Frederic William Tilton (May 14, 1839 – December 16, 1918) was an American educator and briefly the 7th Principal[a] of Phillips Academy Andover from 1871 to 1873.

[6] He subsequently studied in Germany at the University of Göttingen for several months after traveling across Europe in England, Scotland, and Ireland.

[8] Soon after returning from Germany, Tilton became an instructor in Latin and Mathematics at the Highland Military Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts.

[8] In 1871 Tilton, given his experience in teaching, received an eager offer from the Trustees of Phillips Academy for Principalship.

He initially refused but eventually came to an agreement: $2,500 salary, an apartment in Double Brick House for him and his family, and the "approval of his views in regard to the administration of the Academy".

Under his administration, he held weekly faculty meetings to discuss individual students and make curriculum and disciplinary decisions as a group.

These changes improved faculty morale and drew qualified instructors to the school, including Edward G. Coy, who would remain in Andover until 1892.

An alumnus wrote of Tilton, he "did not have the force of character to succeed in disciplining the school along the line that Doctor Taylor followed.

"[11] He gives an anecdote: "I remember Mr. Tilton one day stating in the school that a certain number of boys would be expelled if another bonfire were started in the yard.

In a statement to the Trustees, he cites his resignation "on the account of his health being insufficient to a longer continuance of so onerous a trust.

[15] He would remain in Newport, with the exception of 1885 to 1886 with his family on a leave of absence in Europe, until 1890 when he retired to Cambridge, the city of his birth.

[5] Tilton returned to Cambridge in 1890 after retiring from his post as headmaster in Newport, only to travel in Europe again with his family for the next four years, where his two sons William Frederic and Benjamin Trowbridge would be educated.