scholar
Atkinson, D. (2007). Shipbuilding and timber management in the Royal Dockyards 1750–1850: An archaeological investigation of timber marks. PhD Thesis. UK: University of St Andrews.Google Scholar
Battersby, W. & Carney, P. (2011). Equipping HM Ships Erebus and Terror, 1845. International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology, 81(2), 192–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cyriax, R. J. (1939). Sir John Franklin’s Last Arctic Expedition: The Franklin Expedition, a Chapter in the History of the Royal Navy. Reprinted 1997, Plaistow and Sutton Coldfield: The Arctic Press.Google Scholar
Fairbairn, W. (1878). Treatise on Mills and Millwork, 3rd ed., Part I. London: Longman, Green and Company.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, G. (2017). Sir John Franklin’s Erebus and Terror Expedition Lost and Found. London: Adlard Coles Nautical/Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Lloyd-Jones, R. A. (2004). The Royal Marines on Franklin’s last expedition. Polar Record, 40(4), 319–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lloyd-Jones, R. A. (2005). The men who sailed with Franklin. Polar Record, 41(4), 311–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lloyd-Jones, R. A. (2011). Further light on Franklin’s men. Polar Record, 47(4), 379–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Byrne, W. R. (1849). A Naval Biographical Dictionary: Comprising the Life and Services of Every Living Officer in Her Majesty’s Navy, From the Rank of Admiral of the Fleet to that of Lieutenant, Inclusive. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Williams, W. (1845). Williams’ Directory of the Borough of Leeds. Leeds: Edward Baines & Sons.Google Scholar