Frederick Evelyn Openshaw [also known as Fred E. Openshaw] was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England on 6 February 1881. He was articled to Walter Edward Mills (1851-1910) in Banbury, Oxfordshire from 1897 to 1900 and remained with him as his assistant until 1910. He also attended Banbury School of Art. He then worked as an assistant to John Egerton Thorpe (1874-1961) from 1910 to 1912 and from c.1912 was in partnership with him.
Openshaw was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA) in 1911 and an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1912. He commenced independent practice in Oxford in 1912. Drawings and plans of a house designed by him are illustrated in Designs for One Hundred Ideal £1,000 Houses. Being copies of the hundred best designs entered in the 1912 Daily Mail Architects' Competition (1912 p.81).
His address was given as 18 George Street, Oxford in 1911; 19 Frenchay Road, Oxford in 1911 and 1914; 37 Bainton Road, Oxford in 1923 and 1930; and 149 Woodstock Road in 1939 He died in Oxfordshire on 9 December 1957.
In 1924 Openshaw designed 20, Northmoor Road, Oxford, purchased by the author J. R.R. Tolkien in 1930. Oppenshaw also created the World War One war memorial in Cheddar, Somerset for Basil Blackwell, the owner of Blackwell’s Bookshop.
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001