Author: Francis, John
Biography:
FRANCIS, John (b 1810?)
This John Francis has to be identified by who he was not as well as by who he was. He was not either of the two comparatively famous contemporary figures: John Francis (1810-86), banker and historian; and John Francis (1811-82), editor of the Athenaeum and publisher. Library catalogues sometimes differentiate him from these two as "poet and editor" or "of Holloway." He was a miscellaneous writer who tried to make a living by his pen in the difficult climate of the 1830s with two books of light verse (one of them successful enough for a second edition) and contributions to magazines and annuals. As editor of the one-off luxury production Album Wreath, and Bijou littéraire (1834), he was sufficiently well connected to secure three unpublished poems by Shelley--which however appeared anonymously. Two popular songs to his words--"They Don't Propose" and "We Can't Propose"--were published in 1835, and his work was included in a collection entitled Tints of Talent in 1836. He may have been the John Francis, son of Frances (Taylor) and Edward Francis of Cornwall Place, Holloway, who was born at his father's house in Hoxton on 18 Mar. 1810. The family were dissenters, which may account for the absence of other records; the birth was belatedly registered at Dr. Williams's Library in Red-Cross St. in 1830. Hard-working as he was, there is no trace of him after 1836 and he may have died or changed his occupation. (findmypast.com 25 Oct. 2021; Essex Standard 20 Apr. 1833; Morning Post 31 Jan. 1835; Courier 30 Nov. 1836; Elizabeth Nitchie,TLS 29 Aug. 1939 and MLN 59:4 [1944] 274-7) HJ