The Flinders Connection part 2

The family archives contain nothing about Matthew Flinders and the Franklin connection, so I have turned to Lincolnshire Archives, to the Journal and Account books of Matthew Flinders father, Matthew Flinders senior (1750-1802). He was a surgeon, apothecary and acting midwife from Donington Lincolnshire who married, firstly Susannah Ward in 1773. Young Matthew Flinders was the eldest of their five surviving children and Samuel Flinders (Lieutenant on Investigator) the youngest, born in 1782. Susannah died in March the following year aged 32, and a few months later Matthew Flinders snr notes in his journal:  

 I have now to note a circumstance will perhaps appear somewhat odd in my records, after the real and extraordinary Grief which I have manifested for my late valuable partner, & whom I shall regret to my latest hour; as a continual grieving can be of no avail, but injurious to me, I begin to be not without thoughts of a 2nd marriage – accordingly I have pitch’d on the amiable Mrs E – late Miss E.W. of this place – but since her Widowhood at her Sisters at Spilsby – accordingly I made a journey there on Sunday July 20 (having previously exchanged a few letters with her by which I was rather assured of an agreeable reception) - I met with the most friendly treatment, and indeed had a most delightfull visit & fully to my satisfaction – It appears (under the good Providence of God) that an union may take place, perhaps in the Winter or Spring – my B[rother] [I].W. kindly went from Bol[ingbroke] with me & introduced me to the Fam[il]y.  I brought a suit of Cloathes home with me 

Lincolnshire Archives. Journal & Account Book of Matthew Flinders snr 1783

The “amiable Mrs E” was the widowed Mrs Elizabeth Ellis, formerly Miss Elizabeth Weekes from Donington and a sister of Hannah Franklin (nee Weekes) the wife of Mr Willingham Franklin (John Franklin’s father) living in Spilsby. 

This might have been the first time that Matthew Flinders snr had met the Franklins of Spilsby, as he notes that his brother-in-law came with him and introduced him to the family.  He also mentions bringing home a suit of clothes, which would probably have been supplied by Willingham & Hannah Franklin, who ran a successful grocery & drapery business from their shop in Spilsby. Willingham Franklin of Spilsby is listed as both “Grocer” and “Mercer” (a dealer in cloth) in the records, and earlier on in his career he had been apprenticed to a Grocer & Draper in Lincoln. The culmination of this most successful visit was a wedding in Spilsby on December 2nd of that same year. Matthew Flinders snr arrived in Spilsby the previous afternoon, owing to an early start the following day:

… we were stirring pretty early in the morning on account of the ceremony being performed before Breakfast 

From then on the Flinders family of Donington come within the orbit of the Franklin family in Spilsby.  In terms of children they complimented each other very well. Thomas Adams Franklin (born 1773) was a year older than young Matthew Flinders (b1774). Mary Franklin and Elizabeth Flinders were born a few months apart in 1775 and the others were all close in age. 

Today the distance between Donington and Spilsby via Boston by road is about 30 miles and takes just under an hour. In 1783 the wedding party ladies, consisting of the newly wedded Elizabeth Finders, her sister Hannah Franklin and "Miss S" (a maid) travelled in a chaise, accompanied by Willingham Franklin & Matthew Flinders snr on horseback. They set off from Spilsby at 10am and arrived in Boston about 2pm where they dined at the “Whitehart”. They left Boston at 3.30pm and arrived home at Donington at 5.30pm “the moon favouring us”. So in all, the journey from Spilsby to Donington via Boston took 6 hours. 

