The Ambitions of Jane Franklin: Victorian Lady Adventurer

by Alison Alexander

Winner of the 2014 National Biography Award in Australia. In a period when most ladies sat at home with their embroidery, Jane Franklin achieved fame throughout the western world, and was probably the best traveled woman of her day. Alison Alexander traces the life of this inimitable woman, from her birth in late 18th-century London, her marriage to Sir John Franklin, the famous Arctic explorer, and her many trips to far-flung locations. Arriving in Tasmania in 1837 when Sir John became governor, she swept like a whirlwind through the colony: attempting to rid the island of snakes, establishing a scientific society, adopting an Aboriginal girl, and sending a kangaroo to Queen Victoria. When her husband disappeared in the Arctic on an expedition to discover the Northwest Passage, she single-handedly turned him from a failure into one of England's noblest heroes. She continued traveling well into her 70s and died at age 84, refusing to take her medicine to the last.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Tasmania, Australia, Womens

304 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2013

About the author

Alison Alexander is a Tasmanian author and historian. Formerly a lecturer in History at the University of Tasmania, her writing career was launched after she was inspired by her honours thesis focus on Mary Grant Bryce, the children’s author. This led Alison to write her first book Billabongs Author which was published by Allen and Unwin in 1979.

Abridged from https://taswriters.org/

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alison Alexander writes that Jane Franklin “was no ordinary woman.” Ambitious for herself and for her husband, mercurial, well-travelled and highly energetic, Jane Franklin broke every mold of behaviour expected of a proper Victorian woman. Her volumes of diaries and letters seem to catalogue her every motive and movement, yet we learn there was active pruning of them in order to frame her legacy. She was, without question, the most supportive woman of any husband in Victorian times, and yet the question of how much she loved her husband remains unclear. If a desire to find him after he disappeared in the Arctic is a measure of love, then theirs was one of the great love stories of all time. Still, Alexander leaves the reader with some question of how much Lady Jane did for her husband and how much she did for his legacy - and her own - after he disappeared in the Arctic.

Lady Jane presented Alison Alexander with many puzzles, and Alexander answers the puzzles as best she can. Understandably, there is a concentration on the Franklin’s times in Van Dieman’s Land. Lady Jane’s activities far outstripped her husband’s governorship, although she was always wise enough to be no more than his equal.

I would have liked to have read more detail about her endless attempts to find her husband when he disappeared into the Arctic, but that is partially because I am Canadian.

Jane Franklin lived more, saw more, experienced more and interacted with more people than almost any person, male or female in the Victorian Age. This is a biography worth reading.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jane Franklin and her explorer husband, Sir John Franklin, were once celebrity figures of their era. But today, Alison Alexander writes, they are only famous in Tasmania, where Sir John served as governor of Van Dieman’s Land (as Tasmania was then known) from 1837 to 1843. In modern Tasmania, you stumble over their names almost as much as you stumble over references to the ill-fated Tasmanian tiger but as we re-examine and challenge Australia’s colonial past, especially the abhorrent treatment of Aboriginal Australians, their legacy has become greatly tarnished.

Alexander does not set out to reintroduce Jane Franklin to a world that has forgotten her – at least, the book is only published in Australia and the bulk of the material focuses on Jane’s time in Van Dieman’s Land – but she does set out to show just how extraordinary Jane’s life was without backing away from depicting the nastier sides of Jane’s personality.

As I found in Alexander’s Tasmania's Convicts: How Felons Built a Free Society, her writing style is very engaging and very easy to read but without sacrificing scholarship along the way. She is very clear when she is offering her interpretation or speculation on Jane’s behaviour and her citations and bibliography are thorough. She also makes it clear when evidence is missing – although volumes of Jane’s diaries and letters survive, it seems Jane or her niece, Sophy Cracroft, carefully curated them, snipping out parts that might show Jane in a bad light. And awhile Alexander doesn’t steer away from pointing out obvious questions (such as questioning whether Jane had an affair with her guide in Egypt after she referred to him in very fond terms in her diary), she doesn’t seem to indulge in gossip (pointing out there is nowhere enough evidence to prove she did have an affair).

