Frederick William Widgery was born on 11 April 1896, in Exeter, the third child of Frederick John Widgery, the artist and his wife Bertha, née Lunt. He was educated at Exeter School and studied medicine at Guy's where it is thought that he won a Gold Medal and was appointed out-patients officer. He became senior resident officer at the Bristol General Hospital and then honorary surgeon to the Paulton Memorial Hospital, Bristol. He served in a Field Brigade Ambulance in 1931 with the rank of Major and was posted to Norway and Egypt. In 1932 he married Audrey McMurtrie and they had a son, John and two daughters, Helen and Jane, who survived him when he died on 5 January, 1976, after a short illness.