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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: ralljones@hotmail.com
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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 

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