Francis (Frank) Glynn Connolly was born in Hamilton, Brisbane. He was the elder son of Dr Francis Glynn Connolly and his wife Mary Louise Earwaker. He attained a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in English Literature from the University of Queensland. In 1938 Connolly went to England to write plays and wrote poetry for the rest of his life. Deeply read, with an extensive library, Connolly’s writing style was Tennysonian and often inspired by myth - Helen of Troy, the Grail, Psyche and Cupid. His aim was to give his poetry a musical quality. He never published any of his output. In January 1941 he enlisted with the 3rd Division of the Australian army serving in Papua New Guinea. He transferred to the British army in the Durham Light Infantry in India and Malaysia, attaining the rank of Captain. In 1942 he married Mary Blair De Burgh Persee of Beaudesert. He wrote his Master of Arts thesis on T.S. Eliot during the war. After the war, he followed his father into medicine but switched to law after a year, following his uncle, Hugh Glynn Connolly. He was called to the Bar in 1949. Connolly was a keen defence lawyer, working mostly with criminal cases but also some civil, most of which were building disputes. He retired from criminal trials in January 2006.