The Account book & Journals record annual visits to Spilsby. Sometimes these just involved Elizabeth Flinders and young Matthew. On one occasion a “Poney” was hired for Matthew and Elizabeth rode on “Mr Tunnards mare”. On another occasion: 

My Wife I thank God being well recovered she along with Matthew made a journey to Spilsby on Friday June 4 and returned on Saturday 12 – one of Mrs Franklins Daughters came back with her to stay a while

We are not given the name of the daughter who came back to stay in 1784, but it may have been the eldest, Mary Franklin. During that week’s visit to Spilsby, Matthew could have met seven young Franklin cousins; Thomas Adams, Mary, Elizabeth (Betsey), Hannah, Willingham, Anne, and 1 year old James. John Franklin had not yet been born! There is however an entry for Mrs Elizabeth Flinders visit to Spilsby a few days after John Franklin’s birth in 1786. This we are told was principally to visit her sister Hannah Franklin as she “lies in” after giving birth : 

April 20. My Wife made a journey to Spilsby and returned again on the 28 … Mrs Franklin at this time lies in, was the principle reason of her going …

The families were reciprocal Godparents (Sponsors) to each others children. The first occasion was Matthew snr’s visit to Spilsby in October 1788, where he also notes his expenses at the christening : 

Mr Franklin Baptized their young Child this day & made me a Sponsor

The Nurse and Servants at Mr Franklins Childs Christening -------------7s

This child would have been John Franklin’s younger sister Sarah (she married Henry Sellwood in 1812; their daughter Emily married Alfred, Lord Tennyson). Hannah & Willingham Franklin were both involved as Sponsors for Matthew snr and Elizabeth’s two daughters. Hannah Flinders was baptized in June 1789 with Mr Franklin as sponsor and in June 1791 Miss Franklin (name not specified) stood as Deputy sponsor for her mother at Henrietta Flinders baptism. 

We also learn that John Franklin and his brother Willingham visited Donington in 1800 : 

On Friday Aug 22. Mr Willingham Franklin & his Brother John, made us a Visit for a few days. The[y] are accomplished youths, the 1st intended for the Church, and the latter every Inch an honest Tar. I wish success to both.

It is probable that Capt Matthew Flinders met his future wife Ann Chapelle through his friendship with the Franklins, as Ann was a great friend of Elizabeth (Betsey) Franklin. He wrote joint letters to Ann and Mary Franklin, sometimes addressing them as “My charming Sisters”,  sadly cut short by Mary Franklin’s death in 1799  (she is interred in the family grave in St James churchyard, Spilsby).  In one letter on board Reliance 25 Jan 1795, Matthew Flinders writes:

… these two or three last nights I have continually dreamd of Chappelle and Mary F.  I took it as a warning and determind to write the first leisure Moment  - ‘tho’ as comfortable as those around me how much does my Situation in Plymouth Sound suffer by a Comparison with the Comforts of a Spilsby fire side, the agreeable Chat and lively Jest of those Friends in whose favour we are so much prepossed as to think every thing they say or do charming … 

Years later Elizabeth (Betsey) Franklin, writing in July 1841 to her niece Eleanor Franklin, mentioned that Mary   

was a great favourite of the Captains – but she died …

Matthew & Ann were married on 17th April 1801 at Partney Church, the service conducted by Ann’s stepfather the Reverend William Tyler. Years later Ann’s half sister Isabella Tyler recalled the occasion: 

  … the sun shone brightly, & the bells rang merrily. Nevertheless, I heard afterwards that there were tears, many and bitter – one wept at losing a friend & companion in the Bride, & one wept at losing the Bridegroom – my heart was too full of joyful anticipation to admit a shade of sorrow, for my sister was married & I was going to London.

Was it one of the Franklin family who shed tears? We shall probably never know.

Hannah Franklin's signature as witness to Matthew & Ann's marriage

Matthew Flinders was in regular correspondence with Thomas Adams Franklin. It was Thomas who was given instructions on fitting out young John Franklin for his voyage as midshipman on Investigator :  

… You may get his old hat laced but it is no order of mine that the youngsters should have such hats; I believe, however, that they most of them have gotten them. He must have one good suit of uniforms (white waistcoat and breeches) but a dirk is sufficient to answer all his purposes, though probably he will require a new one. I do not know that he will require pistols, we have plenty in the ship, though not exactly such as may suit every occasion. There is no necessity for putting you to the expense of them. As I believe the former list expresses, blue round jackets of thin Kersimere will be the most convenient for general wear. He should have one or two of a thicker kind; and for better occasions half coats, and dark but thin waistcoats. He should have a few flannel drawers and waistcoats likewise. His things must be contained in trunks and not in large chests.

