Mr Alan Vincent Franklin was born in Long Compton, Warwickshire, England on 27 December 1883; his birth was registered in the first quarter of the following year in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. 

He was the son of Long Compton native Mary Ann Franklin (b. 1860) who was apparently unmarried at that point, and he had one sibling, Rupert (b. 1881) although it is uncertain whether they shared a common father.

His mother Mary Ann was married in 1893 to William Joseph Fessey (b. 1858 in Warwickshire) and had two further children, Elizabeth (b. 1893) and Elsie (b. 1896). She was widowed in 1897 and lived out her life in Warwickshire and died in Southam in 1936.

Alan and his brother were seemingly raised by their grandparents Sam Franklin (b. 1838) and Hannah Hitchman (b. 1836), both natives of Long Compton who had married in 1859 before going on to have at least nine children. Hannah Franklin died in 1910 followed by Sam in 1922.

On the 1891 census Alan, his brother, grandparents and aunts and uncles are listed as living at an unspecified address in Long Compton where his grandfather was described as an agricultural labourer. By the time of the 1901 census they are listed as living at Crocker (?) Street, Long Compton and Alan is described as a coachman and aged 17; he was not listed on the 1911 census and was presumably at sea at the time.

Franklin was married in London in early 1911 to Ada Blanche Couzens (b. 11 March 1886 in Hackney, London). Their first child, a son also named Alan Vincent, would be born on 17 June that same year.

When he signed-on to the Titanic on 4 April 1912 Franklin gave his address as Egremont, Newton Road, Bitterne, Southampton (the home of a Joseph Boles as per the 1912 Southampton street directory). His previous ship had been the Olympic and as a saloon steward he received monthly wages of £3, 15s.

Alan Franklin died in the sinking; his body was recovered by the Mackay-Bennett (#262) and was buried at Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia. His grave remained unmarked for many years.
 

© Bob Knuckle, Canada

His widow Blanche had been pregnant at the time of the disaster and gave birth to a daughter named Blanche later in 1912. She is believed to have remarried a year later but what became of her is uncertain.

His son Alan was married in Norwich, Norfolk in 1934 to Ada B. Rice and they had at least one child. He died in Cambridge in 1991.

His daughter Blanche was married in Norwich in 1934 to Frederick W. Collier and they had at least one child. What became of her is uncertain.