O’Doherty, William, 22.
He apparently purchased a ticket issued to James Moran, and died in the sinking.
O’Driscoll, Bridget, 24. 3rd Class.
She came from Ballydehob, County Cork, and boarded the Titanic as a third class passenger at Queenstown. Bridget was rescued in Collapsible D. When she died she was buried in St Raymond’s Cemetery, New York, as was Julia Smyth.
O’Keefe, Patrick, 22. 3rd Class.
Born in 1890 he lived in County Waterford, Ireland. O’Keefe boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger. He had a premonition about the fate of the ship and managed to survive by clambering aboard Collapsible B. He settled in New York, married Ann Nolan (1905-1968) and had two children, Margaret and Edward. O’Keefe died on 16 December, 1939, aged 49.
O’Loughlin, William Francis Norman, 62, Doctor. Crew.
He was born in Ireland, orphaned and raised by an uncle. O’Loughlin studied medicine in Dublin. He went to sea when 21 years old and was to be a ship’s surgeon for 40 years. He served on the Olympic before the Titanic.
During the voyage he regularly dined with Thomas Andrews and occasionally with Captain Smith and Bruce Ismay. After the ship struck he told Stewardess Mary Sloan, “Child, things are very bad.” As the water reached C Deck he stood with Purser Herbert McElroy, Assistant Purser Reginald Barker and Assistant Surgeon J Edward Simpson. They were joined briefly by Second Officer Lightoller, shook hands and said goodbye.
About 1.45 am Chief Baker Charles Joughin, who was drinking in his cabin, saw Dr O’Loughlin who was searching for something. O’Loughlin’s body was never recovered.
Omont, Alfred Fernand, 29. 1st Class.
He was born in France on 25 September, 1882, and became a cotton dealer from Havre. He boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg. On the 14th when the collision occurred he was playing auction bridge in the Cafe Parisien with Pierre Marechel, Paul Chevre and Lucien Smith. The three Frenchmen were rescued in Lifeboat 7. They described their experiences in ‘Le Matin’ and ‘The Times’. Omont died on 18 March, 1948, aged 65.
Paintin, James Arthur, 29. Steward.
He was born at St Aldates, Oxford, on 28 December, 1882. The son of a carpenter, he had nine siblings. He worked in the service of Justice North for some years, then in 1907 joined the White Star Line as a steward. Although he visited India, he served from 1908 on the Atlantic run.
On 8 November, 1911, Paintin married Alice Bunce, 31. He became ‘Tiger’, the captain’s steward, to Edward John Smith and served on the Adriatic and Olympic before transferring to the Titanic. He wrote to his mother from Queenstown, mentioning the near collision with the New York at Southampton.
Alice was visiting Oxford at the time of the disaster. She rushed to the White Star offices in Southampton, only to learn later that her husband of five months was dead. She then returned to Oxford to live with her brother Frank. Three months later, on 31 July, 1912, she gave birth to a baby boy and named him Arthur James Paintin.
Panula (nee Ojala), Maria Emilia, 41. 3rd Class.
Ernesti Arvid, 16.
Arnold Panula, 14.
Juha Niilo, 7.
Urho Abraham, 2.
Eino Viljam, 1.
Maria Ojala was born on 1 December, 1870, in Finland. She married Juha (John) Panula and they lived in Michigan, then returned to live in western Finland. They decided to emigrate to the USA and Panula went to Coal Centre, Pitttsburgh.
Maria sold their farm to her brother-in-law and kept the money on her. She, her five sons and neighbour’s daughter, Sanni Kuhivuon, boarded the Titanic as Third Class passengers. The two older boys were berthed with the single men in the bow. Maria and her three younger sons shared a cabin with Anna Turja, who later said that one of the older boys came and woke them. He said that they must hurry as the ship was sinking.
Anna Turja later met Maria on the deck, “She was crying and said that one of her children had drowned back in Finland and should they now all drown here?” Maria and all her sons died. Her husband was only finally advised on 21 April. He later visited Anna Turja at her Ashtebula, Ohio, home several times.
