Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare was born in Coulsdon, Surrey, England, on September 14, 1856. His father, John Charles Conybeare was a barrister in his home town. Conybeare attended university at Oxford where he studied the humanities, graduating with a BA, and then a MA in 1882. While in school he showed great aptitude for scholarship in his chosen field of study and was named praelector in both philosophy and ancient history.

After school, Conybeare began the study of the Armenian and Georgian languages with the aim of publishing translations of various texts from those languages. The texts that occupied Conybeare's efforts were mostly Christian in nature and subject, and, after some time, the works began asserting an influence on the scholar and he became interested in church history. His travels and translations of manuscripts from throughout Europe led to some important discoveries, including numerous works from Georgian and Armenian texts that bore directly on the early history of the Christian Church. He died on January 9, 1924 and was buried in Brompton Cemetery alongside his father and grandfather. At the time of his death, he had a fortune in ancient Armenian and Georgian texts, which were donated to the London Library.