Frederic Thornton Peters was born in Charlottetown, 17 September 1889, the son of Hon. Frederic Peters, a former premier of Prince Edward Island and Bertha (Gray), the youngest daughter of Father of Confederation, John Hamilton Gray. He attended St. Peters (Anglican) Church School in Charlottetown. When he was nine, the family moved west, living in Victoria, British Columbia, and later in Prince Rupert. In 1905, at the age of 16, he travelled to England and entered the Royal Navy as a cadet.

At the outbreak of World War I he held the rank of Lieutenant. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.) for valour in March 1915, and the Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C) for further service in action, March 1918. Retiring in 1919 at the age of thirty, with the rank of Commander, he returned to civilian life until rejoining the Royal Navy in 1939 in command of an anti-submarine flotilla. In 1940 Peters was appointed to duty with director of naval intelligence and in the same year was awarded a bar to his D.S.C. "for good service in the Royal Navy since the outbreak of the war".

In November 1942 Captain Peters led a successful attack at Oran, North Africa. He died in a plane crash near Plymouth, England, on a flight from Gibraltar, 13 November 1942. For heroism at Oran, he was awarded posthumously, the Victoria Cross by the British Commonwealth, and the American Distinguished Service Cross by General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Frederick Thornton Peters is the only person from Prince Edward Island to be awarded the Victoria Cross. He is also among the most decorated of all Canadians.