Peters was born in Charlottetown and educated at King's College in Nova Scotia. Frederick's parents were Judge James Horsfield Peters and Mary Cunard. He went on to study law in England and was called to bar there in 1876. He was called to the bars of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia later that year and set up practice in Charlottetown.
Peters was Chief Counsel for the Great Britain in the Behring Sea Claims Commission, 1896–1897. His associate counsel was Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper, who as Minister of Fisheries was involved in the earlier Bering Sea Arbitration between Great Britain and the United States. The commission held hearings in Victoria, British Columbia from November 23, 1896 to February 2, 1897. This close working partnership, as well as the developing economic conditions on the west coast - particularly with the stampede to the Klondike Gold Rush - encouraged both men to resign their political and legal careers in the Maritimes and begin a joint legal practice in Victoria. Peters and Tupper arrived in Victoria on November 11, 1897. By July 1898 they had opened two partnerships, Tupper, Peters and Potts in Victoria and Tupper, Peters and Gilmour in Vancouver. In 1911 Frederick Peters left his legal practice and moved north to become City Solicitor for the City ofPrince Rupert, British Columbia. He arrived in the north coast town on May 17, 1911, when it was barely one year old. Peters' legal and political experience were important as he helped the community make the transition from a frontier company town to port city. He remained as City Solicitor until his death in 1919.
Personal life
Peters married Roberta Hamilton Susan Gray in Charlottetown in 1886. They had six children: Mary Helen Peters, Frederick Thornton Peters, John Francklyn Peters, Gerald Hamilton Peters, Noel Quintan Peters and Violet Avis Peters. Daughter Violet died in "a fireplace accident" at their home in Oak Bay, British Columbia in 1905. She was buried in Ross Bay Cemetery. When Frederick Peters died in 1919, his remains were brought to Victoria and he was buried beside his daughter. Following his death, Roberta Peters lived with her daughter Mary Dewdney in New Denver, British Columbia. She died in nearby Nelson in 1946. Two sons, John Francklyn Peters and Gerald Hamilton Peters, died in action in World War I. Another son, Frederick Thornton Peters, died in November 1942 five days after action in the Allied invasion of Oran for which he received the Victoria Cross and the U.S. Distinguished Service Cross. Frederick's brother, Arthur Peters, was also active in politics, serving as premier of Prince Edward Island from 1901 to 1908. His cousin Lt. Col. James Peters also had a distinguished military career and was District Officer Commanding in BC, based at Esquimalt, British Columbia.
