 The elder son of Richard Bothwell, a Provost of Edinburgh during the reign of James III, Francis served as Procurator (1513–14) of the Scottish Nation at the University of Orléans in France, and was appointed a Burgess of Edinburgh in 1515, and Provost of Edinburgh in 1525.Francis Bothwell was a Burgh Commissioner, for Edinburgh, in the parliaments of 1524, 1525, 1526, 1528, 1531, 1532 and 1535.He served as Lord Auditor of Causes, Lord of the Articles, and was one of the first Lords of Session when the College of Justice was founded on 27 May 1532.