Frank Francis

Sir Frank Chalton Francis KCB (5 October 1901 – 15 September 1988) was an English academic librarian and curator. Almost all his working life was at the British Museum, first as an assistant keeper in the department of printed books, and later as secretary of the museum, keeper of printed books and, between 1959 and 1968, director and principal librarian of the museum.

As director, Francis worked to modernise and expand the museum, and his ideas contributed to the establishment of a separate British Library after his retirement. He was a well-known bibliographer, lecturing in the subject at University College, London, and serving as secretary, and later president, of the Bibliographical Society. He was one of the pioneers of computerised bibliography for libraries.

Francis was born in Liverpool, the only child of Frank William Francis, a provision broker and his wife, Elizabeth née Chalton. He was educated at the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys and Liverpool University, where he took a first class degree in Classics. From 1923 to 1925, he undertook post-graduate studies at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he specialised in early Greek philosophy.

After leaving Cambridge, Francis taught for a year at Holyhead County School, and in 1926 he joined the British Museum as an assistant keeper in the department of printed books. He remained with the museum for 42 years. In 1927, he married Katrina McClennon in Liverpool. There were two sons and one daughter of the marriage. At the museum, Francis was put in charge of Swedish books. He paid several visits to Sweden, studied Swedish and Icelandic and became the museum's leading expert in Scandinavian languages. From 1930 he also took a leading role in the revision of the museum's general catalogue, acquiring a reputation as a bibliographer. In 1936 he was appointed editor of the Bibliographical Society's journal, The Library, a post that he held until 1952. In 1938 he was appointed secretary of the society (jointly with R. B. McKerrow until 1940).

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