He was born 1897 in the village of Tempsford near Woburn, Bedfordshire, the youngest of five children, Harold, Robert, Hilda, Winifred and Fred. His father Edward was a self-employed builder from Lincolnshire. He was not very successful, moving to Cambridgeshire, Huntingdon and Bedfordshire in search of work. In 1901 the family was living temporarily in the Bricklayers Arms, Keysoe, Bedfordshire, and before 1911 Edward and his wife, Emma, brought their family to live in Stamford.

Edward found employment as a foreman carpenter and the two older boys were carpenters’ apprentices in a tool-making firm. Fred delivered newspapers and they all lived at 14 Doughty Street.

No further information, about Fred’s war service or adult life has been found and by the end of WW I the family were no longer living in Stamford.