Francis, Philip (1740–1818)

British politician. As a civil servant in India Francis became a bitter opponent of Warren Hastings, with whom he duelled in 1780. Defeated, Francis returned to England where he assisted Edmund Burke in the preparation of Hastings's impeachment. Francis is the probable author of the polemical letters that appeared in The Public Advertiser, 1769–72, under the pseudonym of Junius. He became an MP in 1784.