Person

Louis Brothchie Herbert was born in Durham City on 16-Feb-1882. His parents were Henry Herbert (1858-1928) from Durham and Amy Handyside (1859-1898) from Middlesbrough. In 1881 Louis’s parents were living at 18 Mowbray Street in Durham and his father was working as a photographer. It is likely that this is where Louis was born and spent his early years.

In 1886, the family moved to the Lake District and settled at Bowness-on-Windermere where Henry continued to develop his career as a photographer. Louis’s younger brother Frank (1890-1976) completed the family. Henry established his own photography business and shop and both Louis, who went to the local grammar school, and Frank joined their father in the family business known as Herbert and Sons. Louis married Beatrice Holliday from Threlkeld in 1906 and an only son Jack was born a year later, in 1907.

In his youth, there are hints that Louis was something of a practical joker as well as an astute businessman. He certainly played a role in the tale of Lake Windermere’s mysterious and shy water-loving creatures known as Tizzie-Wizzies which were reputed to have the body of a hedgehog, the tail of a squirrel and a pair of bee-like wings. The story goes that when one of these creatures was captured it was rushed to Louis Herbert’s Photographic Studio where, he calmed it down with some warm milk and ginger biscuit and took a portrait of the creature before it escaped out of his window. It appears that many thousands of postcards were sold from this one photograph!

In the pre-war years, Lake Windermere was the scene of seaplane trials and this may have planted an interest in flying in Louis’s mind. Certainly the family firm took photos of the planes on the lake and sold them as postcards. This interest may have led to Louis joining the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) where he was given the service number Y16278. ‘Y’ numbers in the RNVR were usually allocated when men volunteered for deferred service to be replaced by a new number when they were actually called up.

Louis was called up to the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) on 16-Jan-1917 as F25160, Air Mechanic 1st class, to serve for the duration of hostilities, using his civilian trade of photography. The RNAS recruited many civilian photographers such as Louis and gave them training in aerial cameras and aerial photography. He entered the RNAS via Crystal Palace where he spent his first two months. He was then posted to Chingford which was the RNAS training centre dedicated to photography and which at its heyday numbered 60 photographic staff and trainees. After a further two months training at Chingford Louis was posted to the Adriatic where he spent nine months in Italy with No 6 Wing.

Following his overseas posting, Louis returned to Chingford in February 1918 and while he was there, like most RNAS men, he was transferred to the Royal Air Force (RAF) when it was created on 01-Apr-1918. His service number was updated to 225160 and he continued to serve as an Air Mechanic 1st class and specialist in photography. In August 1918, Louis was posted from Chingford to an airship station at Howden, in Yorkshire and he completed his service after a move to Heaton Park in Manchester. He was demobbed into the RAF Reserve in February 1919, four days after his 37th birthday.

On his return to civilian life, in Bowness-on-Windermere Louis continued running a successful photographic business with his brother Frank. When the business was sold in 1959 he and his wife moved to Threlkeld, near Keswick, where they renovated the Old Manse. Louis died less than a year after his wife on 07-Feb-1970.

Louis Herbert was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his service during the First World War.

Check out the legend of the tizzie-wizzies:
http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/visiting/placestogo/explorewindermere/uniquelywindermere

Civil Parish: Durham

Armed force/civilian: Air Force

Residence: 18 Mowbray Street, Durham (1882)
Beskey Howe Terrace, Bowness-on-Windermere (1891 census)
Sunny Bank Road, Bowness-on-Windermere (1901 census)
Beresford Road, Bowness-on-Windermere (1911 census)
The Old Manse, Threlkeld (1970)

Military service:

Enlisted in Royal Naval Air Service, F25160, Air Mechanic 1st class 24-Oct-1917
Transferred to Royal Air Force, 225160, Air Mechanic 1st class, 01-Apr-1918
Discharged to RAF Reserve Feb-1919

Gender: Male

Contributed by David D, Stanley, Co Durham