Francis was born in the 3rd October 1889 in Saskatchewan, Canada. His father, George Samuel Pook, had emigrated from England sometime after 1871 and had joined the North West Mounted Police; he married Francis’ mother,  Alice Jane, in Canada and they had five children, of whom Francis was the eldest. Francis father died in 1911 and his mother remarried to become a Mrs Shearer.
Francis joined the  Saskatchewan Regiment of the Canadian Infantry and served as a private. He was wounded during the fighting, probably at the  Battle of Passchendaele, and died on 14th November 1917 at the age of 28. He is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Flanders near to the French border.