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Author: Frankum, Richard

Biography:

FRANKUM, Richard (c.1800-1861: findmypast.com)

He may have been born in Woolhampton, Berks. At the time of his death at the age of 61, newspaper reports gave his address (correctly) as 4 Burlington Gardens, London. Some add "and Wolverhampton" but that may be an error since it was in Woolhampton that he owned a freehold house and land. No record of his birth has been located and the names of his parents are unknown. He qualified as a surgeon and built up a prosperous London practice. On 11 Oct. 1826 he married Harriet Hobson at St. Marylebone, London. They had one son, Richard Francis, born 23 Sept. 1827, but he died in 1846 aged 18 and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery. In her will of May 1849, Harriet Frankum directed that she should be buried in the same vault. Frankum did not remarry but he travelled and built up a small art collection; he was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a donor to the RLF as well as FRCS. He wrote very little but two satirical poems of the same period as The Bee and the Wasp--The March of Intellect and The Triumph of Reform! published under the pseudonym "W. T. Moncrieff"--are sometimes attributed to him.His only other work is a medical treatise on obesity, 1841. He left his property to colleagues and distant relations, with special provision for the art, stipulating that if his pictures were not accepted by University College London they should go to the National Gallery. He died in his chambers at 4 Burlington Gardens "of apoplexy" on 16 Aug. 1861. (findmypast.com 7 Nov. 2021; ancestry.com 7 Nov. 2021; Illustrated London News 5 Oct. 1861; Reading Mercury 24 Aug. 1861; Morning Post 30 Dec. 1861)

 

Books written (1):