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About Francis Bain
- Francis Bain (February 25, 1842 – November 20, 1894) was an author, scientist and farmer from North River, Prince Edward Island. In 1865, in his time away from managing his family farm, he began a career as an amateur naturalist, collecting and cataloging the flora, fauna, and seashells of the island.
- He was especially interested in geology, and became an expert on the bedrock and fossils of PEI.
- In an 1882 study, he proposed that it would be possible to dig a tunnel under the Northumberland Strait, which would have enabled the federal government to honour its commitment made when PEI entered Confederation, that constant communication with the mainland be provided.
- He would later be hired by the federal government to do a more in-depth investigation of the idea, although it was never carried out. Following Sir William Dawson's geological report of 1871, Bain continued the quest to explore the Island's rocks for fossils.
- Bain added to the record of fossil plants in particular.
- One of his discoveries was named by Sir William in his honour: Tylodendron Baini.
- Bain wrote enthusiastically on natural history in a column in the Daily Examiner, as well as publishing many papers in scholarly journals.
- He authored two books The natural history of Prince Edward Island (1890) and Birds of Prince Edward Island (1891). A monument in his honour is located in Queens Square in Charlottetown, incorporating a glacial erratic hauled to the site.
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