Frank F. English was born in Indiana in 1854.  He lived in Mt. Holly, New Jersey and Claymont, Delaware before settling in Point Pleasant, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

In the early 1880s, he studied for five years in the evening classes of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.  His instructors included Thomas Eakins, as well as James P. Kelly and Thomas Anshutz.  Exhibition records indicate he resided in Claymont from 1889 to 1902, where he illustrated for local newspapers, magazines and books.  He also produced landscapes in watercolor, which became his specialty.

English moved to Bucks County in 1910, and resided there until his death.  He joined the Philadelphia Sketch Club in 1888, and was its Vice-President when he died in 1922.