[2] Lord was born in Sydney the second son of Mary Hyde and Simeon Lord, an ex-convict turned entrepreneur and later magistrate.
[3] He ran a store at Bathurst before becoming a pastoralist at Cumnock.
On 6 April 1839 he married Mary Ainsworth (or Hanesworth), with whom he had seven children.
[2] His brother George (1818–1880), was also a member of parliament, initially in the first Legislative Assembly in 1856, becoming Colonial Treasurer from December 1870 to May 1872.
George joined Francis in the Legislative Council in 1877.