Lably
Skip to content

Dick Francis

English jockey and crime writer (1920–2010)

  • 12 min read
  • 5 chapters
  • 1 lab on Lably

Learn it on Lably

Lab · Class 6–8The Science of Cooking

After wartime service in the RAF, Francis became a full-time jump-jockey, winning over 350 races and becoming champion jockey of the British National Hunt. He came to further prominence in 1956 as jockey to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, riding her horse Devon Loch which fell when close to winning the Grand National. Francis retired from horseracing and became a journalist and novelist.

Many of his novels deal with crime in the horse-racing world, with some of the criminals being outwardly respectable figures. The stories are narrated by the main character, often a jockey, but sometimes a trainer, an owner, a bookmaker or someone in a different profession, peripherally linked to racing. This person always faces great obstacles, often including physical injury. More than forty of these novels became international best-sellers.

Personal life

Francis was born in Coedcanlas, Pembrokeshire, Wales. Some sources report his birthplace as the inland town of Lawrenny, but at least two of his obituaries stated his birthplace as the coastal town of Tenby. His autobiography says that he was born at his maternal grandparents' farm at Coedcanlas on the estuary of the River Cleddau, roughly a mile north-west of Lawrenny. His mother had likely returned to her parents' home to give birth, as was the custom. He was the son of a jockey and stable manager and his wife. Francis grew up in Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. He left school at 15 without any qualifications, intending to become a jockey; by the time he was 18, in 1938, he also was training horses.

In October 1945, he met Mary Margaret Brenchley (17 June 1924 – 30 September 2000) at a cousin's wedding. In most interviews, they commented that it was love at first sight. Their families were not entirely happy with their engagement, but the couple married in June 1947 in London. She had graduated with a degree in English and French from London University at the age of 19, was an assistant stage manager and later worked as a publisher's reader. She also became a pilot and her experience of flying contributed to many novels, including Flying Finish, Rat Race, and Second Wind. She contracted polio while pregnant with their first child. They had two sons, one of whom was Felix Francis (born 1953).

For nearly 30 years, Francis lived in Blewbury in Berkshire (now in Oxfordshire). In the 1980s, he and his wife moved to Florida in the United States. In 1992, they moved to the Cayman Islands, where Mary died of a heart attack in 2000. In 2006, Francis had a heart bypass operation; in 2007 his right foot was amputated. He died of natural causes on 14 February 2010, at his Caribbean home in Grand Cayman.

Sign in to keep reading

4 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Writers and journalists

Aldous HuxleyEnglish writer and philosopher (1894–1963)Pliny the YoungerRoman lawyer, author and magistrate (61 – c. 113)Allen GinsbergAmerican poet and writer (1926–1997)J. K. RowlingBritish author (born 1965)Nathaniel HawthorneAmerican author (1804–1864)Robert GravesEnglish poet, novelist and critic (1895–1985)