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Admit number: 7639.
Agent: William Southall.
Relatives in attendance: Robinson Enock (brother), Emma Enock (sister), Edwin Enock (brother).

"Unfortunately, the habit of chasing butterflies "out of bounds" did not commend itself to the authorities at Ackworth, and the young entomologist was frequently in trouble." - Ackworth memorial notice.

"During this period his natural talent for drawing became apparent, as did fascination for natural history and an impish sense of humour." - Fred Enock - 1845-1916 - The Man and His Work - B. M. Davidson

Admission: Graduated scale of payment. Minimum charge £12 per annum [eqv. £517 in 2005], but parents who could manage to pay more were asked to contribute £15 [eqv. £647 in 2005] or £21 [eqv. £906 in 2005], according to their means.

Life at Ackworth.

Between the ages of ten and fifteen, Fred was away from family life for eleven-months of the year, only returning home during the one-month annual summer holiday.

Fred, Robinson, Emma and Edwin, would have only seen one another at meeting for worship or other public occasions. To spend time together, the siblings would have congregated on a path running midway between the two wings known as "The Flags".

Scholars studied during the day, and undertook some manual work out-of-hours.

The curriculum between 1855-1860 consisted of:

• Religious study (a chapter from the bible was read before breakfast).
• English language.
• Reading.
• Writing.
• Spelling.
• English Grammar (in upper classes).
• English History.
• Mathematics (mainly arithmetic, older boys studied land surveying, Trigonometry, Mensuration and a little elementary Algebra).
• Geography (map instruction and the drilling of the rudiments of geography).
• Latin (taught to twenty of the most advanced scholars).
• French (two highest classes - ninth and tenth).
• Art (introduced in 1856 - drawing was taught by a visiting Art Master).
• Physical Training (1860).

Manual work included:

• Dining Room Waiter
• Washers
• Tailor's Waiter
• Shoemaker's Waiter
• Shed Sweepers.
• Garden Sweepers
• Shoe Cleaning.
• Knife Cleaners.
• Bath Cleaning.
• Bread Carriers.
• Washing Mill Boy.
• Churners.
• Door Keepers.
• Sheet Carriers.
• Morning Waiter.
• Bed Rollers.
• Manglers.
• Hair Teazers.
• Stocking Menders.
• Garden Labouring.
• Hay-making.
• Carpenter assisting.

Staff at Ackworth School during Frederick's schooling:

Superintendent: Thomas Pumphrey.
Masters: John Newby (Master of Grammar and Latin), William Pollard, Henry Sparkes (Master of Drawing), John William Watson, William Tallack, Francis William Wood, George Frederick Linney, Thomas Frederick Ball, Wilson Hartley, Thomas Robson.
Master on Duty (outdoor inspection of boys during play-hours): Henry Wilson, Thomas Puplett.
Visiting Reading Master: Thomas King Greenbank (three-weeks in 1856, one-week 1859).
Visiting Drawing Master: John C. Swallow, John White, Charles Ryan.
Housekeeper: Sarah Maddocks.
Boys' Matron: Sophia Gregory.
Nurse: Mary Williamson.
Principal Tailor: George Frederick Linney.
Principal Shoemaker: Isaac Levitt.
Baker: John Walker.
Husbandman (Farmer): William Cammage.
Principal Gardener: James Jones, Samuel Peaker.

1861 census - Machinists Pupil

"On leaving school Fred Enock went to Birmingham, where he became an engineer's draughtsman, and for a time was occupied making the drawings for the present Blackfriars Bridge. But this employment was not congenial to him, and moreover, he found it rather difficult to pursue his nature studies and be in the office at the right hour in the morning, especially after a night in the woods moth-hunting." - Ackworth memorial notice.

1871 census - Naturalist.
1881 census - Professor of Natural History (microscopic).
1891 census - Scientific Lecturer Natural History.
1901 census - Lecturer in Science School.
1911 census - Science Lecturer.

Naturalist.

Beginnings.

"He early developed a love for the study of insect life, and as this was fostered by a devoted mother - herself an ardent naturalist - his progress in that direction was very rapid." - Ackworth memorial notice.

