Early life

William Bird Herapath was the eldest son of Sophia Bird Herapath and William Herapath, Professor of Chemistry at Bristol Medical School. Like his father he became a distinguished medical scientist, though they specialised in different fields.

Education and career

WB Herapath was educated at London University and returned to Bristol to serve as a surgeon at Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital. He was awarded the MD (Doctor of Medicine) in 1851. He published many articles in medical, chemical and other scientific journals, reporting several significant discoveries.

Discoveries

In 1852, after one of his pupils (Mr. W. H. Phelps), was attracted by some peculiarly brilliant emerald-green crystals that he noticed in a bottle. Herapath found that he could create these crystals by dropping tincture of iodine into a solution of quinine disulphate in diluted sulphuric acid. He studied these crystals under a microscope he found that they polarized light very strongly. He described it as artificial tourmaline, a semi-precious gem and it later became known as Herapathite. He went on to develop new analytical techniques for the detection and analysis of alkaloid compounds based on the optical and chemical characteristics of their iodo-sulphates. He also designed a new combustion blowpipe for organic analyses and developed spectroscopic techniques for detecting traces of blood.

Herapath also designed a new combustion blowpipe for organic analyses, devised new methods for detecting arsenic and developed spectroscopic techniques for detecting traces of blood.

Family life and death

Obituary from The Sydney Morning Herald 1828

Herapath married Lucy Kynaston of Penally, Pembrokeshire in 1846. They had six children, two boys (the eldest of whom died in infancy) and four girls.

William’s health deteriorated from 1864 and he died, possibly from jaundice, in 1868, only a few months after his father’s death. Lucy lived a further 19 years, dying in 1887. William, Lucy and two of their daughters Florence and Blanche are buried together in a brick grave separate from but quite near that of William’s parents on Ceremonial Way.