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Captain George Edward FRANCKLYN
No. 4 Company, 1st Canadian Divisional Train, Canadian Army Service Corps Date of birth: 1st March 1874 Date of death: 7th December 1915 Killed on active service aged 41 Buried at Shorncliffe Military Cemetery Row M Grave 14
George Edward Francklyn was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia on the 1st of March 1874 the eldest son of George Edward Francklyn, a merchant, and Frances Maria (nee Clarke) Francklyn later of Victoria in British Columbia. He was educated at Lancing College where he was in School House from May 1888 to December 1889. After leaving school he returned to Nova Scotia and joined his father's firm of S. Cunard and Sons of Halifax. He played hockey for the Wanderers and was regarded as the finest player of the game that Halifax had ever seen. He found office life too limiting and tried gold mining at Guysboro in Nova Scotia before travelling to Playa del Oro and spending two years in South America. He entered the Royal Military College of Canada at Kingston in Ontario as a Cadet Officer in 1911 where he played for the Hockey XI. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Canadian Army Service Corps on the 1st of June 1913. He was married at Kingston, Ontario to Madge Kate Isobel (nee Taylor) on the 20th of August 1914. On the outbreak of war he embarked for England with the first contingent of Canadian soldiers on the 22nd of September 1914 . He volunteered for overseas service at Lark Hill Camp, Salisbury Plain on the 8th of January 1915. At a medical examination, which was held on the same day, it was recorded that he was six feet tall and that he had a fair complexion, blue eyes and fair hair. He was posted to No. 4 Depot Unit of Supply and transferred to No. 4 Company, 1st Divisional Canadian Train on the 1st of December 1914. He embarked for France on the 1st of April 1915. He went on seven days leave to England from the 11th of September 1915, returning to his unit on the 18th of September. He was promoted to Captain on the 6th of December 1915. On the 7th of December 1915 the 1st Canadian Divisional Train were at DeBroeken in Flanders where they had been based since the 15th of July. George Francklyn and another officer left on seven days leave that day and travelled to the coast to catch a boat home. On disembarkation George Francklyn fell and drowned in Folkestone Harbour. Word reached his unit on the 11th of December when they saw an announcement of his death in the newspaper and they set about making arrangements for his effects to be sent home. On the 9th of December 1915 the Coroner's Officer, Edwin John Chadwick, opened the inquest into his death at Folkestone with the statement: - "I am Coroner's Officer. The body of a man now viewed by the Jury at the mortuary was identified yesterday morning in my presence by Captain Charles M. Ruttan as that of George Edward Francklyn, a Lieutenant in the Canadian Army Service Corps - Aged about 41 years. I received the body from the harbour sluice man. Deceased was fully dressed except his cap. He was wearing uniform, one stay on the shoulder straps. Deceased had no collar and tie. He had on an overcoat all buttoned up. The haversack now produced was lying in the harbour and contains letter papers, bearing the name of George Edward Francklyn, and other personal belongings. On his left wrist is a watch stopped at ten minutes past eleven. He had 7/2 in cash. I examined the body at the mortuary. There was a superficial graze on the left side of his head, a bruise on the left shoulder and one on the left shin. I turned him over, a quantity of water came from his mouth and nose- and froth. He had every appearance of a man who had been drowned. His pay book shows: - "G.E. Francklyn, Lt. No 4 Coy, Div Train C.A.S.C." The inquest into his death was held at Folkestone Town Hall on the 16th of December 1915 in the presence of the Coroner, George W. Haines, with witnesses being called to determine what had happened: - Testimony of Private James Wilkinson, 4th Battalion King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), who was on duty at Folkestone Harbour at the time: - “He stated that on Tuesday night he went on duty at nine o'clock, his sentry-post being at the gate adjoining the swing-bridge. The platform led right up to the gate, and late at night passengers had to pass through this gate. There was very little light. On the left-hand side there was a wall, and on the other side there were the chains and stanchions of the inner harbour. On the night in question, about ten o'clock, a few persons passed through the gate. These he warned to keep well to the left. He heard nothing during the night. The weather was rough, and it was raining. On the following morning, at 6.50, he looked over into the harbour, as he usually did, to see if there were any soldier’s caps in the water. The tide was then out. He noticed what he supposed to be the body of a man in the harbour, the position being opposite the spot where the brick wall on the left "broke round" towards the station master's house. He noticed that there was one stanchion down, this being opposite to the place where the body was lying.“ Testimony of Thomas Sayer, a labourer in the Engineer’s Department of South Eastern Railway Company: - “On Wednesday morning, about seven, the body of a man was pointed out to him by a sentry. It was lying at the bottom of the harbour. Witness was responsible for the stanchions and the chains, and before going off duty on the previous night, between 4.30 and 5 o'clock, he went round and saw that all the stanchions and chains were in proper position. When he arrived on Wednesday morning the chain at the particular point where the body was lying was hanging over the quayside.” The jury returned a verdict of "Found drowned." The Canadian authorities also conducted an inquiry, under the Chairmanship of Captain Charles M. Ruttan, and repeated the witness statements above before concluding that: - "The Court considers that the late Lieut. G.E. Francklyn met his death by accident due to the following contributory causes:- 1) On the night of December 7th 1915, it was raining and blowing hard and consequently very dark; there were no lights to indicate the quayside. 2) The nearest lights visible from the exit gate were those of the Pavilion Hotel. 3)A direct line from the exit gate to the Pavilion Hotel lights, leads to the quayside at the point where the chain was found unhooked (and immediately above the spot where the haversack was found) thence across the waters of the inner harbour to the hotel entrance. 4) A brick wall on the left (as Exhibit "B") ends almost opposite the spot where the accident occurred; here the full force of the wind would be felt, just where the iron ring might present a stumbling block. 5) The formation of the quay narrows the roadway abruptly and adds to the danger to pedestrians walking along the quayside. 6) From the evidence of Thomas Sayer, an employee of the South Eastern Railway Company, who is responsible for the chains around the quay, it would appear that after 5pm daily no precautions are taken to make certain that even the meagre protection afforded my these chains is maintained; this, notwithstanding the fact that the death of Lieut. Francklyn is the fourth accident of the kind that has occurred in the previous eleven weeks. The Court endorses the rider of the Coroner's Jury, quoted below: - "That the authorities responsible should have brought to their notice the danger to pedestrians leaving the harbour gates, owing to the darkness. The Jury are of the opinion that the present exit should be closed at night and the upper one left open." Furthermore, the Court considers the iron stanchions and chains on the quayside (give) insufficient protection even if the quayside were lighted and is of the opinion that a proper barrier be constructed around the quay."

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