[1] Francis Bartels was born in Cape Coast to the Rev.
Charles Henry Bartels (1885–1938), a Methodist minister, and Agnes Mensah (1887–1940).
He stems from a prominent Gold Coast Euro-African family from Elmina.
[2] Bartels attended the Mfantsipim School between 1925 and 1928 and the Wesley College of Education, Kumasi between 1929 and 1931.
After he received a Master of Arts there, Bartels again returned to the Gold Coast, to become the first Euro-African President of the Mfantsipim School.