Frederick William Frohawk (16 July 1861 – 10 December 1946) was an English zoological artist and

lepidopterist Lepidopterology ()) is a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies. Someone who studies in this field is a lepidopterist or, archaically, an aurelian. Origins Post- Renaissance, t ...

. Frohawk was the author of ''Natural History of British Butterflies'' (1914), ''The Complete Book of British Butterflies'' (1934) and ''Varieties of British Butterflies'' (1938). Frohawk was born at Brisley Hall,

East Dereham Dereham (), also known as East Dereham, is a town and civil parish in the Breckland District of the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the A47 road, about 15 miles (25 km) west of the city of Norwich and 25 miles (40&nb ...

, Norfolk, the son of a yeoman farmer Francis Frohawk and his wife, Lydia Drage. The youngest child in his family, his interest in drawing and natural history was nurtured by his mother. At seven he spotted and caught a rare pale clouded yellow butterfly. The family moved to Great Yarmouth and later Ipswich where he found many interesting butterflies. After the death of his father around 1873, the family moved to Croydon and later South Norwood. He went to school at Norwood College and during this time contracted typhoid leading to near blindness in one eye. In 1880 the family moved to Upper Norwood and here Frohawk concentrated on illustration and obtained his first commission for illustrating ''The Field''. Frohawk was encouraged in his work by

Lord Walter Rothschild Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild, (8 February 1868 – 27 August 1937) was a British banker, politician, zoologist and soldier, who was a member of the Rothschild family. As a Zionist leader, he was present ...

, who later bought his water-colours of butterflies. His major butterfly works include the two volume ''Natural History of British Butterflies'' (1924) and ''The Complete Book of British Butterflies'' (1934). In 1927, a need for money forced him to sell his butterfly collection to Lord Rothschild for £1000. These are now part of the Rothschild collection in the Natural History Museum at London. He also illustrated numerous bird books, including ''Aves Hawaiienses: The Birds of the Sandwich Islands''; and ''Birds of the British Isles and their Eggs'' with A G Butler, published around 1898. He married Margaret Grant in June 1895 and spent the honeymoon in the New Forest. Margaret died on 16 February 1909 leaving him to care for two daughters. In 1911 he married Mabel Jane Bowman on 4 October at St James, Westminster and they had a third daughter Valezina, named after a form of the silver-washed fritillary. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society in 1891 and made a Special Life Fellow in 1926. He died on 10 December 1946 and was buried at Headley, Surrey. His sister Lydia was married to the equine artist Lynwood Palmer. In 1996, his daughter Valezina inaugurated a commemorative sign marking the "Frohawk Ride" in the New Forest.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frohawk, Frederick William 1861 births 1946 deaths English lepidopterists English naturalists People from Dereham British bird artists 19th-century British painters British male painters 20th-century British painters 19th-century British male artists 20th-century British male artists