I did, however, wonder if Alexander assumed her readers had more knowledge about events than what she was depicting. For instance, her discussion of the Franklins’ trip to the west coast of Tasmania rarely touched on the environment they were passing through and she just once mentioned the penal settlement at Macquarie Harbour. In fairness, it had closed several years by the time the Franklins arrived in Van Dieman’s Land but I – who am fairly well-read on Tasmania’s convict history – had a bit of confusion about it and I wonder if readers who are less knowledgeable than me will get lost. Additionally, Alexander’s exploration of the Franklins’ time in Van Dieman’s Land is more of a thematic analysis than a chronological study that might confuse readers. She also doesn’t really explore Sir John’s government, instead focusing on Jane’s activities and influences though she argues Jane was perhaps a guiding force in Sir John’s government.

Another issue for me is that the coverage of Sir John Franklin’s disastrous Arctic exploration and Jane’s attempts to find him seemed to be very quickly dealt with. Alexander seems reluctant to truly come to grips with what happened to him. Her account reveals only what Jane would have known, bit by bit, as the news filtered in. Nor is Alexander interested in addressing speculation about what happened in the expedition, dealing with it in a single sentence. And perhaps the right way to handle it for what is, after all, a biography of Jane and not her husband. But it’s hard to read about something so intriguing, one of the great historical mysteries, and not want to get a more thorough picture than the one Alexander provides.

The portrait that Alexander depicts of Jane Franklin is not flattering but it feels truthful – a “warts and all” depiction, if you will. Jane was an extraordinary woman but I found it difficult to warm to her – she seems egoistical, determined to force the world and people around her into doing what she wanted, whether it was dominating her more retiring husband and waging a PR battle against his beloved only child after he went missing. Nor was she an early feminist. She seems to have disliked most women, disapproved of women’s suffrage, preferred harsh punishment to attempts to reform the convicts, and seemed to adopt the worst attitudes of the era to the Tasmanian Aboriginals and convicts.

In the end, I finished the biography caring more about Sir John Franklin and his daughter, Eleanor, than Jane, and thinking she treated them rather poorly.

[Nicola Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

You might not like Victorian Jane Franklin much after reading this biography but, my god, you can't but be impressed by her. It is certainly an apt title, Lady Franklin was all about ambition and little else. She was the wife of hapless Sir John Franklin who led the 1845 Arctic expedition, involving two ships and 129 men, in search of the final links of the Northwest Passage and not one of them made it home again. Despite this, he was lauded for years as a hero ... thanks to his wife who assumed full charge of his story. She is probably the only woman who has ever commanded the British Royal Navy to send out search parties. She even moved to be nearer HQ so that they were in easy reach. She wanted to go looking for him too and had to be dissuaded from trekking through Arctic Canada in her 56th year.
As it is, Alexander reckons she was the most travelled woman in her time. Possibly due to disappointment in marriage, she took herself off to see the world, hardly seeing Sir John for twelve months. She may or may not have an affair, during her trip to Egypt, but then had to leave it all behind and return to her husband's side.
I see from other reviewers there are complaints that the 'real' Jane is missing but I suspect, having read this much about her, the 'real' Jane would be missing if she was standing in front of us. She was the perfect PR dream, never letting down her guard.
One thing for sure, she should have led that 1845 expedition in her husband's place and then things might have worked out differently. He depended on her for everything and this was his undoing when he was forced out of his Van Diemen's Land role. Jealous peers accused him of being managed by his wife which made sense as he surely recognised, like the reader, that she was far superior to him in every way possible.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

'The Ambitions of Jane Franklin' by Tasmanian historian Alison Alexander is a warts-and-all portrait of this remarkable woman, who at one time (the 1850s) was the most talked about person in England as she organised search after search for her husband Sir John Franklin, lost in his search for the North-West Passage. In this well-researched biography the author paints a diverse picture of this woman, providing insights and rationales for her behaviour, invoking reactions from 'what a marvellous person' to' what an arrogant, self-centred woman'. I came out on the side of 'virago and shrew'. She always seemed to be quarrelling with people including family members and bossing people around, and seemed to enjoy long periods away from the husband she was supposed to be devoted to by travelling to amuse herself, so I came to dislike her immensely. Her travels and exploits (to Spain, Africa, Syria, Palestine, New Zealand, being the first white women to travel to Sydney from Melbourne, walking up Mt Wellington, travelling in Tasmania's wild west coast) always involved disruptions and inconvenience to others so she could achieve what she wanted. To me, she didn't seem to accomplish much that was long lasting apart from establishing the Ancanthe Museum in Hobart and encouraging a settlement in the Huon that still flourishes today. A book that provokes such feelings, backed up by factual evidence, says the author has done a good job!

