Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T10:40:53.976Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A manuscript history of the Franklin family by Sophia Cracroft (1853)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2013

Shane McCorristine
Shane McCorristine*
Affiliation:
Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1ER ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Sir John Franklin's widow, Jane Franklin, planned a biography of her husband in the years following the disappearance of his expedition. In this project she was directly assisted by her niece and amanuensis Sophia Cracroft. This biography never came to fruition, but it did result in an unpublished manuscript history of the Franklin family, dated 1853, which Cracroft shared with Franklin's early biographers. The manuscript provides an interesting account of the Franklin family, including the detailed circumstances of the failure of the Boston and Spilsby Bank in 1804, which caused great financial and emotional stress. The final section of the manuscript provides an account of John Franklin's early naval career and Arctic expeditions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , January 2015 , pp. 72 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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

Anon. (Anonymous).1874. A brave man and his belongings. London: S. Taylor (Lincoln: Lincolnshire Archives MISC DON 430/18).Google Scholar
Beardsley, M. 2002. Deadly winter: the life of Sir John Franklin. London: Chatham Publishing.Google Scholar
Beesly, A.H. 1881. Sir John Franklin. Belfast: Marcus Ward and Co.Google Scholar
Cavell, J. 2013. Miss Porden, Mrs. Franklin, and the Arctic expeditions: Eleanor Anne Porden and the construction of Arctic heroism (1818–25). In: Regard, F. (editor). Arctic exploration in the nineteenth century: discovering the northwest passage. London: Pickering & Chatto: 79–94.Google Scholar
Chancery (High Court of Chancery). 1827. Reports of cases. Vol. 2. London: J. and W.T. ClarkeGoogle Scholar
Cotton Smith, H. 1892. The town of Sir John Franklin. A history of Spilsby in Lincolnshire. With Notes on Eresby and other places connected therewith. Spilsby: Spilsby Printing Co.Google Scholar
Cracroft, S. 1856. Letter to Jane Franklin, 3 July 1856. London: British Library ADD MS 56233.Google Scholar
Cracroft, S. No date. Notes for a memoir of Lady Franklin. Cambridge: Scott Polar Research Institute MS 248/266/2; D.Google Scholar
Franklin, Jane. No date. Outline of Sir John Franklin's career, 1800–1844. Cambridge: Scott Polar Research Institute MS 248/167; D.Google Scholar
Franklin, Jane. 1855. Journal of Lady Franklin. Cambridge: Scott Polar Research Institute MS 248/111; BJ.Google Scholar
Franklin, John. 1824. Narrative of a journey to the shores of the polar sea in the years 1819, 20, 21, and 22. London: John Murray (2nd Edn).Google Scholar
Franklin, John. 1825. Mortgage bond with William Walker. Lincoln: Lincolnshire Archives MISC DEP 513/2/12.Google Scholar
Gell, E.M. 1930. John Franklin's bride: Eleanor Anne Porden born July 14th 1795, died February 22nd 1825. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Lentz, J.W. 2003. The Fox expedition in search of Franklin: a documentary trail. Arctic 56 (2): 175–184.Google Scholar
Lloyd-Jones, R. 2001. The paranormal Arctic: Lady Franklin, Sophia Cracroft, and Captain and ‘Little Weesy’ Coppin. Polar Record 37 (200): 27–34.Google Scholar
Markham, A.H. 1891. Life of Sir John Franklin and the north-west passage. London: George Philip & Sons.Google Scholar
Neumann, J. and Kington, J.. 1992. Great historical events that were significantly affected by the weather: part 10, crop failure in Britain in 1799 and 1800 and the British decision to send a naval force to the Baltic early in 1801. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 73 (2): 187–199.Google Scholar
Owen, R. 1978. The fate of Franklin. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Richards, G.H. 1892. Death of Miss Cracroft. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and monthly record of geography 14 (8): 553–4.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. 1856. John Franklin. In: Encyclopaedia Britannica (8th Edn.): 294–299.Google Scholar
Russell, P. 2005. Wife stories: narrating marriage and self in the life of Jane Franklin. Victorian studies 48 (1): 35–57.Google Scholar
Skewes, J.H. 1890. Sir John Franklin. The true secret of the discovery of his fate. A ‘revelation’. London: Bemrose & Sons (2nd Edn).Google Scholar
Traill, H.D. 1896. The life of Sir John Franklin. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Walker, W. 1897. The Spilsby life of the Franklin family. Lincoln: Lincolnshire Archives MISC DON 430/1.Google Scholar
Woodward, F.J. 1951. Portrait of Jane: a life of Lady Franklin. London: Hodder and Stoughton.Google Scholar