He settled near Newry in County Down, Ireland, where he kept a pub “without a licence” and embarked on a career noted for its unscrupulousness.
At the time of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, he was recruited as a spy and "notorious" informer for the British Crown[6] and is alleged to have perjured evidence at several celebrated State trials of United Irishmen, notably that of the Rev.
[7][8] Dutton was promoted in the official service of the government when he was appointed by Lord Carhampton to the rank of quartermaster in the Royal Irish Artillery in 1795/6.
A biographical note appended to Richard Robert Madden's (he was later Colonial Secretary of Western Australia), The United Irishmen, Their Lives and Times states of him: "In a letter from a settler in one of the most flourishing colonies of Australia, it is stated that Mr. Frederick Dutton obtained an official position in Holland, connected with the British government; that he was living about 1840 at Cruxhaven, married to a second wife, a step-daughter of the late William Pollock, Esq., of Newry, and holding some situation in the post-office department; that his sons went to Australia, speculated in mines, and became persons of great opulence and distinction there.
"[9] He married at Hanover on 30 August 1804 his second wife, Mary Ann (Pollock) Norris (b. Newry, Ireland, 1781; d. Ritzebüttel [de], near Cuxhaven, 15 Dec 1851).