Was born at Beverley, Yorkshire in 1859. He was the son of Frederick Asquith and Elizabeth (nee Ruddock). His father, who was an engine fitter, was born at Leeds and his mother at York. They were married at Leeds Parish Church in 1852. Frederick had three older sisters; Jane Ann (b 1853), Henrietta (b 1854) and Phoebe Elizabeth (b 1856) and four younger siblings: Walter (b 1862), Lilly (b 1864), Samuel (b 1867) and Ada (b 1870).
His father had died by the time the 1871 census was taken, at which time Frederick was working as an errand boy and was living with his widowed mother and siblings at 8 Robinson Square, Hull. His father had died by the time the 1871 census was taken, at which time Frederick was working as an errand boy and was living with his widowed mother and siblings at 8 Robinson Square, Hull. At the time of the 1891 census Frederick was away at sea, but his wife and her ten-year old sister, Lily E George, were living at 2 Albert Terrace, Bean Street, Hull.
Frederick and Ada had ten children, but four had already died by 1911. Frederick William and Minnie Georgina were born at Hull in 1896 and 1901 and their younger siblings were born after the family relocated to Liverpool; Dorothy (b 1906), Edna (b 1908), Raymond (b 1909) and Winston (b 1914). Frederick Asquith junior also pursued a seafaring career. Liverpool Crew Lists show he served aboard the S.S. Vosges in 1912 and 1913 as an engineer’s and officers’ and engineers’ steward. They give his address as 42 Olney Street, Walton. Father and son, Frederick William Asquith, were both lost when their ship, S.S. Cliffburn, disappeared in the Irish Channel on the 22nd May 1918 after a collision with the steamer S.S. Northumberland. Neither men were eligible for commemoration by the CWGC as they did not die as the direct result of enemy action.