Polar Exploration

Memorial: M4776

Monument in Westminster Abbey, London commemorating Rear Admiral of the Blue, Sir John Franklin RN d. 1847 and Admiral Sir Francis McClintlock RN d. 1907

Location

Westminster Abbey, Westminster, London, England

Transcript

[Side] 'TO THE MEMORY / OF / SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, / BORN APRIL 16 / 1786 / AT SPILSBY / LINCOLNSHIRE / DIED JUNE 11 / 1847 / OFF POINT VICTORY IN THE FROZEN OCEAN / THE BELOVED CHIEF / OF THE GALLANT CREWS / WHO PERISHED WITH HIM / IN COMPLETING / THE DISCOVERY OF THE / NORTH WEST PASSAGE'
[Front] 'O YE FROST AND COLD, O YE ICE AND SNOW / BLESS YE THE LORD PRAISE HIM AND MAGNIFY HIM FOR EVER.' / 'NOT HERE: THE WHITE NORTH HAS THY BONES; AND THOU, / HEROIC SAILOR-SOUL / ART PASSING ON THY HAPPIER VOYAGE NOW / TOWARD NO EARTHLY POLE'.
[Below] 'HERE ALSO IS COMMEMORATED / ADMIRAL SIR LEOPOLD McCLINTOCK / 1819-1907 / DISCOVERER OF THE FATE OF FRANKLIN / IN 1859'.
[Right side] 'THIS MONUMENT / WAS ERECTED / BY JANE, HIS WIDOW, / WHO AFTER LONG WAITING, / AND SENDING MANY / IN SEARCH OF HIM, / HERSELF DEPARTED / TO SEEK AND FIND HIM / IN THE REALMS OF LIGHT / JULY 18, 1875, / AGED 83 YEARS'

Details

Description: A bust of Franklin within a gothic arch. A relief of ships beset in ice below. At the top, the Franklin crest - a congar eel head head and the motto: 'NISU'.
Type: Monument
Position: Chapel of St John the Evangelist, North transept north aisle
Materials: White marble, alabaster
Date Erected: 1875
Artists: Matthew Noble, George Gilbert Scott

People

Franklin, John
Age: 61
Date of Death: 11/6/1847
Cause of Death: Unknown
Rank / Occupation: Rear Admiral of the Blue
Organisation: Royal Navy
McClintock, Francis Leopold
Age: 88
Date of Death: 1907
Cause of Death: Unknown
Rank / Occupation: Admiral
Organisation: Royal Navy

Extra

Notes: See also West window in St Paul's Church, Whitechapel which shows four maritime scenes from life of Christ. Verse written by Tennyson. Commissioned by Lady Jane Franklin, who specifically wanted a bust rather than the window suggested by Dean Stanley. The canopy was added by Sir George Gilbert Scott. Photograph in P & D box 1386. A small tablet underneath the memorial commemorates Admiral F.L. McClintock. The original plaster model for the bust of Franklin was at the Museum of Science and Engineering, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Bibliography: F. Bond 'Westminster Abbey' (1909) p. 267. Frances J. Woodward 'A portrait of Jane' (London, 1951) p. 362.
Recorder: B. Tomlinson
Photographer: B. Tomlinson
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