HERAPATH, Frederick Walter [of Cotgrave]
Private 1898, 1st/8th Sherwood Foresters
Born c.1895. Died 1961.
Frederick Walter Herapath was born in Kensington, Middlesex, in 1896, the third child of James and Rebecca Herapath (nee Malin). James was a printer/compositor, the family living at 56 Acklam Road, a house in multi-occupancy.
Frederick was baptised on 13th March 1896 at All Saints church Kensington. A note in the margin of the parish register records his birth as having taken place in November 1895 (22nd or 29th - difficult to decipher).
In the 1901 census, James (the father) is recorded as still living at the London house (Acklam Road), whilst Rebecca and the children (2 girls and 2 boys) had moved up to Cotgrave in Nottinghamshire - her birthplace - to live with her parents at Mill Town End.
James died aged 40 in 1908, his death being recorded in the July-Sept quarter in the St.Pancras district (Vol.1b p.20)
The 1911 Census shows Rebecca, (still in Cotgrave although now on Main Street), as a Widower aged 47, working from home as a Sempstress. Her two eldest children, the girls, are no longer resident, leaving just the two boys - Frederick and William - aged 15 and 12 respectively, still at home.
In the 1911 census Frederick's age is given as 15 and he is listed as working as a 'Boy on a Farm'.
Frederick Herapath is believed to have enlisted at Newark with his brother, William on 19th November 1914.
For information on William James Herapath click HERE
Frederick was wounded in October 1915 during the Sherwood Forester's attack on Point 60 near the Hohenzollern Redoubt.
His brother, William, was killed in action on 14th October 1915 in the Battle of Loos.
Possibly as a reaction to the distress of his brother's death, Frederick later transferred to the Machine Gun Corps with a new number 72094, serving with 139 Coy. 46 Division.
He survived the war and was discharged on 22nd February 1919.
In later life he worked as a steeplejack for a Nottingham-based firm. A newspaper report in the Nottingham Guardian Journal (11th June 1960) at the time of his retirement runs as follows:-
"Mr Frederick Herapath of 130 Surgeys-lane, Arnold, is a foreman steeplejack at M. Macdonald & Co., Nottingham. Due to retire at the end of this year he has twice won his company's trophy for the best steeplejack of the year. He is an exponent of felling 200-300ft chimneys in one piece and has travelled all over the world in his job. He has also worked on many church restorations".
Frederick Herapath unfortunately was not able to enjoy a long retirement, and he died on 30th October 1961, aged 65.
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