Born in Greenock, Scotland in 1908, Frederick Blake moved to London with his family when he was a child and he remained in the South for the rest of his life. He trained at Camberwell School of Art and at fifteen years of age started work as an architectural draughtsman in the interior design business.

Early in 1940 he was drafted into a small group of war artists producing propaganda work for the Ministry of Information, and for three evenings a week worked for the Daily Express drawing war maps and impressions of battles. On the other nights he worked long hours as an Air Raid Fire Officer. During this period he began to exhibit his paintings. He had work shown at the Royal Academy together with other Open Exhibitions in Lo...