The son of Proctor Holden (d. 1810), he was educated at Glasgow University and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was a Liverpool schoolmaster and friend of William Roscoe. The death date is supplied from an unsourced genealogy site.

CORRESPONDENCE OF Francis Holden:

Francis Holden to William Roscoe [1780 c.?] in The Life of William Roscoe 2 vols (London: T. Cadell, 1833)