Arthur Ellis Franklin

Arthur Ellis Franklin was a British merchant banker, social worker and antiquarian, a senior partner of Keyser & Co. He was a prominent member of the Jewish community in Britain between the wars.

Early life

He was the son of the merchant banker Ellis Abraham Franklin, and came from a well-known Anglo-Jewish family, originally Fraenkel, that arrived in England in the 18th century. He was educated at the City of London School, and on the Continent.

Franklin was senior partner of A. Keyser & Co, a merchant bank. He resigned in May 1930 after 55 years associated with the firm. He was also a director of publishing company Routledge & Co and Chairman of the Notting Hill Electric Light Company.

His wife of 52 years was Caroline Jacob, an educationalist and suffragist. They had six children: Jacob Franklin; Alice Franklin, honorary secretary of the Townswomen's Guild; Cecil Arthur Franklin, chairman of the publishers Routledge; Hugh Franklin, a campaigner for women's suffrage and later Labour politician; Helen Caroline Franklin, CBE, a social worker and politician; and Ellis Arthur Franklin, also a merchant banker. The family lived at Pembridge Gardens, Kensington and also at Chartridge Lodge, Chesham in Buckinghamshire, where they provided hospitality to German refugees and to Jewish officers and soldiers from overseas.