He was born in Tübingen and was educated at the seminary at Blaubeuren, returning to his home town to study law in 1865. Having completed his university education, he worked as a lawyer in Stuttgart and was first elected to the Reichstag in 1877. He reached the height of his political career during the First World War during which he advocated a negotiated peace with the allied powers and was appointed vice-chancellor. After the war, he was chairman of the German Democratic Party and remained a member of the new Weimar Reichstag until 6 June 1920.
Payer married Alwine Schöninger.
References
Günther Bradler, Politische Unterhaltungen Friedrich Payers mit Theodor Heuss. Ein Fund aus dem Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart, in: Zeitschrift für Württembergische Landesgeschichte (ZWLG), Jahrgang 1973, Seiten 161-192.
Günther Bradler, Friedrich Payer. Autobiographische Aufzeichnungen und Dokumente, Göppingen 1974.
Reinhold A. Helmut Franz, Das Problem der konstitutionellen Parlamentarisierung bei Conrad Haußmann und Friedrich von Payer, Göppingen 1977.
