Herbert McMath was born in Liverpool, England on 13 April 1887. He was the son of Scottish parents, ship’s steward James McMath and the former Elizabeth Plunkett Murdoch. 

One of seven children, by 1911 Herbert and his family lived at 41 Linton Street, Walton, Liverpool but he was not listed at the time, perhaps at sea. 

In April 1912 McMath was serving as a waiter aboard the eastward-bound voyage of the Carpathia when that ship rescued the survivors of the Titanic. 

Following the Titanic disaster McMath, a Freemason, continued to work at sea, later serving aboard Aquitania and lastly Mauretania; he was married in 1915 to Mary Jane Hackett (b. 1881) and they had two children. 

Herbert McMath died in Liverpool in early 1925 and was buried in Anfield Cemetery (section C/E 11, plot 189).