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‘…which an affectionate heart would say’: John Franklin's personal correspondence, 1819–1824

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Richard C. Davis
Richard C. Davis
Affiliation:
Department of English, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
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Abstract

Personal letters written by John Franklin to his relatives and friends between 1819 and 1824 reveal the Admiralty's 1819–1822 overland expedition from a unique perspective. All the official journals of that expedition have been published, as have the most important pieces of correspondence between Franklin and the Admiralty, the Colonial Office, and fur-trade officers. Previously unpublished personal correspondence, however, offers the possibility of a more candid response, as well as an opportunity to view the experience from an altered position. In these personal communications, Franklin sometimes expresses opinions that contradict those that appear in his public narrative and official records. But more importantly, they help construct an image of Franklin's personality around the time of his first overland expedition. The letters reveal a modest man with close familial attachments and a strong sense of personal relationships, in spite of the increasingly technological nature of his subsequent Arctic undertakings.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 33 , Issue 186 , July 1997 , pp. 189 - 212
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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