While the church is located between the Lozells and Hockley parts of the city, the parish covers most of Handsworth.

[1] It was founded in 1840, originally as a chapel in the nearby listed building, St. Mary's Convent designed by Augustus Pugin.

[2] In 1840, Nicholas Wiseman, as coadjutor bishop of Thomas Walsh, the Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District, invited the Sisters of Mercy to Birmingham.

He promised to bear all the expenses of creating a convent, and helped by an endowment of £2000 from the Earl of Shrewsbury he commissioned Augustus Pugin to design the building for them.

Four years later, Canon Scoles went on to design Our Lady of Loreto and St Winefride's Church in Kew, London.

[5] The foundation stone of St Francis' church was laid in May 1893 by Bishop Edward Ilsley.

One window depicting the Annunciation adjacent to the Lady chapel was designed by William John Wainwright and then built by Hardman & Co.