Juha received 100 pounds in compensation for the loss of his entire family. Unknown to him one of the first bodies recovered was that of baby Eino. He was buried at Fairview Cemetery, Halifax, as the ‘Unknown child’ on 4 May 1912. In 2002 DNA testing positively identified the remains as Eino. A TV programme featured this. In 2007 the tests were found to be faulty and the child was identified as Sidney Goodwin.
Pascoe, Charles H, 44. Able Seaman.
He was born in Perran, North Cornwall in 1868. He had two younger brothers. By 1881 his father was a widowed naval pensioner. Pascoe transferred from the Olympic to the Titanic. He was rescued in Lifeboat 8.
Pears, Thomas Clinton, 29. First Class.
Pears (nee Wearne), Edith, 22.
Tom Pears was born in England on 7 May, 1882, a great-grandson of the founder of the soap manufacturing company, A&F Pears Ltd. He had five brothers and three sisters. His eldest and younger brother ran an India Rubber Plantation in Burma. Pears joined the family business in 1903 and was appointed manager of the Isleworth, Middlesex, works. He was also a director of the Lanadron Rubber Estates in Malaya.
On 15 September, 1910, he married Edith Wearne, 21. She had been born on 1 September, 1889, at Fulham, educated at Wycombe Abbey School and lived in France for some time before returning to her parents home in Hampstead. They cultivated a wide circle of friends in Isleworth. Pears was a keen sportsman who participated in motor car and motor cycle races, winning two gold medals for the London to Edinburgh events. His father died in 1909 and three years later Pears decided to cross the Atlantic to find premises for his company’s expansion into America.
At 6.05 pm on 13 April he sent a radio message to the Iselworth works, stating that they were all well. After the Titanic struck he died in the icy water while Edith was rescued in Lifeboat 8. Their radio message was received after news of the disaster had been received, so it was assumed that they had both survived. Only on the 18th was it apparent that he had died. A memorial service for him was held at Iselworth, attended by more than 1,500 people. His name was added to the family memorial there.
Edith returned to her home, but was shocked to find that as it was a company house she had to leave it. During World War I she served as a Red Cross nurse, driving an ambulance. She also joined the WRENS, for whom she drove admirals and senior officers in a cab. Edith shared a flat in London with Norah Crowe.
Edith had four brothers, two of whom, Keith and Bernard, were killed in action. One of them, Sec/Lieut Frank Bernard Wearne, 23, was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his bravery on 28 June,1917, when he suicidally mounted the parapet to attack the enemy and stop his wavering Essex Regiment flank from giving way. Geoffrey had been with Canadian forces when blown up by Germans who undermined their trenches. He was certified insane in 1919 and died 58 years later.
Norah Crowe’s brother, D Crowe, was an electrical engineer whose poor eyesight precluded military service. He became a tea planter in the south of India and when home on leave visited Norah and met Edith. They were married in due course and had a daughter in 1920 and a son in 1924 in Surrey. Edith died in 1956, aged 65.
Penasco y Castellana, Victor, 18. First Class.
Penasco y Castellana, Maria Josefa Perezde Soto y Vallejo, 17.
They were a newly married couple from Madrid, Spain, who boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg. Her maid, Dona Fermina Oliva y Ocana, accompanied them. They had difficulty in understanding the instructions during the loading of the boats, however parted and Maria and her maid were saved in Lifeboat 8. Penasco died and his body was never recovered.
Pernot, René, 2nd Class.
He was from Paris and the chauffeur of Benjamin Guggenheim. Pernot travelled second class. He died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, wasn’t identified.
Peruschitz, Josef, 41. Father, 2nd Class.
He was born Benedikt Peruschitz in Wolfratshausen, Bavaria, on 21 March, 1871. He graduated from the Royal High School in Freising in 1890, then changed to the clerical seminary and by 1894 had submitted his resume to the Scheyern monastery, to which he was admitted as Father Joseph. By August 1895 Peruschitz was an ordained monk and served at several teaching and educational jobs.
