Papers of John Franklin

Comprises personal documents including passports and application forms, press cuttings collected by Franklin mainly relating to sport in general and cricket in particular. The medals and trophies included may belong to Franklin or to the sports organisations he was involved with. Fonds includes records relating to community groups Franklin was active in especially the Brixton Cycling and BMX Club, and the Black Elderly Luncheon Club (BELCH).

John Franklin was born in Kingston, Jamaica on 8 June 1935 to Leslie and Doris Franklin. Franklin came to Britain in 1959 and lived in Leicester and later at 26 Rattray Road, Brixton, London. Franklin was a voluntary member of a great many community groups in South-East London (including returning officer for West Indian Ex-Servicemen and Women's Association (UK)) and was a governor at several schools. He worked as a Community Relations Officer in Southwark and Wandsworth. His wife, Hilda Rose Chew was born in Britain in 1926 and their son was born in Gloucestershire in 1957. John Franklin died on 6 August 2001 and was buried at Norwood Cemetery on 21 August 2001. John's sister, Dawn Hill, is a trustee of Black Cultural Archives.

Franklin appears to have been the secretary of the Brixton Cycling and BMX Club from 1983-1990. The club had been founded on 8 January 1981 and moved from Beehive Place, Brixton Road, Brixton to Hargwyne Street, Stockwell in 1983.

This collection is partially available for research but is currently held offsite. Readers are strongly urged to contact Black Cultural Archives in advance of their visit. For material that is stored off-site, advance notice of at least a week is needed in order to retrieve this material.

The reading room is open for access to archive materials Wednesdays-Fridays, 10am-4pm. The reading room is also open late every second Thursday of the month, 1pm-7pm.

Please email the archivist to book an appointment archives@bcaheritage.org.uk