An undelivered letter from Lady Jane Franklin to her husband Sir John Franklin. Jane Franklin wrote frequently to her husband after his disappearance. She drafted this letter six years after his death, and six years before this was confirmed.
Jane’s devotion is apparent; she writes, ‘You must always have felt that I would never rest till I had more tidings of you….It is my heart’s sole thought; the one and only object and occupation of all my faculties and energies. My own dear husband it is for you I live.’

Sent by Mrs Kennedy, in Isabel, March 1853.

Administrative / biographical background
Jane Franklin (nee Griffin) was born in 1792 in London, daughter of John Griffin, a wealthy silk weaver, and Mary Guillemard. She was an early Tasmanian pioneer, traveller and second wife of the explorer John Franklin. Between 1830 and 1834, Jane travelled in Europe, Syria and North Africa while her husband was stationed in the Mediterranean. In 1836, she accompanied Franklin to Van Diemen's Land [Tasmania] after he had accepted the post of Lieutenant Governor. During his tenure, she took a keen interest in social reform, particularly in improving the welfare of female convicts, and she continued her travels, touring both Australia and New Zealand. Following their return to Britain in 1844, Franklin was appointed by the Admiralty to lead the British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition, 1845-1848. Sailing from London in HMS TERROR and HMS EREBUS in May 1845, the expedition was last seen heading for Lancaster Sound by two whalers in northern Baffin Bay in late July 1845. After that, the expedition disappeared and Franklin was never seen again. Between 1847 and 1859, Lady Franklin took a leading part in organizing the searches for the missing expedition, she sponsored seven expeditions to find her husband or his records (two of which failed to reach the Arctic): in 1852 and 1853, these were aboard the vessel ISABEL . Lady Franklin's surviving papers are held by the Scott Polar Research Institute and the National Maritime Museum holds a small collection of her personal letters.