He spent a week at the Benedictine cloister St Augustine in Ramsgate before boarding the Titanic for Minnesota, where he would be employed as principal of the Swiss Congregation’s Benedictine School. He, Father Montvila and Father Byles said Mass every day during the voyage.
An eyewitness later wrote in the Catholic magazine ‘America’: “When all the excitement became fearful all the Catholics on board desired the assistance of priests with the greatest fervour. Both priests aroused those condemned to died to say acts of contrition and prepare themselves to meet the face of God. They led the rosary and others answered.
“The sound of the recitation irritated a few passengers, and some ridiculed those who prayed and started a ring dance around them. The two priests were engaged continuously giving general absolution to those who were about to die. Those entering the lifeboats were consoled with moving words. Some women refused to be separated from their husbands, preferring to die with them.
“Finally, when no more women were near, some men were allowed into the boats. Father Peruschitz was offered a place which he declined.” He was lost in the sinking. At the cloister of the Scheyern Monastery a plaque reads, ‘May Joseph Peruschitz rest in peace, who on the ship Titanic piously sacrificed himself’.
Peuchen, Major Arthur Godfrey, 52. 1st Class.
Arthur Peuchen (Wikipedia).
He was born in Montreal on 18 April, 1859, the son of a German railroad contractor and an English woman. Peuchen moved to Toronto in 1871 to enlist in the Queen’s Own Rifles. He married Margaret Thompson in 1893 and they had a son and a daughter. By 1904 he was a major. In 1911 he was marshalling officer at King George V’s coronation. In the business world he became president of the Standard Chemical Company, had forest reserves and oversaw a lumber company in Alberta.
His estate had a marina, yacht, tennis courts and a golf course. For a time Peuchen was Vice-Commodore of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto, and a member of various clubs. With refineries in Europe he was often abroad. His voyage on the Titanic was his 40th transatlantic crossing.
On the night of the sinking he had dinner with Harry Molson and the Allison couple. When he heard that the ship had struck he took three oranges and a pearl pin, leaving in his cabin $200,000 worth of bonds, jewellery and presents he had bought. As Lifeboat 6 was being lowered Quartermaster Hichens shouted for help. Peuchen volunteered that he was a yachtsman and Captain Smith suggested that he go down to the promenade deck and break a window to board the boat.
Second Officer Lightoller said that if he was any good as a sailor he should slip down the rope to the boat, which Peuchen promptly did. Once on board he deferred to the rantings of Quartermaster Hichens, for which he was later criticised, but no doubt believed that to do otherwise would be mutinous. Maggie Brown provided the necessary leadership and goaded Peuchen into rowing.
When he was interviewed by the media in New York he criticised Captain Smith, but toned down at the US Senate Inquiry. The only Canadian to testify, he criticised the crew as being a scratch crew, unaccustomed to working together. He was criticised in turn by the media, “He said he was a yachtsman so he could get off the Titanic, and if there had been a fire, he would have said he was a fireman.”
The following month he was promoted lieutenant-colonel and awarded the Officers’ Long Service Decoration. During World War I he commanded the home battalion. In 1920 his lumber company began work on a dam on the Oldman River in south-west Alberta, but due to ice-flow delays, cost overruns and lower timber prices the project was abandoned later.
Peuchen lost money through bad investments and from 1925 lived in a company dormitory in Hinton, Alberta. He returned to Toronto in mid 1929 and died there on 7 December, 1929, aged 69. He is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery. In 1987 a salvage team recovered his wallet from the debris field, with his card, traveller’s cheque and street-car tickets inside.
Phillips, John George ‘Jack’, 25. Telegraphist.
Jack Phillips (Wikipedia).
Born in Farncombe, Surrey, on 11 April, 1887, he attended school and worked in the post office at Godalming, where he learned telegraphy. In 1906 Phillips trained in wireless telegraphy for the Marconi Company, then was assigned to the White Star Line’s Teutonic. Various other ships followed, including the Lusitania and Mauretania. In 1908 he worked at the Marconi Station in Ireland, then in 1911 was transferred to the Adriatic, then the following year the Oceanic, before being assigned to the Titanic as senior wireless operator.