"In 1865 he joined the Birmingham Natural History Society, going on field trips with them and collecting moths, his interest at that time." - Fred Enock - 1845-1916 - The Man and His Work - B. M. Davidson

Around 1870 Fred was invited by his uncle, Edmund Wheeler, F.R.A.S., to come and help him with microscopic work in London. Edmund Wheeler was at the time the best known popular lecturer at schools and institutes, and his brilliant experimental lectures greatly delighted a bygone generation. The new work exactly suited Fred's tastes, and he began at once the preparation of all kinds of insects for the microscope

"Both uncle [Edmund Wheeler] and nephew had a common love of entomology, collecting together on Hampstead Heath and in Epping Forest." - Fred Enock - 1845-1916 - The Man and His Work - B. M. Davidson

Self-Employment - Micropscope Slide Mounting.

Taken from Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - 1st January 1878

Taken from Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - 1st February 1878

Taken from Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - 1st March 1878

Taken from Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - 1st April 1878

Taken from Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - 1st May 1878

Taken from Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - 1st June 1878

Taken from Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - 1st July 1878

Taken from Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - 1st August 1878

Taken from Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - 1st October 1878

Taken from Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - 1st November 1878

"When you first hold a Fred Enock slide in your hand, it is impossible not to notice the skill and precision of the mounting. Whether the label is hand-written or printed, the overall impression is of superlative craftsmanship. Close inspection confirms this. Every part of the insect is prepared and arranged to display it to the very best advantage. No matter how delicate the subject, a Fairy Fly or gnat, it is arranged with a perfection which has never been equalled. It was not a matter of chance whether one bought a ‘good’ Enock slide, no mount was sold which in any way failed to measure up to his standards of perfection." - Fred Enock - 1845-1916 - The Man and His Work - B. M. Davidson

Fred is considered to be the greatest mounter of all time. His slides show insects in spectacular fashion. He is famous for mounting without pressure resulting in the insects having their three dimensional structure preserved. Fred's methods of preparing his specimens are unknown as he kept them secret and all of his papers were destroyed at the time of his death (although there is a paper written by Rev.J.S. Pratt which tries to demonstrate Fred's methods). Few people, if any, people at that or any other time, are capable of such perfection in the mounting of insects. For that reason, his mounts are highly sought after, collectable and valuable.

"It is certainly very difficult for most Zoologists to acquire skill in the ways of preparing Mymarids and Trichogrammatids. However, there has been one man who knew the art perfectly, namely Fred Enock, of London, who, being unfortunately a poor man, had to sell his slides in order to make a living and therefore did not disclose his method of mounting, taking the secret with him to the grave."' - J. P. Kryger.

"Of course, he has done other work, he is a mounter of insects for collectors, and he tells me that according to accurate records he has kept he has mounted no fewer than 200,000 specimens." - E.L. Scott - 1912.

"About 1878, Enock commenced in business on his own. The first real evidence of Enock’s commercial progress is to be found in his classified catalogue of Entomological Preparations for the Microscope, ‘Illustrating the structure of insects of the various orders in entomology’.

The catalogue commences with five pages listing five-hundred slides of entire insects, ranging in price from 1s. to 5s. [between £5 and £22 in 2016]. There follow nine pages containing six-hundred parts of insects, priced 1s. to 1s. 6d. each [between £5 and £7 in 2016]. Page fifteen contains opaque preparations, either whole or parts, which are not priced. Also there is a section for whole transparent insect dissections, ten to twenty parts per slide, costing 6s. to 10s [between £27 and £45 in 2016]. each, a considerable sum at the time.

The last page is particularly interesting, illustrating by its content the techniques of specialist clearing and preperation which Enock had perfected. It is headed, Entire insects and parts of insects. Prepared without pressure. The top section priced from 2s. to 10s. [between £9 and £45 in 2016]. of For Polariscope, and under a list of ten whole insects are written: the above insects are prepared for the purpose of showing their internal muscular structure by polarised light; the best and most beautiful effect being obtained with a blue selenite." - Fred Enock - 1845-1916 - The Man and His Work - B. M. Davidson

"Although he was concerned throughout his life with financial problems, they were never allowed to compromise the highest standards of accurate preparation or descriptive information which characterised all his work." - Fred Enock - 1845-1916 - The Man and His Work - B. M. Davidson

"To his extended family he was a kindly, humorous and enthusiastic man, much loved. To his colleagues, competitors and suppliers he was uncommunicative, remote, and generally unhelpful. It is certain that the constant financial pressures were a major contributory factor in his behaviour, and made him guard his techniques with an intensity bordering on paranoia." - Fred Enock - 1845-1916 - The Man and His Work - B. M. Davidson

