Born on the 19th August 1887 Francis was the eight of nine children born to Patrick and Anne Ledwidge. He was the first child born in the family's new home, at Janeville just outside the village of Slane situated in the Boyne Valley, some thiry miles north of Dublin. Christened Francis Edward but known as Frank to his family and friends the fledgling poet would know hardship from an early age. His father died when he was just four years old and only three months after the birth of his youngest brother Joseph. the burden fell on his mother Anne to provide for the family by undertaking back breaking work for the farmers in the fields for a meager eight shillings a week.

Despite the initial hardship the literary talents of Francis flourished from an early age. Described as an "erratic genius"by his schoolmaster Mr. Thomas Madden. Francis joined a literary society for juveniles and was introduced to classic stories like, The Arabian Nights, Robinson Crusoe, Don Quixote and the poetic works of Shakespeare, Keats and Longfellow. From as soon as he could write Francis indulged in the creation of rhyme and verse:

'While I was still at school many silly verses left my pen, written either for my own amusement, or the amusement of my companions. Indeed I left many an exercise unfinished hurrying over some thought that shaped itself into rhyme...'