Thomas’s younger brother Willingham Franklin received a different request. Writing at sea from beyond the Cape of Good Hope, Matthew asked if he would consider assisting him in writing up his journal after the expedition :  

I am now engaged in writing a rough account, but authorship sits awkward upon me, I am diffident of appearing before the public, unburnished by an abler hand. What say you? Will you give me your assistance, if on my return a narration of our voyage should be called for from me? … If the door now opened suits your taste and you will enter it, prepare yourself for the undertaking …  A little mathematical knowledge will strengthen your style and give it perspicuity. Study the writings of different authors both for the subjects and the manner in which they are treated. Arrangement is a material point in voyage writing as well as in history; I feel great diffidence here.

In the event this never happened. Matthew was imprisoned on Mauritius for 6 ½ years and wrote up his journal himself when he returned to England. There is no evidence that Willingham helped him with this task, though they certainly met up in London.  There were visits from Franklin siblings; Isabella Franklin, Henrietta Franklin and Mr & Mrs Sellwood (Sarah Sellwood nee Franklin) as well as John Franklin, though he was away on HMS Bedford for much of that time.  Willingham’s last visit was on Wednesday 29th June 1814, just a few weeks before Matthew Flinders death, and he was present at his funeral.

The warmth between the families can best be illustrated in an excerpt from a letter from Matthew’s wife Anne Flinders (nee Chappelle) to John Franklin, dated 4th October 1810, a few weeks before Matthew Flinders arrived home from Mauritius.  The Franklin parents at this time were living in Enderby:

How I should like to peep in amongst you all at Enderby, I have many times since Betsey told me of your arrival there last week pictured myself opening the door softly & standing at the end of the sideboard & taking a survey of the whole party before anyone discovered me - I see your good father with his Pipe & glass of Ale on the chimney piece, your dear mother leaning her elbow upon the square breakfast table, looking delighted at you, Betsey with her knees crossed & giving way to the impulse of her heart, by a hearty laugh at what you or Sarah are recounting, the rest with pleasure & eager enquiry – at the end of the stay I can just see Betsey turning her head & discovering poor I standing at the sideboard, up she jumps with extended hands & cries “Well how d’ye do, goodness, how have you got here” Why my dear girl, I answer, by the aid of fancy & the magic wand of imagination”  Give my love to her, John, & all of them, & tell them I trust I shall peep in upon them again & bring one with me who will be as much delighted as myself to see them all.

Sources & Acknowledgements

Lincolshire Archives: FLINDERS/1 & FLINDERS/2  Account Book and Journal of Matthew Flinders senior, 2 volumes 1777-1803. Photo by permission of Lincolnshire Archives.

Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices Indentures 1710-1811 lists Willingham Franklin of Spilsby as Grocer in 1775 and Mercer in 1769, 1779, 1782 (Ancestry)

A Manuscript History of the Franklin Family by Sophia Cracroft 1853 from an article by Shane McCorristine in the Polar Record 2013. With many thanks to Logan Zachary for sending me this.

"My B[rother or Brother-in-law] [I]. W[ard]. kindly went from Bol[ingbroke] with me & introduced me to the Fam[il]y" It's not clear who this was, but his first wife Susannah Ward's family were from Bolingbroke, so possibly one of her family if the surname is Ward. Susannah Flinders is buried at Old Bolingbroke Churchyard.

Matthew Flinders to Ann Chappelle and Mary Franklin, 10 March 1795 from Matthew Flinders Personal Letters from an Extraordinary Life Edited by Paul Brunton 2002

Matthew Flinders to Mary Franklin, 23 January 1795 from Matthew Flinders Personal Letters from an Extraordinary Life Edited by Paul Brunton 2002

Elizabeth (Betsey) Franklin to Eleanor Franklin, 2 July 1841 Derbyshire Record Office: D8760/F/FEG/1/11/4

Isabella Tyler’s Memoir, 1852. FL1/107 NMM  With many thanks to Gillian Dooley for alerting me to this source and sending me her own transcript. I subsequently visited the Caird Library to see it for myself.

