A more recent theory, put forward by the author and historian Michael Jones in his local history book "Frankston: Resort to City" (published in 1989), is that Frankston was named after the heroic British army general Sir Thomas Harte Franks. The theory is strengthened by the fact that a number of places near Frankston also have names that are derived or adapted from those of British army generals and statesmen (such as Cranbourne, Hastings, Lyndhurst, Mornington and Pakenham). Jones states that the Surveyor General of Victoria from 1853 to 1858, Sir Andrew Clarke, named all of these places.