Frederick William Stevens was born in Bath, England on November 11, 1847. He was articled in 1862, and became an engineer attached to the India Public Works Department in 1867. After a year in Pune, he was transferred to Bombay and the office of the Architect to the Government of India. He died in Bombay on March 3, 1900, of Malarial fever, and was buried in the Sewri cemetery