Fred was born into a Clarence River grazing family, and it was at first thought that he would go onto the land. However his intelligence was perceived by the staff at the Armidale School and then Brisbane Grammar, and he was persuaded to undertake tertiary education. This he did at the University of Sydney in the Faculty of Medicine and he graduated in 1939, as a Junior Resident Medical Officer at the Royal Prince Alfred hospital, where there were staff shortages in several specialties because of the war. For this reason he was allocated to dermatology as an extra duty in addition to his routine training in medicine and surgery. It was this early contact with dermatology and dermatologists that fostered his later career.
In 1941, he joined the Royal Australian Air Force and was promoted to Squadron Leader in 1944. He served mainly at a hospital near Port Moresby. After discharge in 1946, he worked in general practice in Chatswood and studied for the college membership which he attained in 1947. In 1948, his interest in dermatology took him to Edinburgh for training for most of the year and on his return he moved into private dermatological practice in Macquarie Street. He still needed training in x-ray therapy and physical therapy of skin diseases so he again studied, this time for the DDM and passed it in 1952. He was now a complete dermatologist and it showed in the quality of his work.
He became active in the organisation of dermatology, served as Secretary of the Dermatological Association of Australia for several years and was president of the British Association of Dermatology (NSW) for one year. He was a foundation member of the Australasian College of Dermatologists in 1968. He was also very active in the teaching of dermatology both to undergraduates and to postgraduates first at Royal Prince Alfred hospital, and later at the Prince Henry and Prince of Wales hospitals where he played an important part in the early days of the medical school at the University of New South Wales.
In 1941, Fred married Jean Collier, a fellow medical student who graduated with him and who later became a pathologist. They had a happy marriage of almost 50 years with one daughter, Christine, born in 1947, and three grandchildren. Fred was a gentle but energetic man, rather quiet and self-effacing but he had a ready smile and a relaxed sense of humour and was always good company. He had a keen appreciation of duty and of ethical values and, for this reason, he could be very stubborn. Jean says that she asked him on several occasions to apply to Veterans' Affairs for acceptance of his asthma as a war-caused disability but he never did apply, apparently because he believed that it was a man's duty to look after himself and not turn to the government for charity. This ethical feeling penetrated throughout his life making him a first rate doctor, an excellent teacher and a loyal friend.