Matthew Flinders to Thomas Adams Franklin 2 May 1801 Derbyshire Record Office: D8760/F/FSJ/1/15/4

Matthew Flinders to Willingham Franklin, 27 November 1801 from from Matthew Flinders Personal Letters from an Extraordinary Life Edited by Paul Brunton 2002 

Visits to Matthew Flinders after his return from Mauritius from Matthew Flinders Private Journal 1803-1814 Facsimile of the Mitchell Library Manuscript, Genesis Publications 1986

Ann Flinders to John Franklin, 4 October 1810 copy SPRI

The Flinders Connection Part 1

Matthew Flinders Anniversary 

John Franklin was connected to Matthew Flinders through the marriage of his Aunt to Matthew Flinders father (his second wife) in 1783. This paved the way for a young John Franklin to be taken on board the Investigator as midshipman in 1801 for Matthew Flinders expedition to chart the unknown coasts of Australia. In the next two blogs I will cover Matthew Flinders Reburial and Anniversary services, and look more closely at the connection between the Franklin and Flinders families.

Stained glass window at St Mary and the Holy Rood

On Sunday 13th July this year, Steve & I attended the First Anniversary Service for Matthew Flinders in the Church of St Mary and the Holy Rood, at Donington where he was born. The occasion marked a year since his actual reburial in the village church, on 13th July 2024.

                      

Last year’s reburial service had been particularly moving, led by an imposing Bishop of Lincoln, accompanied by the Governor of South Australia, the Australian Naval Attache and a host of dignitaries too numerous to mention. As a naval Captain, Matthew Flinders received an 18 gun salute and his coffin was carried by 6 pall bearers from the Royal Navy’s state ceremonial team. Permission had been granted to bury him inside the church itself, a very rare occurrence. The coffin was lowered into the grave to the sound of bosun’s whistles and a volley of rifles fired in salute outside.

The story behind the discovery of Matthew Flinders coffin is remarkable in itself. Having died in London on 19th July 1814, he was originally buried in St James’s Chapel burial ground near Hampstead Road, which at that time was out beyond the northern edge of London. In 1852 this graveyard closed for burials and later it became a public garden, with the headstones cleared away to the edges. In the 1850’s Matthew Flinders sister-in-law, Isabella Tyler, tried to visit his grave and was horrified at what she saw :

Many years afterwards, my aunt Tyler went to look for his grave, but found the churchyard remodelled, and quantities of tombstones and graves with their contents had been carted away as rubbish, among them that of my unfortunate father, thus pursued by disaster after death as in life 

This information became fact, even being included on a memorial plaque at St Thomas Church, Charlton, where Matthew’s widow Ann Flinders and her half sister Isabella Tyler were buried.  In 1973 the church was at risk of demolition and the plaque was moved to St John’s Church, Flinders town near Mornington Peninsular, Victoria (Note the date of death on the tablet is wrong, he died on 19th July not the 14th):

MATTHEW FLINDERS ESQ
POST CAPTAIN, ROYAL NAVY
THE AUSTRALIAN DISCOVERER
DIED JULY 14. 1814. AGED 40
AND WAS BURIED AT ST JAMES’ CHAPEL HAMPSTEAD ROAD
THE TOMB HAVING BEEN DESTROYED OR REMOVED BEFORE THE YEAR 1854
THIS TABLET IS ERECTED TO HIS MEMORY

Nevertheless, the burial ledger of St James’s Chapel, Hampstead Road, clearly recorded Matthew Flinders burial in the “second ground”, an area unaffected by any expansion. The HS2 excavations revealed that his grave was still in the same area recorded by the burial register, and fortunately it was easily identified by a decorative lead plaque on top of the coffin, which is now on permanent loan to Adelaide.

