Born 25 November 1862 at The Wick, Southchurch, near Thorpe Bay, Essex, the seventh child and third son of Charles Wordley Francis, farmer, and Mary, his wife, daughter of George Belcham of Rayleigh, Essex. He was educated at Clewer House, Windsor, Worthing College, and University College School. He matriculated in 1885 at the University of Cambridge from King's College, where he was an exhibitioner 1886 and scholar 1887, and graduated after gaining first class honours in Parts 1 and 2 of the Natural Sciences Tripos. His medical education was received at St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he filled the post of house surgeon after winning the gold medal and the scholarship in surgery at the London University BS examination. Settling in Hull he was appointed assistant surgeon to the Royal Infirmary on 11 February 1897, was promoted surgeon 9 May 1907, resigned in 1922, moved into London in December 1923, and retired to Hastings in April 1937. Whilst living in Hull he was president of the Hull Medical Society and of the East Riding and North Lincolnshire branch of the British Medical Association. He married on 14 April 1891 Frederica Jane Marcon, daughter of the Rev Walter Marcon. She survived him with two sons and two daughters. He died at 32 Park Drive, Hastings on 13 October 1940. Mrs Francis died on 3 March 1942. Francis did much good work as an archaeologist and was rewarded by his election as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. His chief papers were (1) On a shellmound at Southchurch, Essex, in the *Southend-on-Sea Antiquarian and Historical Society's Transactions* 1925; (2) On a causeway at the prehistoric settlement at Southchurch, Essex, *The Essex Naturalist* 1930; (3) On the subsidence of the Thames estuary since the Roman period, *Ibid*. 1931. He was also interested in the Cybele cult.