Frederick Parkes Weber was born in May, 1863, in London. His father, Sir Hermann David Weber, (1823 – 1918) had come to England from Germany and served as physician to Queen Victoria. The middle name "Parkes" was derived from his father's great friend, Sir Edmund Parkes and in time this forename became coupled with his surname, so that he was generally known as "Parkes Weber". He was educated at Charterhouse School, Cambridge University and studied medicine at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, as well as in Cambridge, Paris, and Vienna.

Weber and his family retained their German connections, emphasized by his persistent pronunciation of his surname with the continental "V" sound, now long forgotten since his death.

Weber obtained his doctorate at Cambridge in 1892 and held resident posts at St. Bartholomew's Hospital as House Surgeon and House Physician, and at the Brompton Hospital for Chest Diseases as house physician, before being appointed as honorary physician to the German Hospital , Queen Square , London , in 1894. In this capacity he carried on with his duties until he reached his 80th year. He was also physician at the North London Hospital for Consumption. From 1899 to 1911 he was at the Mount Vernons Hospital for Chest Diseases.

In 1921 Parkes-Weber was the first Mitchell Lecturer at the Royal College of Physicians. In 1959 he founded his own triennial prize and medal to promote advances in dermatology.

Weber was legendary in the Royal Society of Medicine for his remarkable knowledge of rare disorders, for his clear and meticulous diction, and for his prolific contributions of more than 1200 medical articles over a span of 50 years of active medical practice. He was a prodigious describer of new or unique entities, many of them dermatologic, and his name has been attached to several disorders, including Klippel-Trenanay-Weber syndrome, Hutchinson-Weber-Peutz-Jaghers syndrome, Osler-Rendu-Weber syndrome, Pfeifer-Weber-Christian disease and Weber-Cockayne syndrome as well as Sturge-Weber syndrome.

In 1922, Weber reported the first radiologic features of brain "atrophy" in the Sturge-Weber syndrome, but did not mention the now classic intracranial calcifications. In a later account of the same patient, however, he amended the description with a much better film of the skull.

This erudite and remarkable man lived to a great age, narrowly missing his century. He continued to attend the Section meetings at the Royal Society of Medicine into his ninetieth year - this in spite of deafness, failing vision and unsteadiness of gait. He was ably supported by his devoted wife who acted as nurse, secretary, stabilizer and general factotum. He would often contribute to the discussions, quietly yet revealing in a modest way his astonishing erudition. He had the kindliest disposition and when giving a second opinion would never let the referring physician lose face over a faulty diagnosis, so subtle would be his remarks and so gentle his correction. Mention of a relevant reference would cunningly give the game away.

Like his father he was a keen alpinist and collector of coins and vases, which towards the end of his life he donated to museums. Among his many fascinating articles was one on death in the arts, 1910, and he also wrote books on the philosophy of medicine.

Geoffrey Dowling in 1962 wrote - "For about as long as any living physician is able to remember, it was customary to consult Parkes-Weber on any case of exceptional rarity or obscurity. He was the kindest consultant imaginable but had sometimes the fault of crediting his colleagues with more knowledge than they possessed".

He died in 1962