Lead plaque

Matthew Flinders new coffin with boomerang

There was no record that the Flinders family ever purchased a grave marker, so this may have led to the later confusion, once other head stones had been removed. 

Matthew Flinders new coffin was a reconstruction by Robert Hartle, the Senior archaeologist at the excavations at Euston. Before polished & waxed wooden coffins became the norm, they were covered with fabrics such as baize or velvet and decorated with upholstery studs in patterns. Traces of these were found on Flinders coffin, and although the exact pattern of the studs couldn’t be identified, the new coffin was covered in black cloth with decorative stud work. A pall incorporating both British and Australian flags covered the coffin, along with a wreath of a white anchor with red roses.

After this beautiful coffin was lowered into the ground, handfuls of earth from Donington, Australia, Mauritius and London, were sprinkled over it to represent places of importance in Matthew Flinders life.  Some of the Australian earth came from Encounter Bay, southern Australia, where he met the French explorer Nicolas Baudin in 1802. Earth from Mauritius represented Matthew’s imprisonment on the Ile-de-France by the Governor, General Decean for 6 ½ years on his return home from Sydney (1803-1810).  

Laurie Bimson, a descendant of Bungaree, Chief of the Broken Bay tribe, who accompanied Flinders in the Investigator placed a boomerang smeared with ochre from Bungaree’s country north of Sydney into the grave. Ochre symbolizes connection to country. The boomerang was made by Laurie’s son, Tom Bimmo Bimson and had an image of a stingray, Bungaree’s tribal totem, burnt into it, along with three emus and a group around a camp fire.

 

                                       Franklin, Bungaree and Finders descendants
  

At the First Anniversary Service in 2025 the various tokens of remembrance were placed on top of a beautiful ledger stone which now marks Matthew Flinders grave. This was carved by Alan Micklethwaite and the design was inspired by drawings produced by the local schoolchildren.  The National Anthems of the United Kingdom and Australia were sung at the end of the service, and as we filed out of the church I could just catch the familiar tune of Waltzing Matilda.

         

Matthew Flinders reburial in 2024 had been a joyous occasion for Donington, shop fronts were filled to the brim with Australian memorabilia of all sorts; images of Bungaree, Matthew Flinders and his cat Trim; colourful bunting everywhere.  In Flinders Park there were Flinders cocktails on sale (we tested them of course!) and a giant model of a kangaroo stood in Market Square. 

    

How different this would have been to the scene over 200 years ago, when my great great great grandfather, Willingham Franklin, was a mourner at Matthew Flinders funeral in London in 1814. How appropriate that 200 years on, Franklin descendants were able to attend Matthew Flinders reburial and first anniversary services at Donington.

Sources: 

Letter from Mrs Anne Petrie, daughter of Matthew & Ann Flinders from The Life of Matthew Flinders by Ernest Scott 1914, 2001 edition 

The Franklin Family Vault

The Church of St. James in Spilsby, situated just off the Market Square with its imposing statue of John Franklin, contains memorials to three Franklin brothers: Sir John, Sir Willingham and Major James Franklin. None of them are buried here, but other members of the Franklin family were buried in the churchyard, and these are listed by my great great grandmother, Catherine Rawnsley (nee Franklin, daughter of Sir Willingham) in her diary of 1873-1876: 

Willingham Franklin died April 3rd 1824 aged 84.

Hannah his wife died Nov 23rd 1810

Thomas Adams Franklin died Oct 7th 1807 aged 33

Mary Franklin died July 13th 1799 aged 23

Henry died in infancy

Elizabeth Franklin died Jan'ry 10th 1850

She writes that they are all buried in a vault, covered by a brick tomb and topped with a stone slab. This slab is inscribed with the names of Mary and Christopher Johnson, for whom the tomb was originally made. Mary Johnson was formerly Mary Weekes, the sister of Hannah Franklin (nee Weekes), mother of John Franklin and his siblings. (Another sister, Elizabeth Weekes, was the second wife of Capt Matthew Flinders father, Matthew Flinders snr). Mary Johnson would have been Catherine Rawnsley’s Great Aunt. Catherine states that her Aunt Mary Franklin (sister of John Franklin) is also inscribed on this top slab. The others, she writes, are inscribed on stones:

one the south side & the two ends of the Tomb  

She also gives the location:

It is about the centre of the Church yard to the South 

Catherine Rawnsley's Diary 1873-1876. Langney Archive LA/4/9

The original structure would have stood several feet above ground level on a brick base. A few of these still survive in the churchyard, but most have collapsed, leaving just a large stone slab at ground level, and this was what we were expecting for the Franklin tomb.

