Frederick Hall was born in Yorkshire and then, with his family, moved to north London and later Lincoln where he met Frank Bramley at the Lincoln School of Art. It is uncertain when he first visited Newlyn, but it was probably before 1885, and he is thought to have settled there soon after. He did not stay for very long as he began to spend increasing amounts of time at Porlock on the Somerset coast. While in Newlyn he practised 'plein air' painting but also painted interiors. He used the square brush technique favoured by the Newlyn artists and his work often had more to do with the people of Newlyn than the place itself. He painted many caricatures of the Newlyn painters capturing their diverse personalities and mannerisms. Very little of his work from his years in Newlyn has survived.