He was born on the Hunter River to farmer Frederick Stuart and Janet, née Graham.
He attended primary school before serving in the Boer War with the New South Wales Lancers and then the Mounted Rifles.
After the war he spent some time in the Orange Free State, running a business there before returning to Australia in 1905, settling in Murwillumbah in 1909.
He ran an office for Hindmarsh, Johnson and Co., an auctioneering firm he eventually took over (it became F. W. Stuart and Co.).
From 1925 to 1927 he was a Progressive member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Byron.