The seventh of eight children and the youngest of four sons, Frederic Madden was born in Portsmouth on 16 February 1801 to Capt. William John Madden of the Royal Marines and Sarah Carter Madden. He was descended from the ancient family of O'Madden, chiefs of Sil-Amchadha and hereditary princes of Hy-Many in the province of Connaught, Ireland. His father and brothers-and even a sister who married an admiral-were involved in one way or another in the military.

At four Madden was sent to a girls' school; from ten to fifteen he was a boarder at Bishops Waltham School, where he studied Latin, Greek, French, Italian, and Hebrew. In 1819 he began keeping a detailed diary that he would continue until 1872. He was taken with the current vogue for antiquarianism, and he collected old coins and books. Encouraged by a friend, Lake Allen, he wrote a short story, "Alice and Richard, a...