Frederick was born 3 Oct 1879 in Hong Kong the son of Septimus Daly. Frederick's baptismal record indicates his place of birth as Hong Kong, but his father's business interests and residence at that time were in Shanghai. Septimus Daly arrived in Shanghai in 1862 and rose from a clerk to an independent broker there. He fathered 3 children between 1873 and 1879 (Frederick and 2 sisters Norah and Helen) though there is apparently no record of their mother's name. Septimus amassed a small fortune through his business in Shanghai and in 1884 he married Jane Du Moulin Fearon there in an Anglican ceremony and soon after moved to Sydney, Australia. The passenger list for their passage from Foochow clearly shows that the 2 girls accompanied him to Australia while Frederick was left in China at the age of 5. In fact it appears that Frederick never rejoined his father and nothing further is known of his life until he is baptised into the Catholic faith at Chapel of the College of St Joseph in Hong Kong in 1894 at the age of 15. Unfortunately, if Fred attended St Joseph college any record of his time there is purported to have been lost in a fire. William Lysaught is listed as Frederick's godfather on the baptismal certificate.
Fred travelled to Japan around 1900 on staff with A.A. Vantine, first in Kobe and then in 1902 as manager of their export business in Yokohama. In November of 1903 he married Joanna L'eonore dos Remedios the daughter of Celidonio Clemente dos Remedios from Amoy, China. It is likely that Fred knew and was known by the Macanese community in Hong Kong. Fred and Joanna lived in Yokohama with a son and 3 daughters until the great earthquake of 1923. The family evacuated to New York in the USA where A.A. Vantine was based and Fred soon returned to Japan to rebuild his business. He died suddenly in Kobe on 22 Nov 1927. His family remained in the US after his death.