Richard T. (Dick) France was born on 2 April 1938.

He was educated at Bradford Grammar School and Balliol College, Oxford (BA, 1960; MA 1963).

He earned his BD at Tyndale Hall, University of London (1963), and his PhD at Tyndale Hall, Bristol (1967).

He served pastoral charges in England and Wales from 1995 until his retirement in 1999.

He had been a member (since 1989; vice-chairman since 2005) of the Committee on Bible Translation responsible for the New International Version of the Bible (NIV), and for Today's New International Version (2005).