Fred was born on 31 July 1873 and was the fourth born child and youngest son of Charles and Alice. He grew up at the Horseshoe Bush and was amongst the children who attended the Horseshoe Bush School situated on his parents property.
It seems that from an early age Fred was a talented athlete. In the NZ Herald of 11 February 1896 there is an account of the Aratapu - Kopura Athletic Sports day. Fred features as the 2nd place-getter in the Wairoa Championship 100 yards. His younger sister Florence also competed at this event and achieved a first place in the girls 100 yards.
Fred became a saddler by profession. In a letter Alice wrote to the Committee of the Horseshoe Bush school in May 1893, she mentions that the furniture from the original school building needs to be moved to the new school building as her son intends to start his saddlery business and wishes to move his leather and tools into the old building. This original school building was a wooden one room building on the Hardy farm. It was about 14 feet long by 12 feet wide. An account written by Thomas Hammond who taught at this school for 3 years states that the building accommodated about 24 children. He describes how in summer black bugs would drop from the paling roof to the floor and when crushed would make a rather offensive smell.
Fred moved his saddlery initially to Helensville around 1896 and from there to Eltham in Taranaki around 1897. Sadly Fred died at the young age of only 38 at Eltham in 1911. However over the space of some 15 years he had a large impact on this community. He was called genial Fred by his wide circle of friends. His obituary sets out his long list of achievements and states that "....Fred was held in high esteem by all with whom he came in contact, and they were very many, for the deceased gentleman was a man of great activity and had been closely associated with many phases of the community."
The list of Fred's roles in the community is quite astonishing. It includes the following:
He was twice elected to the Eltham Borough Council, being elected the second time without opposition.
Fred was Secretary of the following organisations;
- the Taumata Park Domain Board. Fred was very active in the formation and promotion of the park;
- the New Zealand Axemen's Association since its inception;
- the local branch of the Oddfellows Lodge;
- the Eltham Horticultural Society;
- the Tradesmen's Association;
- the Eltham Football Club;
- the Eltham Athletic Club.
Fred was also the Registrar of Electors for Egmont and acted as auditor for various local institutions.
Fred married Minnie Pote in 1906. They had no children.
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