[1] In 1870 he formed the business partnership of Leverett, Frye, and Scholding, opening the first of a chain of grocery stores in Greenwich.
[2] In 1892 the business was renamed Leverett & Frye, and by 1894, when it became a limited company, it had 50 stores in England and Ireland, concentrating on opening shops in newly developed suburbs.
[2] Frye was a progressive employer, operating a profit-sharing scheme with his employees and was on the Radical wing of the Liberal Party.
[4] He became a member of the Metropolitan Board of Works,[5] and in 1889 was elected to the first London County Council as a Progressive Party councillor representing North Kensington.
[6] He stepped down from the council at the 1892 elections, having been nominated as Liberal candidate to contest the parliamentary seat of Kensington North.