Frederick Vernon Hilton Reeves (F. Smith) was born at 21 Park Place in Brighton, Sussex, England¹ on 2 July 1891. On 23 August that year he was baptised at the Church of the Annunciation, a Roman Catholic church in Brighton, his address at the time being stated as 36 Washington Street.

He was the son of Frederick William Reeves (b. 1858) and Alice Maud Bull (b. 1867). His father was a carpenter and joiner and hailed from Bath whilst his mother was born in Southampton, the daughter of George Samuel Bull (b. 1844), a cab driver from Beaulieu, Hampshire, and Elizabeth Saunders (b. circa 1842), a native of Fordingbridge. 

Frederick had one known sibling, his younger brother John² (b. circa 1897 in Southampton). 

Frederick's parents appeared on the 1891 census living at 21 Park Place, Brighton; although described as husband and wife they were not married until later that year.

He first appears on the 1901 census living at 27 Fanshawe Street, Southampton; his mother was by then a widow but what became of his father is not certain and the household was taking in lodgers to make ends meet. His mother appears to have remarried to a man named Smith but details about this are lacking³. From that union, however, Frederick gained two half-siblings: Ronald Bertie (b. 23 July 1903) and Winifred "Winnie" Laura Clara (b. 7 July 1905, later Mrs Norman William Vine).

Frederick, listed as F. Smith, and his two half-siblings appear on the 1911 census living at 33 Ordnance Road, Southampton, the home address of his grandparents George and Elizabeth Bull, by then boarding house keepers. The whereabouts of his mother is not certain but he was described as an unmarried ship's steward. 

Reeves was on board the Titanic for her delivery trip from Belfast to Southampton. For the maiden voyage he signed-on again in Southampton (as F. Smith) on 4 April 1912 and gave his address as 33 Ordnance Road. His previous ship had been the Olympic and as an assistant pantry steward he received monthly wages of £3, 15s.

Frederick Reeves died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified⁴.

Hard on the heels of his own death, Frederick's grandfather died on 5 October 1912. His half-sister Winifred died in Bournemouth in 1987 and his half-brother Ronald in Glamorgan, Wales in 1990.