Sir Leonard Benjamin Franklin OBE (15 November 1862 – 11 December 1944) was an English barrister, banker, and Liberal Party politician of Jewish descent.

Franklin was born in London in 1862, the son of Ellis Abraham Franklin, a banker and his wife Adelaide who was a sister of Samuel Montagu, 1st Baron Swaythling. In this way, Franklin was born into a Liberal family which also included Venetia Stanley, famous correspondent of H H Asquith and future Liberal Party leader, Herbert Samuel. In 1888, Franklin married Laura Agnes Ladenburg and they had one son and three daughters.

Franklin was educated at King's College School, London and the Athenée Royale school in Brussels.

Franklin studied for the law and was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1894, although he never practised. In 1892, he had become a partner in the firm of Keyser & Co. of Throgmorton Street in the City of London, foreign bankers and was a senior partner after 1929.

During the First World War, he was appointed as Local Government Board representative at Folkestone with the task of dealing with the large numbers of refugees from 'gallant little Belgium' when the voluntary War Refugee Committee could no longer cope with the weight of numbers.

For this work he was awarded the OBE. He was later posted to France to report on the finances of British military hospitals. Franklin also served as a Justice of the Peace.

Franklin undertook social work in London and was described as an 'ardent Radical.' From 1908, he was Chairman of North Paddington Liberal Association. He served as honorary treasurer of the London Radical Candidates' Association, taking a particular interest housing and traffic.

In 1912, he and his wife Laura founded the Jewish League for Woman Suffrage which campaigned for national women's suffrage and for equal rights for women within the Jewish Faith. They were assisted by the extended Jewish family including Henrietta Franklin and her sister Lily Montagu.