Frankland Family Archive catalogued

The catalogue of the Frankland family archive is now available on ELGAR.

This archive is one of our most important science-related collections. At its heart are the papers of Sir Edward Frankland (1825-99), one of the leading scientists of Victorian Britain. His correspondents include some of the leading scientists of the day, including Charles Darwin, T.H. Huxley, John Tyndall, Robert Bunsen and Michael Faraday.

However, the archive’s value is much wider than this, and it covers subjects as diverse as environmental pollution, public health, Anglo-German relations, colonial South Africa and New Zealand, tourism in Scandinavia, science journalism and family life.

Some of these topics will be covered in future blogs, demonstrating the rich variety and research potential of this archive. In this post, we meet the main cast of characters in the archive. 

Sir Edward Frankland

Sir Edward Frankland (1825-1899) was considered by contemporaries to be one of the most important figures in European chemistry.

Edward was the son of a former domestic servant, born out of wedlock in Lancashire in 1825. Despite a difficult start in life, his combination of ambition, perseverance and talent saw him rise to the top of his profession at an early age.

In 1845 he won a sought-after position at Lyon Playfair’s London laboratory (Playfair was a rising figure in British science), which was followed by a Ph.D. from the University of Marburg, where he studied under the great German chemist, Robert Bunsen.

After teaching in London and Hampshire, in 1851 Frankland was appointed professor of chemistry at the newly-opened Owens College, Manchester (the predecessor of this University). In 1858 he returned to London to teach chemistry at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, and later at the Royal Institution (where he was a colleague of Michael Faraday). In 1865 he became head of chemistry at the Royal School of Mines, a predecessor of Imperial College, London.

Frankland’s rise was meteoric; in the space of ten years he rose from being an apprentice at a Lancaster pharmacy to election as a fellow of the Royal Society (1853). For his pioneering work on organo-metallic chemistry and the theory of valency, he received the Royal Society’s Royal Medal in 1858, and its most prestigious award, the Copley Medal in 1894.

Edward Frankland was twice married, firstly to Sophie Fick, who he had met at Marburg. They had four surviving children: Maggie, Fred, Sophie and Percy. Following Sophie’s death in 1873, he married Ellen Grenside, by whom he had two further children, Dorothy and Helga.

Percy and Grace Frankland

Percy (1858-1946) was Sir Edward’s youngest surviving son, and also an eminent chemist. Like his father, he took his doctorate in Germany (Wurzburg). Originally intending to be a doctor, he was dissuaded from this course by his father, and instead became an academic chemist. Initially he worked with his father and later held chairs at Dundee and Birmingham.

Grace (1858-1946) was the daughter of Joseph Toynbee, a leading London physician, and sister of the historian and social reformer Arnold Toynbee, to whom she was particularly close. Initially interested in social issues in London, Grace switched to scientific topics after her marriage to Percy in 1882. She worked very closely with her husband in their bacteriological research, becoming an expert in growing bacterial plate cultures. Her scientific work will be discussed in a future post.

Percy’s most interesting work was in the field of bacteriology. He was a great admirer of Louis Pasteur and also influenced by the German scientist, Robert Koch, the proponent of the germ theory of disease. Percy was an early adopter of Koch’s method of growing bacteria on gelatine plates, which facilitated their systematic study. Working with his wife, Grace, he undertook detailed work on the typology and constitution of important bacteria.

Grace’s scientific reputation was recognised by her election to the Microscopical Society and Linnean Society; she would probably have been elected to the Chemical Society, but for institutional resistance to women members.

Maggie, Fred and Sophie Frankland

Percy’s siblings, Maggie (1853-1941) Fred and Sophie (1855-1937) also feature significantly in the archive. The Franklands corresponded regularly sharing details about their very different life experiences.

Sophie’s papers are particularly interesting. She married Frederick Colenso in 1880, whose father John Colenso was the controversial bishop of Natal, known for his unorthodox theological opinions and dogged defence of the Zulu people. The Colenso family retained a strong interest in racial justice, and Sophie’s papers include letters from Zulu leaders and a signed attendance list from the first Pan-African Conference in London in 1900.

Fred, who emigrated to New Zealand as a young man, regularly wrote to his family. His letters describe his life as a colonial civil servant and his private writings on metaphysics and ethics.

The Frankland family archive contains a large amount of correspondence – over 11,000 items. Much of this is between family members and the archive is therefore invaluable for aspects of middle-class family life between the 1860s and 1940s. This value is further enhanced by the fact that several of the Franklands were unusually skilled and entertaining letter writers.

James Peters, University Archivist