William Francklin (1763–1839) was an English orientalist and army officer. Education and military career Francklin was the eldest son of Thomas Francklin, by his wife Miss Venables. He was admitted on the foundation at Westminster in 1777, whence he was elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1781. Preferring to engage in the profession of arms, he was admitted a cadet in the service of the East India Company in 1782, appointed ensign of the 19th regiment of Bengal Native Infantry 31 Jan. 1783; lieutenant 20 Oct. 1789; captain in the army 7 June 1796; captain in his regiment 30 Sept. 1803; major in the army 25 April 1808; major in his regiment 29 March 1810; lieutenant-colonel in the army 4 June 1814, and in his regiment on 16 Dec. of the same year. On being invalided, 1 Oct. 1815, he was made regulating officer at Bhagalpur. He retired in India in December 1825, and died 12 April 1839, aged 76. Career as an orientalist A distinguished officer, Francklin also enjoyed considerable reputation as an oriental scholar. In 1786 he made a tour in Persia, in the course of which he resided for eight months at Shiraz as an inmate of a Persian family, and was thus enabled to communicate a fuller account of the manners of the people than had before appeared. His journal was published as Observations made on a Tour from Bengal to Persia in … 1786–7; with a short account of the remains of the … Palace of Persepolis, 4to, Calcutta, 1788 (reprinted in vol. ix. of John Pinkerton's General Collection of Voyages, 4to, 1808, &c.). A French version, Voyage du Bengal à Chyraz, was published in vols. ii. and iii. of Collection portative de voyages traduits de différentes langues orientales, 12mo, Paris (1797, &c.). His next work, The History of the Reign of Shah-Aulum, the present Emperor of Hindostan. … With an Appendix, 4to, London, 1798, serves as an important continuation of the Siyar Ul-Mutakherin (View of Modern Times) by Ghulam Husain Tabatabai. Francklin also published: The Loves of Camarúpa and Cámalatà, an ancient Indian Tale … translated from the Persian (of Tahsin al-Din), 12mo, London, 1793. Remarks and Observations on the Plain of Troy, made during an Excursion in June 1799, 4to, London, 1800. Military Memoirs of Mr. George Thomas, who … rose … to the rank of a General in the service of the