Constituency : East Northamptonshire 1885-1910
Francis took the new seat of East Northamptonshire.
Francis was born in the USA. His father was a Nonconformist minister. He was naturalized as a British citizen in 1883. He was educated at Oxford where he became a lecturer in philosophy. He also became a barrister.
Francis was a frequent contributor to parliamentary debates.
Francis was a member of the National Vigilance Association, a militant anti-vice organisation. In 1888 he asked the Home Secretary a question about the sensationalist literature read by two teenage murderers who had no apparent motive - "these stories, attractively written, are widely circulated , and read by enormous numbers of children, and instigate many of them to the commission of crime".
From 1893 to 1896 Francis was a member of the Commission for Agricultural Depression. He was also a champion of railway workers in their fight for shorter hours, concerned about the high number of worker fatalities. He managed to get a measure of protection included in the 1889 Regulation of Railways Act
Francis was a supporter of moderate land reform as part of a dwindling number of Liberal MPs for agricultural constituencies. He was chair of a committee of the Land Law Reform Association and used the prosition to promote farmers' grievances as well as the labourers' desire for smallholdings. He believed that the Liberal advantage in his seat would "melt away like the snow in summer " if the party failed in its concerns for agricultural questions".
In the debate on the 1905 Finance Bill Francis complained that "the total expenditure on war and armaments during the last ten years amounted to something like £400,000,000. Through the policy of war, expansion and reckless Imperialism , the whole of that money had been thrown into the sea. Placed at 5 % the mere interest on that sum would have provided universal old-age pensions forever without any further appeal to the taxpayer".
Francis was also involved with the Congo Reform Association and clashed with Grey in 1907 over the Foreign Office's inaction. He said he was "utterly disheartened and disgusted" by Grey's "coldness and slackness".
Francis saw a natural connection between the Liberals and Labour on such subjects as the rights of the working man, graduated tax, land reform and school meals.
Francis was created a baronet in 1906. He stepped down at the December 1910 election.
Francis was made a peer as Baron Channing in 1912.
In 1918 Francis published Memories of Midland Politics 1885-1910.
He died in 1926 aged 84.
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