William Hugh Clifford Frend was born at Shottermill, Surrey in 1916 , son of the Rev and Edith Frend. In 1951 he married Mary Grace, and they had a daughter and a son. He was educated at Ferden School and at Haileybury College. He went on to study at Keble College, Oxford and graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Modern History in 1937 . During the war he served in military administration and intelligence. He was first in the War Cabinet Offices as the Secretary to the Morton Committee on allied forces, and then in Political Intelligence in the Mediterranean theatre. He was awarded the Cross of Merit by General Anders for his work with the Polish forces in Italy. After the war he returned to teach at Cambridge and earned a reputation as a formidable scholar in the early history of the Church in Mediterranean countries. He took part in various excavations in North Africa, Egypt and Crete, which contributed, to the social history of early Christianity. In 1966 he was appointed the professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Glasgow , a post he remained in until 1979 . He published various books on the early Church, and contributed articles to many journals.
Source: The journal of Glasgow University Graduates Association: The College Courant, Vol.21, No.43, (1969, Glasgow).
From the guide to the Papers of William Hugh Clifford Frend, b.1916, Professor of Ecclesiastical History, University of Glasgow, Scotland, 1966-1979, (Glasgow University Archives Service)
