During the period, the Bristol Channel became an important artery that transported cargo and people from one place to another, creating prosperous Anglo-Welsh communities with new, especially urban identities.
[1] As an apprentice-served coachmaker, John Francis flourished in the rapidly-urbanising Swansea of the early nineteenth century,[2] serving a newly minted clientele of industrialists, merchants, professionals and civic leaders.
The preservation and restoration of Oystermouth Castle, near Swansea—one of the many ancient ruins pertaining to the house of Beaufort, lords of Gower and Kilvey—were also owing to his exertions, for which he was presented with a piece of plate.
Francis died at his town house, 9 Upper Phillimore Place, Kensington, 21 April 1882 aged 68, and was buried on the 26th in his wife's family tomb at Danygraig Cemetery, Swansea.
By his marriage in 1840 to Sarah, eldest daughter of John Richardson of Swansea, and of Whitby Lodge, Northumberland, he left three sons.
To the volume for 1848 he sent for insertion the original contract of affiance between Edward of Carnarvon, prince of Wales, and Isabella, daughter of Philip the Fair, king of France, dated at Paris 20 May 1303, which he had discovered in Swansea Castle.
Thomas Bliss in writing ‘'Some Account of Sir Hugh Johnys, Deputy Knight Marshal of England, temp.