[1] His father, Francis Kiernan (died 7 March 1850 at 30 Manchester Square, London), was also a physician and brought the family to England in the early 19th century.
Francis junior was educated at the Roman Catholic College at Ware, Hertfordshire, and was trained in medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London.
[2] He set up a private anatomy class in Charterhouse Square, but, in the words of the British Medical Journal, his "great success as a teacher caused much jealousy, and, in 1825, gave rise to the Council of the College of Surgeons passing a resolution refusing to receive certificates from any but recognised teachers.
[4] That same year, he became a founding Member of the Senate of the University of London, where he acted as examiner and lecturer in anatomy and physiology.
After a single year as Vice-President (1864–5), he declined re-nomination on the grounds of ill-health,[5] having suffered a paralytic stroke in 1865 from which he never fully recovered.