Who was Lady Jane Franklin?
Lady Jane Franklin was a British traveller. When her dad went on trips for work, she and her sisters went with him. They went all over Europe. Later on, Jane lived on an island called Van Diemen’s Land (now called Tasmania, in Australia) with her husband for five years.
While she was living in Van Diemen’s Land, Jane travelled around New Zealand and Australia. She also set up a school, a museum and a science society. She was the first British woman to climb Mount Wellington.
Not all of her projects worked. She tried to get rid of all the snakes in Van Diemen’s Land by paying people a shilling (about £10 today) for every snake they killed. But there are still snakes there now, which was good news for the snakes.
She took a flea-proof iron bed with her when she travelled, even to the top of a volcano in Hawaii. Luckily for her, she always travelled with servants to help her.
Jane’s husband Sir John Franklin was an Arctic explorer. In 1845, he set off from England on a voyage to the Arctic with his ships Terror and Erebus and a crew of 129 men. They never came back. Jane spent the next 13 years trying to find out why her husband and his crew disappeared. She paid for ships to go to try to find them. She learnt everything she could about the Arctic.
Jane made a flag for one of the crews that searched for John. She sewed a message of hope on it.
When a search crew found out John had died, she made sure statues of him were put up, so everyone would remember him.
In 1860 the Royal Geographical Society awarded her a gold medal for her hard work trying to find her husband. Back then, women were not allowed inside the Royal Geographical Society, so she could not collect the medal herself.
Jane kept on travelling with her grown-up niece Sophy. They went to India, Japan, America and the West Indies. Jane made friends with the Queen of Hawaii and the emperor of Brazil.
The pottery figure was made in 1855, when Jane was 63 years old. It is 26cm high (about as tall as an orange squash bottle). It is an ornament, for people to display at home. There is a figure of her husband John to go with it.
Your challenge
Design a new figure of Lady Jane Franklin. Think of some things you could add to your design to tell us something about her.
What will you need:
This is entirely up to you! You can use pencils and paper to draw or write, or you can use anything around your home to create a figure of Lady Jane Franklin i.e., clay.
You could think about:
- What will she be holding?
- Will she be standing next to something? Or someone?
- What could she be doing instead of standing?
- Can you design her some new clothes?
- Could you add patterns or pictures to her dress?
Congratulations!
To learn more about this remarkable woman click here. Don't forget to share your crafts with us!
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