Francis Corbet Singleton was born on 17 December 1812 at Aclare, Sligo, Ireland, to Anglican parents. He was the great-grandson of the Very Rev. Francis Corbet, Dean of St Patrick's Dublin. Singleton's father, Mr Francis Corbet, assumed the surname of Singleton in compliance with the will of his great-grand-uncle.

In his younger years, Singleton served in the Royal Navy, until 1836.

His first home in Australia was in Western Australia in 1839, where he commenced farming and acquired extensive land holdings in the Murray District. In 1840 he was appointed to the colony's first Board of Road Directors. From 1844 to 1847 he was a Member of Western Australia's Upper House. The suburb of Singleton, one hour south of Perth, is named after him (declared a town site in 1956).

Singleton then moved to South Australia, where he was appointed Auditor General on May 8, 1847. He occupied this post until January 1851. He then became Clerk of Parliament, a position he held until his death of a heart attack on 10 May 1887, in his 75th year.

On 3 March 1849 he married Louisa Susanna Gore at All Saints Church, Parramatta, New South Wales. She was the eldest daughter of Rev. Thomas Gore of County Fermanagh, Ireland. They had five children.

In 1861 Singleton became owner of a mining deposit and named it Aclare after his family house built by his father in Ireland. He also managed the Great Northern Copper Mining Company which worked the Nuccaleena mine.

According to Obituaries Australia, Singleton was a councillor of the Brighton Council and subsequently Brighton's mayor. In the list of key organisations there is mention of him being a member of the Adelaide Club and a director of the Wallaroo Tramway Company, but there is no mention of his long service as a committee member of the Adelaide Homœopathic Dispensary.