John Franklin

Sir John Franklin KCH FRS FLS FRGS
1828 portrait by Thomas Phillips
Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land
In office 5 January 1837 – 21 August 1843 (1837-01-05 – 1843-08-21)
Secretary	John Montagu
Preceded by	Sir George Arthur
Succeeded by	Sir John Eardley-Wilmot
Personal details
Born	(1786-04-16)16 April 1786 Spilsby, Lincolnshire, England
Died	11 June 1847(1847-06-11) (aged 61) King William Island, North-Western Territory
Spouses	Eleanor Anne Porden ​ ​ (m. 1823; died 1825)​ Jane Griffin ​ (m. 1828)​
Children	Eleanor Isabella Franklin
Signature
Military service
Branch	Royal Navy
Service years	1800–1847
Rank	Rear admiral
Wars	French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars War of 1812
Expeditions	Coppermine expedition Mackenzie River expedition Franklin's expedition

Sir John Franklin KCH FRS FLS FRGS (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer and colonial administrator. After serving in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through the islands of the Arctic Archipelago, in 1819 and 1825, and served as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land from 1839 to 1843. During his third and final expedition, an attempt to traverse the Northwest Passage in 1845, Franklin's ships became icebound off King William Island in what is now Nunavut, where he died in June 1847. The icebound ships were abandoned ten months later, and the entire crew died from causes such as starvation, hypothermia, and scurvy.