[Malcolm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've loved Alison's other Tasmanian history books but felt this one didn't quite work. This is probably mostly reflective of Lady Franklin's success in editing her papers to leave the view of her history that she wanted to leave. Finished having learned a bit more about the Franklins but still a bit unsatisfied with the bits that were missing as to her motivations for the various ventures and adventures she embarked upon.

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This biography charts the life of Jane Franklin who is perhaps best known as the wife of the governor of the Australian colony of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) from 1837 to 1844. She was also untiring in subsequently supporting the search for her husband when his exploration team was lost in the Arctic.

She was a remarkable woman for her times, forthright, determined (particularly to support her husband's success) and the writer of journals which documented much of the colony's development. Alison Alexander has used her journals and letters and a wide range of sources to write this biography. Unfortunately, despite my interest in Jane Franklin as a character, I found the writing itself did not engage me and I skimmed a good deal.

What impressed me the most was was Jane Franklin's interest in everything and her travels. She was certainly not one to 'retire with the ladies.' She was the first woman to travel overland from Melbourne to Sydney, a remarkable feat of endurance. The other aspect that particularly interested me was her adoption of two Aboriginal children. In Alexander's account, she appeared only interested in them as curiosities rather than as flesh and blood children. Richard Flanagan has written a novel, Wanting, about these adoptions, originally inspired by the painting of Mathinna that Jane commissioned and that now hangs in the Tasmanian Art Gallery. Flanagan's novel brings out with much more poignancy the disaster the adoptions proved to be.

It just goes to show, I suppose, that I almost always prefer fiction to non-fiction. Regardless of the research undertaken in a 'history' it often misses what I feel are essential truths. I'm pleased to have learnt more about Jane Franklin but in the end, the essence of her character eluded me.

Two and a half stars.

[S'hi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Choosing a fascinating character is only half the success of a book. Writing well in relationship both to that character and their world, and linking and making it relevant and approachable for those of another time and place is the real challenge of biography.

While there are many aspects of Alison Alexander’s biography of Lady Jane Franklin that seem to fit into one ‘box’ or the other, unfortunately I feel she fails to bring the audience with her to enter Jane’s world effectively. Everything seems to be from a distant stance of the expectation that this forthright personality should be open to ready claim by feminism. The fact that Jane Franklin herself rejected such a notion should, in fact, lead the biographer into deeper territory about the question of feminism if this is a central theme to her own exploration.

Instead here we have a half attempt to understand either the person or the issue of feminism, and so an unsatisfactory sense of what either is really about.

Perhaps this wouldn’t annoy me as much as it does if the scholarship and research that has gone into the book wasn’t as thorough. Perhaps if I was reading it online -- as the language often makes me feel I am by quite flippant remarks or questions suggesting a stance and range of ideas that weren’t really relevant in Jane’s own world clash with the presentation of “someone else’s stuff as if it is your to own”.

It seems to me that the attitude, depicted by the language, of asking one’s own questions through a past life of someone else lends itself more to speculative segments like: What would Jane Franklin have achieved if she lived in another time?

Essentially by this method I think Alison Alexander would find that the methods Jane Franklin used very much come out of the combination of her own personality and the times in which she lived. She knew her “material” and she shaped it in ways she could see others shaping it around her, with a variety of their own restrictions by proximity and distance, that she had from a different angle that allowed her to act with it differently. Only when this is understood can a deeper appreciation of the choices we make in life -- and the challenges each and every one of us has if we have “ambition” -- be understood beyond a gender lens that is of recent times and proportions.

What makes a person intrepid is their ability to see the world differently than most other people around them. It is also what makes them aware of streams of thinking and acting that people tend to fall into. It then becomes obvious how to deal with them for one’s own purposes to be fulfilled.

