He was born in Brighton, Sussex, England, the eldest son of Colonel Henry Foster, a Tasmanian farmer.

[2] After military service during the First World War, Francis Foster was a successful businessman who served as member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly between 1937 and 1941.

[3] Francis Foster studied at Launceston Church Grammar School before entering Trinity College (University of Melbourne) where he obtain a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1911.

He briefly worked as a civil engineer, including under Sir John Monash, before travelling to England 1912 with his parents, where he visited a number of industrial establishments.

This proved to be a shrewd investment; by 1990, after his death, the Financial Review was able to report that "The Foster family wealth is generated by a 51% shareholding in the North Australian Pastoral Company, which controls about 45,000 square kilometres in the Northern Territory and Queensland and has four properties in Tasmania.

Other roles included membership of the Agricultural Bank of Tasmania's postwar land development committee and of the board of inquiry into Bass Strait Islands transport facilities.