Thanks, kat, that was interesting. I imagine I'll never know for certain either way, but I have established that even during his lifetime, BF had a reputation as a ladies' man.

My father's middle name was Franklin, but he never gave it any thought until we went to my grandmother's funeral and met two elderly cousins of his. These were very nice, quiet old ladies who shared a home and a Morris Minor car in South London, and we were surprised when they said they were just back from Philadelphia. They explained that they had just wanted to see Franklin's home city before they were too old.

They told us of the connection, though they had no details, and years later when I started tracing my family tree, I found the name Franklin going back in the male line to the early 19C, where I'm stuck for the time being. It's curious , though, that a (very) working-class London family would have maintained this tradition, but there's no-one left to ask now.