Jane had this discerning ability in spades. She also had the connections and upbringing to both: see it come to bear returns in and for others, and to know what she might gain for herself out of it. She was not a steady enough character to have done the work that John Franklin did – but she was a great addition to his work to bring it into the light that she felt it deserved to be appreciated more.

Without another person to help bring out her own strengths, Jane Franklin could have wasted a lot of energy gaining nothing of significance. I certainly know of other people with similar personalities who used their energy ineffectively because they had large families and their intensity destroyed in close proximity what they were most wanting to encourage of have others achieve with them.

In a sense Lady Jane Franklin’s “children” are all the projects (projections would be just as good a word here) that continue her presence in the world by shining a light on the partnership she had with her husband. They are dotted around the world, and focussed on further afield than their locations because of the nature of the world as it was being explored in their time.

Other people’s children live their lives more quietly and obscurely and only seem to have significance by being so much the same as so many others creating “trends” statistically. No single one of them really seems to count without all the others as well. The results are just a visible. They are just interpreted differently without a strong personality to focus them through and claim them clearly as if they shaped it all themselves.

To more effectively appreciate what it meant to Jane Franklin not to be interested in issues of feminism, it is important to see what it would have done to her own need to develop her individuality. Being shaped by unknown external forces when her power lay in knowing what she was dealing with and able to influence for her own ambitions to be achieved, is at the core of her story.

The more other women do that, the less they will be confronted by the fear others have about a “movement” that does not seem to include them by its very name. The more engaged in achievements for what they truly are, rather than the diverting course of focus and energy to an external ideology, the more effective the main thrust of recognition for every person to bring their full presence to bear in the world. Some people achieve this within an ideology, others are not restricted by the ideology alone.

Time and place have so much influence upon our options. Using them to one’s own advantage is what power is all about. To give up one’s own advantage does not make sense without a greater advantage to be gained by such a direction. It is clear that Jane Griffin had her own special sense of adventure. It is also clear that she did not have the means to apply it as a working life for herself and others. But she had an appreciation for translating the experience of others to each other as part of her own inquisitiveness and sense of how things fit together.

It was her sense of relationship that allowed Jane Griffin to choose just who she wanted to be associated with and in what particular way. Then she made the most of the opportunity when it arose for her to range the whole world as she knew it - in body and not just the mind of stories in books or conversations that others brought back to her. She embraced life fully in her own way, and showed others how they could embrace her without tying her down.

Surely that is the aspect of feminism that gets lost most easily in anyone telling anyone else what it should be or how it should be done. Just do it and forget the labels.

[Unley Libraries · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reviewed by the Wise Women Book Club

Rated 2/5

We found the writing style of the Ambitions of Jane Franklin to be a little textbook. It was rather dull, but the obvious research by the author was quite good.

The plot of the book was that of a biography. The Austen theme was great. We especially appreciated the female dominated book.

From a character perspective, there was a lot of “character” for Jane in that era. She was born before her time – a feminist and quite controlling. Half of us liked her, half of us did not.

Only three members of our book club would recommend this to another book club.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A huge amount of research has certainly contributed to this new portrait of Lady Jane. Alison Alexander highlights some facets of her character differently, but she remains a highly manipulative and self-focused woman - admired and respected for her competence as the governor’s wife, her intelligence, her exploits and tenacity, and yet disliked intensely by those who saw her snobbery, prejudice and egotism. A woman before her time? Perhaps. But, sad that she caused so much pain and sorrow to those of her households, and family.

[Apriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can tell that a lot of research went into this book which earned the author an extra star. Unfortunately all of that research couldn’t mask the confusing and lackluster writing and need of tighter editing. As this is the only book I’ve read specifically about Lady Franklin I cannot suggest an alternative but I would definitely try to find one before resigning yourself to a long slog through this one.

[Samantha Battams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. Having lived in Tasmania for 5 years and knowing a bit about Franklin, I knew very little about his wife, so it was great to see a book about one of the female characters of the time. Jane Franklin did not quite fit the mould of Governor's wife, and was quite an adventurous character for her time. Her devotion to her husband and his memory was incredible.

[Peggy D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I enjoyed this mostly because I read it when we were staying in Tasmania. This is about the wife of one of the governors of Tasmania in the mid 1800s (which was called "Van Diemen's Land" back then.)

