Known generally as "Fred", Hammill was born in Leeds on 4 May 1856, trained as an engineer, and moved to London to work at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, where he became a well-known labour activist and trade unionist.

[3] In 1891 Hammill organised a strike of London bus and tram workers on pay and hours, and he was one of the founders of the Independent Labour Party.

Strongly associated with Tom Mann and with Will Crooks' Poplar-based Labour movement, Hammill helped establish the Woolwich ILP in 1894, with Robert Banner.

[6] A member of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE), in July 1895 Hammill was the first socialist to stand for election to parliament as an ILP candidate in Newcastle.

When Fred Hammill was a child, his family lived in a pub (the Grey Mare Inn, 132 Low Road, Hunslet) in Leeds, run by his father Thomas.