[2] As he grew older, Francis concentrated his energy on portraiture and executed several portraits of notable figures in Carmarthen and Glamorgan, while he lived in Swansea.

During his artistic career he completed a number of portraits of well known societal and political figures including Queen Victoria and Sir Robert Peel.

Deffett's watercolour portrait of Queen Victoria (pictured on the right), displays the monarch with her dog, Dash, bounding by her side.

The Preface to a catalogue of the collection printed in 1887 introduces the donation in the following manner: 'In the year 1876, Mr. John Deffett Francis, desirous of promoting to the utmost of his power the study of Literature and Art in his native Town, determined to make a gift of his Library, consisting chiefly of Books on Art and subjects connected therewith, to his fellow townsmen.

'[8] In a subsequent catalogue statement dated 25 May 1887, the author of the Preface notes that: The Library thus presented to the Burgesses consisted of between 600 and 700 volumes; but Mr. Francis was not satisfied to stop here.

However, some insights are suggested by a satirical poem written by Wyndham Lawrence in 1876, which cites Francis and some of his contemporaries then living in Swansea.

As this is the same year that Francis made his generous donation of books to the Swansea Library, this may well be a playful response to this philanthropic incident, a reading that is supported by the poem itself, as the first-person narrator makes a series of joking 'bequests': 'I J. Deffett Francis, of Swansea Town, Archaeologist, A-thiest and Artist, Astronomer, Actor of some renown, Curiosity, Critic and Chartist, In the Name of Goodness Gracious!

The poem also suggests that Francis suffered from poor health, was fond of women, ostentatious clothes, smoking pipes and often out of pocket.

There is little information available about the author, Wyndham Lawrence, save what is included in the poem itself: 'he's a good, sanctimonious youth,/ And gazes on Gin with abhorrence'.