Born to Frederic Spedden and Susan Douglas in New York City. He lived in Tuxedo Park with his wife Daisy and son Robert Douglas. The couple were wealthy and dedicated their time to their sickly son. Frederic was a fan of sailing and the family often soent summers in Maine and wintered in varios places around the world. 

Accompanied by maid Helen Wilson and Robert's nurse Elizabeth Burns, the family travelled from Algiers to Paris via Monte Carlo as the conclusion of their European holiday. By April 1912 they boarded Titanic at Cherbourg.

Frederic and his wife were awoken by the collision and they collected their son and woke their servants. The women and children were loaded into lifeboat 3 and after all the available women and children had been put in the boat, Frederic and about 20 other men were allowed on board.

The Speddens were remembered by fellow survivors for their many acts of kindness. Whilst returning to New York on the Carpathia, Frederic Spedden  and some other survivors (Frederic K. Seward - Chairman, Karl H. Behr,  Molly Brown, Mauritz Björnström-Steffansson, George Harder and Isaac  Frauenthal) formed a committee to honour the bravery of Captain Rostron  and his crew. They presented the Captain with an inscribed silver cup and medals for the 320 crew members.

Tragedy struck the family once again in 1915 when their son was killed in a traffic accident. Frederic died of a heart attack in the swimming pool of the Bath Club in Palm Beach, Florida. 1947.