Francis Cornu (4 October 1794 – 7 March 1848) was a French playwright.
After he made excellent studies in Paris, he lost his father and at the young age of 17, had to work for a living. He entered as an employee at the prefecture of Nièvre. In 1815, suspected of supporting the Bourbons, he was removed from office. He then entered into business house then into a bank where he became chief clerk.
Having already composed verses in Latin, he made his debut in 1816 in Lyon in the vaudeville genre. In 1819, he moved to Paris and worked again first as a bank clerk (1819-1825). His first plays did not get any success. Le forçat libéré in 1829, performed at the Ambigu-Comique was even booed. Finally, it is Isaure which was met with success that made him known.
His plays, including many in collaboration with Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois, will then be regularly performed on the most important Parisian stages of the XIXth century: Théâtre du Gymnase dramatique, Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique, Théâtre des Variétés etc.
In 1841, he vecame managing director of the Theatre at Antwerpen.
La suite de je fais mes farces, vaudeville, 1816
L'Enfant de Paris ou le débit de consolations, lithographies in action, with Armand d'Artois and Gabriel de Lurieu, 1823
Partie et revanche, comédie en vaudevilles in 1 act, with Nicolas Brazier and Eugène Scribe, 1823
Les Acteurs à l’auberge, comedy in 1 act, with Maurice Alhoy and Armand-François Jouslin de La Salle, 1825
Isaure, drame en 3 actes, mingled with song, with Benjamin Antier and Théodore Nézel, 1829
Le Forçat libéré, melodrama in three acts, with Armand Séville, 1829
Napoléon, historical play in three parts, mingled with songs, with Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois, 1830
Une nuit au Palais-Royal, ou la Garde nationale en 1830, tableau-vaudeville, with A. Bourgeois, 1830
La Belle-Fille, comédie en vaudevilles in 1 act, with A. Bourgeois, 1831
Le Boa, ou le Bossu à la mode, comédie en vaudevilles in 1 act, with Achille d'Artois, 1831
Les Chouans, ou Coblentz et Quiberon, drama in 3 acts, with A. Bourgeois, 1831
Le Grenadier de l'île d'Elbe, play in three acts, mingled with songs, with A.Bourgeois, 1831
Jeannette, melodrama in three acts and 6 periods, with A. Bourgeois, 1831
Le Nouveau Sargines, ou l'École des malins, vaudeville in 1 act, 1831
Le savetier de Toulouse, drama in 4 acts, 1832
Les Deux diligences, comédie en vaudevilles in 1 act, with A. Bourgeois, 1832
Franklin à Passy ou le Bonhomme Richard, vaudeville anecdotique en 1 act, with Frédéric de Courcy, 1832
Sophie, ou le Mauvais ménage, drama in three acts, with Merville, 1832
Tom-Rick, ou le Babouin, play in three acts, with Armand d'Artois, 1832
La Chanoinesse, vaudeville in one act, with Eugène Scribe, 1833
Le Festin de Balthazar, sacred drama in 5 acts, mingled with chorus, with Gustave Robillard, 1833
Indiana, drama in 5 parts, with Léon Halévy, 1833
Valentine ou Le Château de la Ferme, melodrama in five acts, with Guilbert de Pixérécourt, 1834
Les mineurs, melodrama in three acts, with A. Bourgeois, 1835
Héloïse et Abeilard, drama in five acts, with Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois, 1836
Nabuchodonosor, drama in four acts, with A. Bourgeois and Pierre Elzéar, 1836
Le spectre et l'orpheline, drama in four acts, with A. Bourgeois, 1836
Jérusalem délivrée, play in 4 acts and 10 tableaux, 1836
Austerlitz, événement historique in three periods and eight tableaux, 1837
Pauvre mère !, drama in five acts, with Hippolyte Auger, 1837
L’Élève de Saint-Cyr, drama in five acts, 1838
Le Château de Saint-Germain, drama in five acts, with Léon Halévy, 1840
Les Chevilles de maître Adam, menuisier de Nevers, ou les Poètes artisans, 1-act comedy, mingled with couplets, 1841
Marie ou l'Inondation, drama un five acts and six tableaux, with Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois, 1846