Henrietta "Netta" Franklin,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

born Henrietta Montagu (9 April 1866 – 7 January 1964) was a British educationist and suffragist. She championed the

Parents' National Educational Union The Parents' National Educational Union (abbreviated PNEU), founded in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1887 as the Parent's Educational Union, was an organisation providing resources and support for teachers and homeschoolers in the United Kingdom in acco ...

and the ideas of

Charlotte Mason Charlotte Maria Shaw Mason (1 January 1842 – 16 January 1923) was a British educator and reformer in England at the turn of the twentieth century. She proposed to base the education of children upon a wide and liberal curriculum. She was ins ...

Life

Franklin was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1866 to Henrietta and

Samuel Montagu, 1st Baron Swaythling Samuel Montagu, 1st Baron Swaythling (21 December 1832 – 12 January 1911), was a British banker who founded the bank of Samuel Montagu & Co. He was a philanthropist and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons of ...

. She was the eldest of eleven children. The family business was banking and philanthropy. Via her husband Ernest Louis Franklin, she was related by marriage to

Rosalind Franklin Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 192016 April 1958) was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, co ...

, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA. In 1890 she met

in what others consider to be the "inspiring experience" of Franklin's life. By 1892 she had opened the first school in London based on Mason's principles. In 1894 Franklin became the secretary of the renamed

and Franklin undertook speaking tours to major cities in America, Europe and South Africa. She devoted her own money to the cause and wrote on its behalf. Franklin's biography cites the PNEU's continued existence to her.Sybil Oldfield, ‘Franklin , Henrietta etta(1866–1964)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 201
accessed 22 Nov 2017
/ref> Her sister

Lily Montagu The Hon. Lilian Helen "Lily" Montagu, CBE (22 December 1873 – 22 January 1963) was the first woman to play a major role in Progressive Judaism. Life Lily Montagu was the sixth of 10 children born to Ellen Cohen Montagu (1843–1919) and Samu ...

led a liberal Jewish movement in Britain and in February 1902 they arranged the first meeting of the Jewish Religious Union for the Advancement of Liberal Judaism at Franklin's house. Franklin was one of the few Jewish women to raise their profile in the suffrage movement. In 1912 she helped her in-laws Laura and Leonard Franklin form the

Jewish League for Woman Suffrage The Jewish League for Woman Suffrage was formed in 1912 in the United Kingdom. It was a Jewish league promoting women's suffrage. The group sought both and political and religious rights for women. History When "votes for women" was a major politi ...

which was open to both male and female members. The organisation sought both political and religious rights for women. It was felt that some Jewish people may be more inclined to join this group in preference to an unspecific women's suffrage group. Other members included

Edith Ayrton Edith Ayrton Zangwill (1879 – 1945) was a British author and activist. She helped form the Jewish League for Woman Suffrage. Early life Ayrton was born in 1875 in Japan to the scientist William Edward Ayrton and the doctor Matilda Chaplin Ay ...

, Hugh Franklin, her sister

and

Inez Bensusan Inez Bensusan (1871–1967) was an Australian born Jewish actress, playwright and suffragette in the UK. She was a leader of the Actresses' Franchise League and the Jewish League for Woman Suffrage. Life Bensusan was born in Sydney, Australia ...

. The organisation was generally moderate but it had radical members. Some were responsible for disrupting synagogue services to make their point in 1913 and 1914. They were labelled as "blackguards in bonnets" by the Jewish community. However Henrietta achieved wider acceptance and became President of the

National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the ''suffragists'' (not to be confused with the suffragettes) was an organisation founded in 1897 of women's suffrage societies around the United Kingdom. In 1919 it was ren ...

in 1916. In 1950 she was appointed a

. Franklin died in 1964 in

Posthumous recognition

Her name and picture (and those of 58 other women's suffrage supporters) are on the

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In c ...

of the

statue of Millicent Fawcett The statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, London, honours the British suffragist leader and social campaigner Dame Millicent Fawcett. It was made in 2018 by Gillian Wearing. Following a campaign and petition by the activist Caroline C ...

Parliament Square Parliament Square is a square at the northwest end of the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster in central London. Laid out in the 19th century, it features a large open green area in the centre with trees to its west, and it contai ...

, London, unveiled in 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, Henrietta 1866 births 1964 deaths People from London Education activists English Jews English suffragists Jewish feminists Jewish suffragists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Daughters of barons Presidents of the National Council of Women of Great Britain