Frederick joined his older brother, Kenneth, at Ilford County High School, aged 10 in July 1903. He had previously been to Downshall School. His parents were Edmund and Grace Hillebrandt and he lived with them and his younger brother at 86 Blythwood Road, Goodmayes.
His name is recorded on the Coutts Bank War Memorial &
Robarts, Lubbock & Co. War Memorial with a photograph and the following citation in the companies’ roll of honour;
‘FREDERICK EDMUND HILLEBRANDT entered the service of the Bank as a clerk at 44o Strand on the 1st September 1913, and prior to the war was a member of the Office Manager's reserve staff.
In August 1914 he joined the University of London Officers' Training Corps. He was gazetted in March 1915 to the Suffolk Regiment, and with his Battalion proceeded to Egypt in January 1916, taking part in the campaign against the Senussi. In April of that year he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, and served with the Salonica Force.
Later he was recalled to England to take part in repelling hostile air raids, and on 15th March 1917 his machine crashed at Wye Aerodrome in Kent.
The Albert Medal for gallantry was conferred on Captain Bryson, the pilot, who after disentangling himself from the burning fallen aeroplane, went back into the flames and extricated his passenger, Lieutenant Hillebrandt, who, however, succumbed a few days later.’
The Essex Newsman recorded on Saturday 31st March 1917 that he had, ‘succumbed to serious burns as a result of the aeroplane he was flying catching fire through engine trouble in Kent.’ Prior to this tragic end, Second Lieutenant Hillebrandt had served in Egypt and Salonika. He was an active member of St. Paul’s Church in Goodmayes. His funeral took place at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Ilford after a service at St. Paul’s Church.
Research by Andrew Emeny, History Teacher at ICHS
Sources:
Ancestry.com
ICHS school records and magazines
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Coutts Bank War Memorial website
The Essex Newsman (31/03/1917)
Note
Ilford County High School started life as the Park Higher Grade School in 1901 in Balfour Road, Ilford. It was renamed Ilford County High School (or initially County High School, Ilford) in the years after the school’s management was transferred from Ilford School Board to Essex Education Committee in 1904.