Francis Francis

Piscatorial Entrepreneur, Writer

1822–1886

"Depend upon it, brother angler, that there is no dogmatic rule to be laid down either for maidens or fish. Take the word of one who hath had experience of both."

Francis Francis was a well-known English writer on angling who, twenty years after his death, had a fishing club named after him in Twickenham that prospered for 117 years until it finally closed in 2023.

Francis was the only son of Captain John Morgan, R.N. He was born near Seaton in Devon on August 24th 1882 to Morgan and his wife Sarah Anne, née Hartley. Sarah also had naval antecedents, being the grand-daughter of Captain Wimbleton, R.N. Mrs. Morgan had a stepfather, with whom she lived as a young girl, called Francis Francis. He was a wealthy merchant living at Portsmouth.He was fond of Francis Morgan and he left him his considerable property at Fratton, now part of Portsmouth, provided he changed his name on attaining 21 to Francis from Morgan. Thus it was that he became the second in the family to assume the names Francis Francis.

In due course, after being educated privately and by several tutors, he qualified as a Civil Engineer. However, on completing his articles, and then being of independent means, he abandoned this to pursue his passions for angling and writing.

A Painting of The Firs

In 1851 Francis married Mary Cole, daughter of Mr. George Cole of Oxford, and they came to live at The Firs, a large house fronting, but lying back from, the Hanworth (now Staines) Road. The house had a large garden and paddock at the back stretching to the River Crane just upstream of the tumbling bay where the Duke of Northumberland’s River leaves the course of the Crane. The Firs was situated opposite what is now Chestnut Road (partially built up in 1863 and fully so by 1894, according to the Ordnance Survey maps); the row of cottages now lying to the west of the site of the house were there in his time.

Francis devoted his life to angling – he was angling editor of The Field; a passionate supporter and protector of the Thames; helped bring the brown trout to Australia, and was a writer of novels, and the 1867 classic A Book on Angling. Francis Francis lived in Twickenham from 1855 until his death in 1886, and,”all his best work was done here”. With his home and paddock stretching down to the River Crane, which flows into the Thames just below Richmond Half Tide Barrier and Lock, he will always be associated with Twickenham. He died in his chair on 24 December 1886. He had long lived at Twickenham and was buried in Twickenham Cemetery.

The following quotation appears below his name on his gravestone:

“And angle on, and beg to have
A quiet passage to a welcome grave.”

These are the closing lines to the poem The Angler’s Wish by English writer Izaak Walton.

A white marble mural monument to Francis was also erected in the North Aisle of Winchester Cathedral by his friends, showing a medallion-portrait and another quotation by Walton.

The Francis Francis Angling Club was founded in 1906; based in the Queens Head (subsequently re-named as the Barmy Arms) at Twickenham.

From its very beginnings it was a punt fishing club. Outings took place exclusively on the tidal Thames between Richmond and Teddington every Sunday during the coarse fishing season. Originally members hired the punts they fished from but over a period of time, the club built up their own small fleet of 8 punts. Typically these punts were 24 feet long and 4 feet wide.

The following images show members of the club at the Queens Head (Barmy Arms) with their catches. These photos were taken after the Second World War, and before the 1980’s.