Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 20.djvu/171

 mission in the south province of England, where he died on 27 July 1715 (, Necrology, p. 87).



FRANCIS, ANNE (1738–1800), authoress, daughter of the Rev. Daniel Gittins, rector of South Stoke, near Arundel, Sussex, was educated by her father in the classics and Hebrew, and became a competent scholar. She married the Rev. Robert Bransby Francis, rector of Edgefield, near Holt, Norfolk. She died on 7 Nov. 1800. She published:
 * 1) ‘A Poetical Translation of the Song of Solomon from the original Hebrew, with a preliminary Discourse and Notes, historical and explanatory,’ 1781, 4to.
 * 2) ‘The Obsequies of Demetrius Poliorcetes: a Poem,’ 1785, 4to.
 * 3) ‘A Poetical Epistle from Charlotte to Werther,’ 1788, 4to.
 * 4) ‘Miscellaneous Poems,’ 1790, 12mo.



FRANCIS, ENOCH (1688–1740), Welsh baptist, was born in 1688 at Pantyllaethdy, on the banks of the Tivy, and began to preach in 1707. He was settled first at Capel Iago, Llanbyther, but removed in 1730 to Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthenshire. He became one of the most popular and successful ministers of his denomination. He was moderator of the baptist association at Hengoed, Glamorganshire, in 1730, ‘but the meeting,’ says Thomas, ‘was uncomfortable. There were very warm debates upon general redemption and other articles connected with it. Mr. E. Francis had work enough to moderate some tempers.’ The disturbing element at Hengoed was Charles Winter. Francis's publications were: 1. ‘The Work and Reward of the Faithful Minister of the Gospel,’ 1729. 2. ‘A Word in Season,’ 1733. He was also the author of some of the association letters; that of 1734 is specially mentioned. He died 4 Feb. 1739–40. Mary, his wife, died 23 Aug. 1739, aged 49, and the inscription on the tomb tells us ‘Enoch walked with God;’ ‘Mary has chosen the better part.’ The historian of the baptists concludes his memoir with an elegy by Jenkin Thomas, Drewen.



FRANCIS, FRANCIS (1822–1886), writer on angling, born in 1822 at Seaton, Devonshire, was son of Captain Morgan, R.N., his mother being the only daughter of Mr. Hartley, who founded the Hartley Institution at Southampton. He changed his name on coming of age and inheriting property. After being educated at various private schools, and with several tutors, he adopted the profession of a civil engineer, but on completing his articles abandoned it for sport and sporting literature. In 1851 he married Mary Cole of Oxford, and henceforth, happy in his domestic life, enthusiastically devoted himself to angling and all connected with it. No kind of fishing, from gudgeon to salmon, came amiss to him, and he speedily made himself familiar with every mode of catching fish. His ardour never flagged; a lifetime of fishing found him, when he reeled up his last line at Houghton, Hampshire, as enthusiastic as when in his boyhood he caught his first fish. He was angling editor of the ‘Field’ for more than a quarter of a century, and frequently wrote his experiences as an angler, together with reminiscences of angling literature, and papers on cognate subjects in the columns of that newspaper. He found time also to make himself a fair classical scholar, and to obtain a knowledge of the masterpieces of the English language. The collection of a good angling library formed a congenial entertainment to him. Francis established the Thames Rights Defence Association, throughout life advocated the cause of fish culture, and suggested the plan of ‘The National Fish-Culture Association,’ which has since been carried out. He had a large share, too, in introducing the ova of English trout to the New Zealand and Tasmanian streams. Thus he occupied himself with his rod and pen during many happy years until he was seized with a severe stroke of paralysis in 1883. Though he eventually recovered from this, he grew thinner month by month, and an old cancerous affection, for which he had previously undergone two operations, recurring, he died in his chair on 24 Dec. 1886. He had long lived at Twickenham and was buried there.

Francis was a member of the commission on oyster culture from 1868 to 1870, and was always enthusiastic about the improvement of English streams. As naturalist director for some years of the Brighton Aquarium he had special opportunities of observing fish and making experiments on their culture. He was of fine stature, active in mind and body, quick with his pen, and never unemployed; cheerful, bright, sympathetic, and independent, his courage was extraordinary, and was well exhibited in the