 Frederick Kisch was born to a British-Jewish family in the town of Darjeeling, India on 23 August 1888, where his father Michael was head of the Indian Postal Service.After some time, Kisch family moved back to England, where Frederick attended the Clifton College and subsequently the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.He joined the Royal Engineers in 1909 and served with them in World War I in France and the Middle East theatres.