Francis Hatton was born in December 1889 and arrived in Perth from England in early 1913. He played for the Perth club as a forward until his enlistment with the 28th Battalion in May 1915. He saw action at Gallipoli where he caught dysentery and was then wounded on 6 August 1916 in France where he was gassed and received a bullet to his scalp.
On 9 October 1916 he married Clare Illingworth in Blackpool and a week later went AWL for a week to spend time with his wife. For this crime he was punished with seven days detention. Private Hatton was assigned to guard duty in England until the end of the war and by the time he departed for Perth in September 1919 he had become a father to two children.
On his return Hatton resumed playing for Perth and then moved to the Subiaco club where was a player until 1926 and an administrator. He passed away in Perth in 1959 at the age of 69.