Alice Caroline Franklin OBE (1 June 1885 – 6 August 1964) was a British feminist, secretary of the Jewish League for Woman Suffrage and the Society for the Oversea Settlement of British Women, and a key figure in the running of the Townswomen's Guild. Together with Gertrude Horton, she shaped the society from its suffragette roots into an organisation that was apolitical and inclusive, but also provided considerable space for feminist and lesbian women.
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Early life
Alice Franklin was born to Arthur Ellis Franklin and Caroline Franklin (née Jacob), the second of six children. The Franklin family was a prominent member of the Anglo-Jewish "cousinhood", and the family was well-off and well-connected.
Alice was educated at Notting Hill and Ealing High School, a private girls' school, and upon leaving school joined her mother at the Care Committee (the social services wing of London County Council). Caroline Franklin was also a member of the Jewish League for Woman Suffrage, and Alice followed her mother here too: in the 1913 Suffrage Annual and Women's Who's Who, she is recorded as the group's secretary.