[Kylie Fennell · Rating 4 out of 5]

From a historical perspective, a really interesting read. Still unsure though whether Jane was all hero or not.

[Samantha Pope · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm currently in the midst of doing A LOT of research on the 1845 Franklin expedition and have been reading books all around the subject and the people involved. Having just finished The Discovery of Slowness, by Sten Nadolny, which was a fictionalised biography of Sir John Franklin, based on true events, I wanted to read an account of Jane Franklin's life as what I had heard of her had sparked my interest.

The Ambitions of Jane Franklin is an apt title - this book looks at Jane's ambitious nature and not always in the most flattering light. I don't mind that at all - it's always good to read a balanced account and know of the truths. However, I became a little tired of the biographer's suppositions inserted into the text. On the one hand, we hear of how brave and spirited Jane was - and, boy, she was as much of an explorer, arguably, as her husband, as far as social norms would dictate and allow (she couldn't, for example, command a ship in search of the North West Passage). However, there were frequent asides which alluded to less desirable traits - not backed up by fact but supposition. For example, near the end, when Alison Alexander reveals that Franklin's niece (and Jane's companion) Sophy wrote 'diatribe after diatribe' about Jane's stepdaughter Eleanor, she concludes 'Presumably these were also Jane's opinions'. They might have been or might not, but so many of these 'presumablys' are in the text to try to create a picture of Jane as a malicious character that it felt as if Alexander was writing with an agenda. 'Presumably' she was, but I feel it's best to be honest about this upfront. Instead, we are treated to (fake?) sincerity about Jane's good points, and then these are immediately put into doubt by one of these little asides.

It just felt rather snide, that's all, and it began to grate after a while.

Alison Alexander does a really admirable job with all the research into Jane's life and her quite astounding accomplishments as a (sometimes solo) explorer and traveller. However, this is always tinged with suggestions that Jane lied to others, that while she was off being daring and unconventional she did no favours for feminism. That of course could be true - but she would not have got very far in those days if she tried to fight for feminism alongside her desire to explore. She did what she wanted to do and sometimes that involved manipulation and selectivity with the truth. Deceitfulness is not a praiseworthy trait but Jane had to be that way to be able to see the world under her own steam. It's a shame that this has to be judged by modern sensibilities.

The same is true with some comments about how Jane would often go off exploring for months without seeing her husband - casting suspicion on her true feelings for her husband. In the meantime, her husband was doing the exact same thing - going off when offered a command. No judgement was passed on him for abandoning her for months on end, yet the state of their marriage is called into question when she does it. Rather contradictory.

I feel I have learned a lot about Jane Franklin in this book and it is exhaustive in some of its detail - particularly regarding the Franklins' governorship in Tasmania. However, I feel that there was always a tint of disapproval about the subject of the book and I felt that was a shame. Perhaps I've not read enough biographies to know that this is part and parcel of how they are written but I would have rather had the information without the authorial comments telling me how I should react to Jane's behaviour. In short, this is a good book but it could be better if it lacked the agenda - or, conversely, if it was more honest about the agenda - to present Jane in an unfavourable light. In reading the book, I felt almost as though the author was nudging me and spreading gossip - favourable on the surface about Jane but with undercurrents of criticism, like someone who's being nasty behind your back.

[Calzean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and easy to read biography on a fascinating lady, her life, times and achievements.

Alexander covers some complex parts of history and describes them simply concisely, and accurately.

A great tale showing life in England and Van Diemen’s Lands especially in the 1830s to 1850s.

[Rebecca Hilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book. But I had to force myself to keep reading at many points. There were a number of places where I needed to read the sentence a couple of times to understand the gist - which is annoying. There were some ideas that weren't explored well enough. Subject is interesting but unlikeable which didn't help!

[Jbondandrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was a reasonable read. Though it was not too different from the other book about her I read.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clear, insightful and easy to read. I enjoyed finding out more about Jane Franklin, and now reflecting on the balance of admiration, respect and frustration she inspires/d.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

A meticulous, well organised biography of Jane Franklin, the wife of the Governor of Tasmania from 1837 to 1844.

[T.S. Flynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolute waste of time.