Philip Frank was the second son of Ernest Frank of Pendleton, near Manchester. He was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1905. In 1907 he married Clementia Tindal-Carill-Worsley, only daughter of Nicolas Tindal-Carill-Worsley of Platt Hall, near Manchester, adopting his father-in-law's name and arms by Royal Licence. They had two sons (Air Cdre Geoffrey Tindal-Carill-Worsley CB CBE (1908–1996) and Lt Col. Peter Gilbert Norman Tindal-Carill-Worsley (1910–2012)) and a daughter. During World War I he served with the Shropshire Yeomanry and the Royal Engineers Signals, serving as a staff officer and reaching the rank of major.