He celebrated his 25th birthday the day after sailing commenced. On the evening of 14 April he was busy sending out a backlog of passengers’ messages to Cape Race, Newfoundland, as the wireless had broken down the day before. Bride was asleep in the cabin next door. At 9.30 pm Phillips received a message from the Mesaba that there was an ice field directly ahead of the Titanic. The warning was never delivered to the bridge, while he continued with the Cape Race messages.
The SS Californian’s wireless operator, Cyril Evans, reported after 11 pm that they were stopped and surrounded by ice. They were close and the signal was so loud that Phillips sent back, “Shut up! Shut up! I am working Cape Race.” Evans listened for a short while, then went to bed.
Bride woke up after the collision and joined Phillips in the wireless room. Captain Smith then came in and told them to be ready to send a distress signal. Shortly after midnight he brought them the ship’s position and Phillips began sending the CQD. Bride then said, “Send SOS, it’s the new call, and it may be your last chance to send it.” This was not the first time it was used at sea. Bride then took the message to Captain Smith that the closest ship was the RMS Carpathia, which would reach them at daybreak.
Bride relieved Phillips at the set, who went to see what was happening. He returned after a while to say that the forward part of the ship was under water. Phillips continued working until Captain Smith arrived and told them that they had done their duty and that they were relieved. Bride then collected some valuables and clothing. He returned to see a crewman attempting to steal Phillips’ lifejacket. He grabbed the man and Phillips knocked him out. They left the wireless room to find water flooding the Boat Deck.
While Bride went forward Phillips went aft. Some authorities contend that he managed to clamber aboard Collapsible B, where he died, but Bride didn’t see him and said that he was told so by another. A memorial to Phillips was erected by Godalming. The Phillips Memorial Cloister is the largest Titanic memorial built. It is located along the River Wey and was unveiled on 15 April, 1914. The south wall was replaced by a pergola in 1965 and the entire memorial restored in 1993.
Phillips, Kate Florence, 19.
She fell in love with a married man, Henry Morley, and they eloped on the Titanic as Mr and Mrs Henry Marshall.
Pitman, Herbert John, 34. 5th Officer.
The son of a farmer, Bert Pitman was born on 20 November, 1877, at Sutton Montis, Somerset. His mother was widowed young, and brought up two boysand two girls. In 1895, aged 18, Pitman joined the Merchant Navy. By August 1906 he had qualified as a master mariner. He served on the Australia run, then joined the White Star Line.
He joined the Titanic in Belfast as third officer, though he was the only officer not in the Royal Naval Reserve. When they left Southampton he recalled, “… the breaking of moorings on the New York, which was caused by the backwash from our starboard propeller. We managed to get clear and proceeded to Cherbourg.” His duties included working out the ship’s position by celestial observation, supervising the quartermaster and relieving the officers on the bridge as required.
He noted on the 14th that Captain Smith had delayed the northward turn by ten miles, probably to bring the ship further south and lessen the risk of meeting ice. At the time of the collision he was in his bunk. Called by Fourth Officer Boxhall, he reported to his boat station on the starboard side. At the after end Sixth Officer Moody told him that there was ice on the forward well deck.
Pitman then saw firemen emerging and saying, “The water is coming in our place.” He looked down Number One hatch and saw water flowing, so went to the Boat Deck and began uncovering boats. He lowered Lifeboat 5 to the rail of the Boat Deck, then a man in a dressing gown told him to load her. He replied, “I wait the commander’s order.”
Pitman recalled, “I went to the bridge and saw Captain Smith and told him that I thought it was Mr Ismay that wanted me to get the boat away with women and children in it and he said, ‘Go ahead; carry on.’ I came along and brought in my boat. I stood in it and said, ‘Come along, ladies.’ There was a big crowd. Mr Ismay helped get them along. We got the boat nearly full and I shouted out for any more ladies. None were to be seen so I allowed a few men to get into it. Then I jumped on the ship again. Mr Murdoch said, ‘You go in charge of this boat and hang around the after gangway’.”
