Even before coming to Swarthmore, Francis was a serious student of Lord Byron, the English poet who joined the Greek War of Independence and died there in 1824. Francis had an impressive collection of Byron first editions, manuscripts, and memorabilia. He was instrumental in arranging an exhibition of items from his collection and those of others for the Van Pelt Library of the University of Pennsylvania in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Lord Byron's death.

Just days after the opening of the exhibition in April, 1974, Francis died suddenly while en route to Greece as a guest of the Greek government to participate in Greece's celebration of the Byron anniversary. He was 22. Prior to his death, he was working on a bibliography of Lord Byron's works. The unfinished manuscript was published posthumously as "Studies for a Byron Bibliography" in 1979. [Sources:  Philadelphia Inquirer, Byron Society Newsletter, Roy Ziegler's 2020 book "Unfaltering Trust: How Pilgrim Edward Fitz Randolph Jr. and His Descendants  Helped Build America." ]