Francis Chandler was a boy chorister at New College, Oxford, and then a choral scholar at Cambridge, a cathedral bass, solo singer, violinist, self-taught composer and organist. His most fruitful years were spent teaching English in Kenya, where his one-act opera Ondieki the Fisherman was produced three times and is to be revived in the autumn of 2011. After senior English posts in the West Midlands, he taught at Edgehill College, Bideford. On retirement he taught music to pupils at Stella Maris Convent School and Grenville College, Bideford.
His organ music has recently been played at Exeter Cathedral and his anthem Here, O My Lord, I see Thee face to face is now in the repertoire of Exeter Cathedral Choir.