Murdoch shook his hand and said, “Goodbye; good luck,” Pitman said “Lower away, lower away.” Ismay then started shouting, “Lower away, lower away” while waving his arms. Lowe was supervising the lowering and remonstrated, “If you’ll get the hell out of the way .. You want me to lower away quickly? You’ll have me drown the whole lot of them.” Ismay then moved away.
Pitman had the boat rowed to the gangway but found the doors shut. They then pulled away from the ship. After the Titanic sank he wanted to return for survivors but was dissuaded by the passengers, who feared that they would be swamped. They made fast to Lifeboat 7 and Pitman transferred two men, a woman and child to even them up. At 3.30 am they saw the lights of the Carpathia and rowed towards it.
Herbert Pitman and Charles Lightoller at the Hearing (Wikipedia).
Pitman and crew members were questioned at the Senate hearing at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. On 2 May he sailed for Liverpool on the Adriatic, with Ismay, Lightoller, Boxhall and Lowe. At the British Inquiry he was asked 393 questions. He rejoined the Oceanic as third officer, then served as purser on the Olympic as his eyesight had deteriorated. In the early 1920’s Pitman joined Shaw, Savill and Albion Company Ltd. At this time he married Mimi Kalman, who was to predecease him.
During World War II he served as a purser aboard SS Mataroa. In March 1946, shortly before retiring, Pitman was awarded the MBE (Member of the British Empire Order) for ‘long and meritorious service at sea and in dangerous waters during the war’. He lived with a niece in Pitcombe, Somerset, and passed away on 7 December, 1961, aged 84. Two auctions of his memorabilia were held in April 1998 at Onslow’s Auctions, Southampton, and at Sothebys Auction in London.
Porter, Walter Chamberlain, 47. 1st Class.
He was born on 13 May, 1865, and after schooling worked for his father at the Samuel Porter Last Manufacturing Company in Worcester, MA. A shoe ‘last’ is a mould to which every individually designed shoe is built around. Manufactured of iron or wood then, it is generally now made of plastic.
At 21 year of age he took leave and cruised on a sloop-rigged yacht with friends from Boston to the West Indies and South America. They were caught in a hurricane and narrowly averted being shipwrecked. He returned to work for his father for another five years, then resigned and opened a grocery store in Holden, MA.
Porter returned to his father’s firm and became a partner in 1897. In August 1903 he and a lifelong friend, Walter Bigelow, bought control of the business. Porter’s wife, Louise (née Phillips) died in 1905. Eighteen months later he married a widow, Mabel Sanford. Porter had two children, Helen and O Stanley Porter, and two stepchildren, F Lyndon and Nellie Sanford.
He was a member of the Commonwealth Club, the Worcester Automobile Club, the Lakeside Boat Club and the Worcester Commercial Travellers Association. At one time he served in the Worcester Light Infantry.
He decided to go to Europe to expand his foreign trade, so sailed on the Megantic with two companions, George Clifford and Edward Maguire. While in England and on the continent they visited large trade centres and took excursion trips for relaxation.
They boarded the Titanic as first class passengers for their return to America. When the ship sank none of the three men survived. Porter’s body was found in a remarkable state of preservation. It was returned to Worcester for burial in Hope Cemetery alongside his first wife and his parents.
The diamond in his stickpin is worn now as an engagement ring by a descendant’s wife. In 1998 when the Titanic film was released the TV Show ‘EXTRA’ called the stone ‘the real Titanic diamond’.
(Researched by Julie Dowen for Encyclopaedia Titanica. Acknowledged with thanks for assistance).
Pugh, Alfred, 20. Steward.
He was born in Southampton on 9 June, 1891. Pugh was a third class steward who transferred from the Oceanic to the Titanic. He and his brother, Leading Fireman Percy Pugh, almost missed the sailing, while another brother had to turn back and was left behind. While Alfred Pugh was saved in Lifeboat 14, his brother, Percy, died.
