Sir William Franklin, MD, FRS, KCH (1763-1833)
/Sir William Franklin, MD, FRS, KCH (1763-1833)
The memorial to Sir William Franklin is situated on the east side of the south Nave Transept. He was a noted Army Surgeon and became Principal Inspector General of Hospitals.
The inscription reads:
GULIELMI FRANKLIN
equitis aurati
coll. apud Edinb. regal. medicorum
necnon chirurgorum soci1
M.D., F.R.S., K.C.H.
Princip. exercitus Britannici medic. inspectoris
Haec effigies memoriae sacra.
Vitam quidem variis in orbis partibus regis patriaeque
servus degebat. Medicus inter milites tam in belli
congressu promptus, .quam in valetudinario peritus
postquam aliis domi forisque muneribus
perfunctus erat, locum in medicorum
concilio militari secundum gessit
a quo
tantum amicis sociisque bani
protulit, quantum sibi honoris, patriaeque commodi.
moribus integer, animo facilis urbanusque, veri atque
justitiae tenax, istos sibi amicos quam plurimos, qui uno animo
moerentes
Hoc Marmor
posuerunt.
Natus A.D. 1763 Morten Obiit A.D. 1833
Arms: Quarterly - i & iv (argent) on a bend (azure) three dolphins (of the first) ii & iii on a fesse three stags heads cabossed.
Translation:
This statue is sacred to the memory of William Franklin, Knight, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Edinburgh, Doctor of Medicine, Fellow of the Royal Society, Knight Commander of the Guelphic Order of Hanover, Inspector General of the Hospitals of the British Army.
He indeed spent his life as a servant of king and country in Various parts of the world. A military doctor as brave in battle as he was skilled in sickness. After he had carried out other duties at home and abroad he later took office on the medical military council, by which he gained as much good for his friends and associates as he did honour for himself and advantage to his country. Irreproachable in character, easy and refined in spirit, holding fast to truth and justice he brought together to himself as many of those friends as possible who unanimous in their grief, erected this memorial.
Sir William Franklin was born in 1763 and his first medical post with the army was Surgeon's Mate, in October 1787. He became Regimental Surgeon to the 15th Foot (later The East Yorkshire Regt. and now The Prince of Wales's Regiment of Yorkshire) on 31 May 1790.
8 July 1795 appointed Apothecary to the Garrison of the West Indies. 1 September 1796 appointed Assistant Inspector of Hospitals and Inspector of Hospitals on 24 April 1802. He achieved the rank of Principal Inspector General on 12 July 1810 and finally retired 1st July 1833. He died a few months later on 29 October in London.
In 1823 he was created Knight Bachelor, and in 1832 a Knight Commander of the Guelphic Order of Hanover. He was M.D. Aberdeen (King's College) 1795. F.R.C.P. Edinburgh 1804.
From the notebooks ‘The Naval and Military Memorials of Rochester Cathedral’ (1979)
by Roy Trett, OBE, TD,
Rochester Cathedral Chapter Library
The medieval tombs of the Presbytery and Quire Transept have had a tortured history which many effigies apparently moved and several defaced along with the medieval memorials and brasses over the Early Modern period.
Rochester Cathedral features an exceptionally large collection of Colonial-era military memorials and artefacts. This series has begun to highlight the stories behind these collections and their place in our global heritage.
