• Name: Twiss, Francis
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: Not Before: March  1759 - Not After: April  1759
• Death Date: 1821
• Occupation: concordance compiler

Francis Twiss (1759-1821), the younger brother of Richard Twiss, studied briefly at Cambridge in 1776 but after 1780 was based mainly in the London area. A critic of Shakespearian acting, he was close to the social circles of Elizabeth Inchabald, John Philip Kemble and his sister Sarah Siddons. Despite an early and unfulfilled passion for Siddons, in 1786 Twiss married her sister Frances Kemble. By 1802 the couple and their four children were living in Bath.

The evidence to support the attribution of all plain 'Twiss' entries to Francis Twiss is circumstantial. His elder brother Richard Twiss was a travel writer and, at least in his early years, spent a great deal of time out of the country; R Twiss seems to be picked out consistently over the years and differentiated from Twiss; and although F Twiss lives in Bath after 1803 the meetings thereafter are compatible with him making occasional short trips to London. In a letter to Godwin in 1796, Amelia Alderson refers to Mrs Twiss (Frances) as her intermediary to John Kemble (whom she wants to read her play).

It is, then, possible that some Twiss entries are for R Twiss rather than F Twiss. There is one entry to W Twiss, which is uncoded. Some of the entries for both Twiss and R Twiss include GMC (Grace Mary Cooper), which suggests family connections - Twiss's father was originally from Norfolk.

Francis Twiss and his wife were close to Mary Wollstonecraft (as Mrs Imlay) prior to her relationship with Godwin when she dined with them at least every third Sunday. Following her marriage to Godwin, the couple refused to receive her. This also marked the end of Godwin's friendship with the Twiss family, although the contacts in 1808 suggest some thaw, or that the contact is with Richard or another family member.

• DNB.

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.