Charles Hercules Read,
Dictionary of National Biography
(1901)
“ Ethnology was a new subject to Franks, but his energy and perseverance were equal to the task, and he arranged the collection in Victoria Street so that the public could be admitted to study it, and made such considerable additions, chiefly from his own resources, that by the time it reached the British Museum it was more than twice its original size. ”
Charles Hercules Read,
Dictionary of National Biography
(1901)
“ In 1850 he undertook a definite piece of work as secretary of the exhibition of mediæval art, held in the rooms of the Society of Arts, the first of many similar gatherings, and the precursor of the Great Exhibition of the following year. The interest that he had shown in the antiquities of his own country led to his accepting in 1851 a post as assistant in the department of antiquities in the British Museum, where, until then, no attempt had been made to form a series of British remains. ”
Charles Hercules Read,
Dictionary of National Biography
(1901)
“ Franks died in London, unmarried, on 21 May 1897, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery. A bronze medallion profile portrait, life-size, by C. J. Prsetorius, is at the Society of Antiquaries, and another in the British Museum. Retiring in disposition, with a strong dislike to public demonstrations and public speaking, Franks was a true student, a gatherer of knowledge for its own sake, as well as for the purposes of his work. His training made his knowledge wider and more general than is possible for men of a later and more specialised generation. ”
