John Franklin

Bank: Westminster Bank

Place of work: Tonbridge branch

Died: 25 August 1941

John Benjamin Gough Franklin was born on 11 May 1920, the son of Harold Scott Erskine Franklin, an officer in the Indian army, and his wife Kathleen. He was educated at Tonbridge School, and joined the staff of Westminster Bank at its Tonbridge branch in January 1938. Outside work he was a territorial soldier, a member of the Royal West Kent Regiment. 

Franklin was mobilised at the outbreak of war in 1939, and by 1941 was a Captain in a Sikh regiment of the Indian army. He was killed in action in Iraq on 25 August 1941. He was 21 years old. A bank colleague later recalled, 'Although of a rather quiet and shy disposition, John Franklin was a most likeable young man, and his many friends and contemporaries lament the loss of one whose promising career has been so tragically cut short.'

John Franklin is commemorated on a bank war memorial at NatWest Tonbridge branch.