Here, in passing, I would solicit the the forbearance of those critics who may overlook the factor of income and the accompanying need for withholding information on special processes perfected after long and arduous periods of investigation. My uncle told me of an occasion when a "friend" got in to his laboratory and discovered the process he was using on some mounts, other than the Mymaridae. He suffered heavily through this, and it lead to the avoidance of any discussion of his processes in producing those beautiful mounts of microscopic objects which are the joy and pride of those who posses them." - A description of the methods of collection and mounting British Mymaridae, devised and used and used by the late Mr. Fred Enock - John Kemp Enock - 1952.

For many years Fred Enock continued this work, but a time came when the use of the camera began to lessen the demand.

Lecture Tours.

To bolster his income, Fred took to the lecture platform, still utilising his wonderful talent for the production of unique microscopic slides.

"His lecture tours involved considerable travel, for he visited all the principle cities and towns in the country, some of them many times, and he did two extended tours of Ireland. He also appeared at many important schools, including Winchester, Rugby, Marlborough and Lancing." - Frederic Enock - 1845-1916 by Edward P. Herlihy

"His lectures, so familiar to many recent Old Scholars, were made up of scientific truths gathered during years of labour and observation. He has many times lectured before the Royal Society, the Royal Horticultural Society and other leading scientific associations" - Ackworth memorial notice.

"He was often favourably noticed in the press, notably ‘The Times’ and ‘The Daily Telegraph.’ He always spoke extempore and never used notes, which he considered a distraction; the picture on the screen was to him a sufficient reminder of all he wanted to say." - Frederic Enock - 1845-1916 by Edward P. Herlihy

"The records of his lectures are to be found in all the appropriate journals and they show that he must have had a flair for keeping his audiences interested and amused; it is clear that he was fully appreciated." - Frederic Enock - 1845-1916 by Edward P. Herlihy

"Enock turned his practical talents in some unexpected directions. In September 1889 he wrote to Youdale and amongst other matters told him that if his lecturing did not pay, he had a most wonderful Punch and Judy, carved all the figures and dressed most of them. He says that he hoped to ‘do a little at evening parties’ - Fred Enock - 1845-1916 - The Man and His Work - B. M. Davidson

A Christmas card showing Fred's Punch and Judy

Grant Allen Sketches

A Vegetable Hedgehog - Taken from In Nature's Workshop by Grant Allen

"We do not know how Grant Allen, came to know about Fred Enock, but it was probably common knowledge that he was the finest insect artist. He [Allen] was a frequent contributor to the Strand magazine and arranged for Enock to illustrate, over a couple of years, a series of his articles on natural history subjects that appeared in the magazine in 1897 and 1898. In all, this involved 250 drawings, many showing a great deal of detail. The articles with the Enock illustrations subsequently appeared in book form under the titles ‘Flashlights on Nature’ and ‘In Nature’s Workshop’ in 1900 and 1901 respectively." - Frederic Enock - 1845-1916 by Edward P. Herlihy

Later Career.

"By 1914, his health was failing due to pernicious anaemia, which he felt he had contracted due to time spent in an unventilated dark room, working with oxyhydrogen limelight." - Fred Enock - 1845-1916 - The Man and His Work - B. M. Davidson

"The 1914 War extinguished most of the small natural history societies and it brought a profound change in Enock’s circumstances. Lecture engagements were often difficult to obtain, even the demand for his fine preparations fell off. His prospectus for the 1915/1916 season was small and poor by comparison with the 16-page glossy, eye-catching programmes for earlier years. Moreover, he felt that he was failing, so gave up all his business, sold some of his equipment and, hoping that his health would benefit, moved to Hastings." - Frederic Enock - 1845-1916 by Edward P. Herlihy

Fairy Flies.

"British Mymarida or Fiary Flies whose marvellous instinct & structure have given me so much delight & kept my faith in the Almighty Creator of all things Who has permitted me to see into the secrets of their lives & to show them to others. May he yet spare me for many years to enjoy the study of nature & may I be led from Nature to Natures God." - Excerpt from Fred's will

Fred is especially famous for his work on Fairy Flies.

