Francis was the son of William and Jane Matthewson.
William was a widower by the time of the 1901 census but an earlier census record shows that in 1881 William, his wife Jane E and their daughter Kate E. were living at 33 Island Street. By 1891 they were living on Ashling Street, Sneinton, and six children were in the household; Kate (10), William (8), Arthur (7 b. 16/12/1884), Nellie (5), Ada (2) and George (1).
In the 1901 census William, now a widower, was living at 12 Berlin Terrace. Five children, Kitty (aka Kate, 20), Arthur (17), Claude Henry (8), Leonard (7) and Francis (4), were in the house while another daughter, Ada (13), may have been visiting a Mr and Mrs Wilkinson on Exchange Road, West Bridgford.
By the time of the next census in 1911 William had remarried and was living with his youngest child by his first marriage, Francis (14), and his second wife, Elizabeth (54), at 7 Lammas Street, Meadows, the home of his stepdaughter, Elizabeth Wakeley (36) and her three daughters, Maud (15), Gladys (12) and Dorothy (7).
At the time of the same census an Ada Matthewson, age 22, was working as a housemaid in the household of Mrs Rebecca Sansom, a widow of 6 College Street, Nottingham.
Francis' brother Arthur had joined the Royal Navy on 3 July 1901, signing on for 12 years on his 18th birthday in 1902, and in 1911 there was a Royal Navy seaman, Arthur Ernest Matthewson, age 27, who was born Nottingham, living in lodgings at 56 Wood Street, Old Brampton, Gillingham, Kent. Arthur served in the Royal Navy until discharged shore on demobilisation on 15 March 1919, his last ship was HMS Indomitable.
Another brother, Leonard, also joined the Royal Navy, serving from 22 November 1912 eventually being rated Stoker First Class. Following service in HMS King Edward VII he was drafted to HMS Royal Oak and after the war was invalided from the service on 23 February 1921.
The youngest brother, George, too served in the Royal Navy and survived the war, being discharged as a Leading Seaman on 6 June 1921.
Claude Henry enlisted on 7 September 1914, joining the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards. He served in France from 3 May 1915 and was discharged on 13 April 1917 being no longer physically fit for service.
William senior's address at the time he was notified of his son's death in 1914 was 52 Granger Street, Meadow Lane, Nottingham.