Jane Franklin

Who was Jane Franklin?

Jane, Lady Franklin was an early Tasmanian pioneer, traveler and second wife of the explorer John Franklin.

Jane was the second daughter of John Griffin, a liveryman and later a governor of the Goldsmith's Company, and his wife Jane Guillemard. There was Huguenot blood on both sides of her family. She was born in London, where she was raised with her sisters Frances and Mary at the family house, 21 Bedford Place. She was well educated, and her father being well-to-do had her education completed by much travel on the continent. Her portrait painted when she was 24 by Amelie Romilly at Geneva shows her to have been a pretty girl with charm and vivacity. Jane Franklin Hall is a residential college in Hobart, Tasmania, that was named in honour of her.