Catherine’s location seemed to fit with information from a file of papers in the vestry, which was found and examined by local Spilsby historian Stephanie (Steff) Round, who Logan Zachary put me in touch with. There was a plan of the graves in the churchyard, each one numbered, with a corresponding list of inscriptions. On this plan, the Johnson/Franklin tomb was No 182, which seemed to be roughly in the centre of the Churchyard to the south.

The description for No 182 was:

Top of chest tomb. Inscription clear : sound, not in situ.

The words  “Top of chest tomb”  inferred that the top slab of stone was all that remained of the tomb. The inscription was said to be  “clear”  and the stone was “sound”  but slightly puzzling were the words following: “not in situ” 

Steve and I searched for it in 2024, but without success. It was certainly “not in situ” in the area we considered number 182 should be.  So where was it?  There were flat stone slabs elsewhere covered in moss, and a branch of a tree had fallen over some of the graves. We didn’t want to start scraping away or clearing vegetation so we gave up. 

A visit to the Lincolnshire Record Office the following year supplied the origin of the churchyard plan. It was part of a larger survey of monumental inscriptions of churches and churchyards in Lincolnshire, which were available to view in the search room.  These surveys were carried out by volunteers in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The surveyors of St James churchyard stated that: 

This survey is incomplete as permission was not given to expose the many fallen headstones now covered over by grass

In July 2025 Steve & I met up with Steff at a café in Spilsby, a stone’s throw from the house where John Franklin was born. To our surprise she announced her discovery of the Franklin tomb!  We all walked up to the church and there it was, a large flat stone at ground level, in sound condition with a clear inscription, and somewhat further north than No 182 on the plan had led us to believe.  It had been one of the graves covered by the fallen branch in 2024, which had since been cleared. The extreme dry weather this year had caused the moss to dry up and drop off, thus revealing the inscription: 

In
MEMORY OF
Mary the Wife of
Christopher Johnson
late of Donington
died April ye 18 1776 Aged 27 
Also of
Mr  Christopher Johnson
who died Feb the 11th 1798
AGED 56 YEARS
And MARY  FRANKLIN
their Neice who died July ye 13
1799 AGED 24 YEARS
ALSO Henry Franklin
who died in his Infancy

Catherine, in her diary entry, had forgotten to add Henry Franklin’s name to the others inscribed on the top of the tomb. His birth and death were 1785.  The inscriptions for the remaining Franklins, at either end of the tomb and along one side of it, are still missing; Willingham & Hannah Franklin (John’s parents),  Thomas Adams Franklin and Elizabeth Franklin (John’s siblings).

We have a record of what two of these inscriptions would have read, from an undated typewritten page from the folder in the vestry: 

 Within this tomb be the remains of Hannah the wife of Wm. Franklin, who departed this life ????

In memory of Wm. Franklin who died April 3rd. 1824. Aged 83 yrs.

The Burial Registers for St James record the burials of all the family members mentioned by Catherine,  but provide no information as to their burial in a family tomb. 

Maybe these stones with their inscriptions are still in the churchyard somewhere, moved from their original position and covered in vegetation, who knows?

The Franklin tomb stone in St James Churchyard. Note the raised tomb in the background which it would have looked like originally.

Acknowledgements:

With grateful thanks to:

Logan Zachary

Steff Round

Kevin Best & Kathryn Jones at Lincolnshire Archives

Russell A. Potter for advice on Blogs

Richard Georgiou for setting up my Blog