Fred was born in Oldham, the son of Eli and Mary Jane. At the time of the 1901 Census, Eli, then 52 and working as a cotton spinner and Mary, 45, were living in Bredbury.

In the autumn of 1896, he had married Emily Jane Bates and they lived at 72 Banks Lane, Stockport. The Census records that Emily worked as a hat trimmer, whilst Fred was a sewing machine agent.

His service number indicates that he volunteered for the army in September 1914. At some point, he was taken prisoner and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission notes that he was repatriated. This probably means that he was allowed to return to Britain, with the help of the Red Cross, because his wounds or state of health meant that he could no longer undertake military service and was, therefore a non-combatant. Certainly his commemoration by the Commission confirms that his death was directly related to his war service. Lack of funding for this project has prevented obtaining a death certificate to confirm the reason for his death.