"Enock tell us that he first became interested in Fairy files in 1876 and from then onwards he gave up much of his time to studying the family, at first alone and from 1907 in conjunction with Charles Owen Waterhouse (1843-1917) of the British Museum (Natural History). Unfortunately Enock published only a few papers on the family and these included several of a popular nature. Two fragments of his projected Monograph with C. O. Waterhouse exist in the Manchester Museum together with his photographs, negatives and a set of microscope slides. Unfortunately no manuscript relating to the genus Polynema  appears to have been prepared. Enock appears to have mounted all his material on microscope slides which were distributed by him to the four corners of the earth. Many of these are labelled with manuscript names as 'new species' and beat the word 'type'. 

"With regard to the rearing of specimens Enock devised a simple method of obtaining material. This was adopted by him in 1911 and continued for several seasons, to judge him from his rough notebook now in the Manchester Museum. Grass clumps, often mixed with Juncus, were placed in breeding jars and the emerging Mymarids collected from time to time. The following condensed summary of Enock's notes may perhaps prove useful as indicating the scope of his method." - W. D. Hincks.

Interview with E.L. Scott - taken from American Journals - 1912

Societies

Fred was a Fellow of the Linnean, the Entomological, the Royal Microscopical, Birmingham Natural History Society (joined 1865) and many other societies.

Nomenclature

Fred named a number of species:
Cleruchus Enock
Dicopus Enock
Enaesius Enock
Erythmelus Enock
Neurotes Enock
Oophilus Enock
Parallelaptera Enock
Stephanodes Enock
Stethynium Enock

Equipment.

• "N & G" reflex camera (cost £42).

• Sanger Shepherd photo-micro camera for colour photography (with Swifts short focus lens) (cost £15).
• Lancasters Instantograph with lens (cost £4).
• Crouch's Binocular microscope  (cost £35).
• Baker's Continental model with Abbe condenser (cost £12).
• Small monocular with 2-inch lenses (cost £10).
• Biunial lantern with mixed jets - two 8-inch, two 10-inch & two-13-inch lenses, four-cylinders, four-gauges, five-regulators, in case & ditto for apparatus (the whole lot cost £60). 

"The family can only be glimpsed from the letters to his nephew [Jack], and seen in the very few remaining photographs of large family gatherings. He kept in contact with them, and visits were not infrequent and clearly gave him considerable pleasure." - Fred Enock - 1845-1916 - The Man and His Work - B. M. Davidson

John Kemp Enock

Fred was in regular contact with his nephew Jack.

"In June 1907 Fred wrote to his nephew Jack, telling him where to look for Fairy Flies on the windows, their appearance and how to catch them. A letter sent a fortnight later shows that Jack was mounting these tiny insects, but though encouraged by his uncle, the result was not up to Fred’s exacting standard."

Enock describes part of the process of preparing and mounting, but follows these details with: ‘Now my dear Jack – what I have confided to you as to my method of doing these flies, is among microscopists altogether unknown to anyone else but you and me – and all I ask of you is that you will not disclose it to any one, not even any female – my reason for this is that a slip of the tongue might let the one simple discovery out. So keep it Jack – to and for yourself. Whenever anyone asks me how I did them - I replied – the Flies must speak for themselves.'

The standards that Enock set himself in every detail of his mounting, are illustrated in another letter. He says: ‘It is possible that one leg or wing may get loose – if so – in all such mounts - clean off or smash – never show them.'

By 1908 Jack was utilised mainly in the increasingly important task of collecting Fairy Flies and posting them to Fred, who writes: ‘I can arrange one in twenty minutes on average’

He also says that what he knows about Fairy Flies has taken him thirty years of close observation. The enormous enthusiasm and delight in collecting and observing never waned. In June 1910 he wrote to Jack: ‘I have been much excited this week in breeding from eggs – a male and female battledore wing fly! For the first time on record – I have also bred one of my new genera – Cleruchus panis by name, meaning ‘biscuit wing’." - Fred Enock - 1845-1916 - The Man and His Work - B. M. Davidson

Jack revealed Fred’s methods in an article entitled ‘a description of collection and mounting British Mymaridae, devised and used by the Mr. Fred Enock’, which was published in the Microscope in 1969.

"I knew Joan’s father, J. K. Enock fairly well – he enjoyed recalling his youthful night collecting trips with his uncle and the comical adventures they got into, which often related to Fred’s ability to see the humour in ridiculous or even disastrous situations." - Frederic Enock - 1845-1916 by Edward P. Herlihy