Francis Francis (golfer)

Francis was born in London in 1906, the son of Francis Francis IV, an English army officer,{{Cite news |date=20 September 1958 |title=A Champion at 52 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-standard-champion-at-52/160924053 |url-access= |access-date=15 December 2024 |work=Evening Standard |location=London, England |pages=4}} and his American wife, heiress Frances (Fannie) Evelyn Bostwick. Francis' half-sister was Marion Barbara "Joe" Carstairs through his mother's first marriage.

Francis was the grandson of industrialist and founding partner of Standard Oil, Jabez Bostwick, and the writer Francis Francis III. He was also the great-great-grandson of Henry Robinson Hartley, benefactor of the Hartley Institute, which would later become the University of Southampton.

Francis attended Rugby school. While at Rugby, he inherited a fortune from his grandmother.

Francis was a skilled golfer with a passion for high-octane sports, such as race car driving, flying, and motorboating.{{Cite news |date=23 March 1950 |title=A Son for Patricia |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/720855871 |url-access=subscription |access-date=15 December 2024 |work=Evening Standard |location=London, England |pages=4}}

Francis won the Swiss Open in 1936. He also won the Dutch International Amateur Golf Championship in 1935 and 1936, the Surrey Amateur Golf Championship in 1936,{{Cite news |date=23 March 1950 |title=All is not Gold |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/795600448 |url-access=subscription |access-date=15 December 2024 |work=Leicester Evening Mail |pages=3}} and was runner up in the French International Amateur Championship in 1934, the Belgian Open Amateur Championship in 1934 and 1935, and the Dutch Open in 1936. He represented England in the Home Internationals in 1936. In 1937, he was invited to play in the Masters Tournament, which would later become recognised as one of golf's four major championships.

In 1958, at the age of 52, he won the Swiss International Amateur Golf Championship. He won the title again in 1960.

• 1935 Addington Foursomes (with Auguste Boyer), Dutch International Amateur Championship
• 1936 Swiss Open, Dutch International Amateur Championship, Surrey Amateur Golf Championship
• 1938 Sunningdale Foursomes (with Leonard Crawley)
• 1958 Swiss International Amateur Championship
• 1960 Swiss International Amateur Championship

Francis joined the Royal Horse Guards about 1923.{{Cite news |date=23 April 1930 |title=Married to Actress |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBTRIB19300423.2.31 |access-date=15 December 2024 |work=Hawke's Bay Tribune |location=Hawkes Bay, New Zealand |pages=7 |volume=XX |issue=106}} A former subaltern, Francis resigned his commission in 1929 at the rank of lieutenant to marry an actress.{{Cite news |date=3 January 1930 |title=Sunny Jarman Wed to Lieut. Francis Francis |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/143040133 |url-access=subscription |access-date=15 December 2024 |work=Asbury Park Press |location=Asbury Park, New Jersey}} During World War II, he served with the Air Transport Auxilliary.

Francis married first wife, American actress Sunny Jarman in 1929.{{Cite news |date=28 December 1929 |title=Sunny Jarman's Secret Wedding: Disappears with Millionaire after Ceremony |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/965655035 |url-access=subscription |access-date=15 December 2024 |work=Herald of Wales |location=Swansea, Wales |pages=5}} She was 19; he was 23. The couple met while Jarman was acting in the musical comedy "Hold Everything" at the Palace Theatre, London. The couple had two sons, one of whom became a lawyer and the other a submarine officer.

His second wife was the stage actress Patricia Leonard; they married about 1947. They had one son and one daughter.{{Cite news |date=13 Oct 1954 |title=Child for Millionaire |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/851541057 |url-access=subscription |access-date=15 December 2024 |work=Birmingham Evening Mail |location=Birmingham, West Midlands, England |pages=15}}

Francis bought the private island, Bird Cay, Bahamas from his sister, Joe Carstairs in the 1940s{{Cite news |date=7 July 2008 |title=Patricia Francis - widow of Francis Francis - dies in Switzerland aged 93 |url=https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00084249/01069/images/1 |access-date=15 December 2024 |work=Tribune newspaper |location=Nassau, Bahamas |pages=2}} where he had fruit and coconut interests. Francis lived between Geneva, Bird Cay, and London until his death in 1982.

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Category:1906 births

Category:1982 deaths

Category:English male golfers

Category:Amateur golfers

Category:Bostwick family