Frederick Charles Blowers was born in Kettleburgh, Suffolk, in 1889. He was taken in by William Ford and his wife, Emma. By 1901, the family had moved to 1 Pear Tree Cottages, Station Road, in Melton, where William was working as a stockman on a farm; he and Emma were at this time also looking after Dora Davis as well as Frederick.

In 1911, the family was still at the same address in Station Road and Frederick is shown as being employed as a brewer’s labourer, possibly at the Melton Brewery. From the Melton Roll of Honour, printed in “Booth’s Almanack” for 1915 and 1916, it was recorded that Frederick served with the Royal Army Medical Corps but no further information is available at this time.