Quick, (nee Richards), Jane, 33. 1st Class.
Winifred Vera, 8.
Phyllis May, 2.
Jane Richards was born on 31 August, 1878, in Plymouth, Devon, England. She had two step-sisters by her mother’s first marriage. In 1902, aged 23, she married Frederick Charles Quick, a plasterer, and they had two daughters, Winifred on 23 January, 1904, and Phyllis on 27 July, 1909.
In about 1910 the family emigrated to the US to live in Detroit. Jane returned to Plymouth with her two daughters early in 1912 to visit her relatives. On their return trip they booked into second class on the Titanic. Jane was awakened by the collision. She pulled a dark skirt over her nightdress and went on decks, where a crewman informed her of the seriousness of the situation.
She returned for the children and struggled up to A Deck with them. Some men assisted in putting a lifebelt on Phyllis while she donned her own. They approached Lifeboat 11, which was almost full. The crewman in charge said, “Only room for the children”. Jane Quick replied, “No! Either we go together or we stay together.” He relented and the children were virtually thrown in, Winnie losing her slippers at the time. Jane then climbed in, being the last person to enter the boat.
She remained in America and for the rest of her life travelled the country reliving her experiences to theatre audiences. She had two more daughters, Vivian (1913-1997) and Virginia in 1918. Jane’s husband died in 1959. She died of a coronary on 24 February, 1965, aged 86, and was interred alongside her husband in the Cadillac Memorial Gardens East in Clinton Township, Macomb County.
Winnie dropped out of school to work in a chocolate factory. At age 24 she met Alois van Tongerloo (1899-1987), who had also immigrated in 1912. They married and had three sons and two daughters. Winnie died on 4 July, 2002, aged 98.
Phyllis worked for a telephone company until she married William Murphy (1906-1989) and they had four children. She shot herself in the head on 15 March, 1954, aged 45, and is interred in the Mount Olivet Cemetery, Detroit.
Ray, Frederick Dent, 33. Steward.
He was born in London on 20 June, 1879. Ray married and lived at Reading, then became a steward on the White Star Line. He was one of 104 who worked in the main dining room located amidships and five decks down. On 14 April, after his shift ended at 9 pm, Ray retired to his room, which he shared with 27 others.
He was woken by the collision. “(It was) a kind of movement that went backward and forward – I thought something had gone wrong in the engine room.” He was about to doze off when two stewards told everyone to get to the lifeboats. Her dressed and went to A Deck but was told to get a lifebelt. Ray checked five staterooms and found one, then gave it to another steward. He went to his assigned Lifeboat 9 and saw that it was swung out. He then returned to his room for an overcoat.
He saw that E Deck was awash. As he mounted the main stairway he met Mr Rothschild coming out of his C Deck stateroom. “I spoke to him and asked him where his wife was. He said she had gone off in a boat. I said, ‘This is rather serious.’ He said, ‘I don’t think there’s any occasion for it.’” Ray then returned to Lifeboat 9. He assisted in loading it, then helped at Lifeboat 11, then went to Lifeboat 13, which was half full.
“They (5th Officer Lowe) said, ‘A few of you get in here.’” Washington Dodge was enquiring about his wife and was told that she had been got away. Ray told Dodge, “I said ‘You had better get in here then.’ I got behind him and pushed him and I followed.” Ray stood in the stern when a large woman cried, “Don’t put me in that boat! I don’t want to go in that boat! I’ve never been in an open boat in my life!” He shouted, “You have got to go and you may as well keep quiet.”
Someone then tossed a small child, wrapped in a blanket, to Ray. He turned to the women and called out, “Who’ll take this babby?” A young woman volunteered to take the ‘babby’, which was 10-month-old Alden Caldwell. As the boat lowered he noticed water spewing from the side of the ship, which would swamp them. Ray yelled for the lowering to stop until they could negotiate around it with oars.
When they reached the sea the rearward drift placed them underneath the lowering Lifeboat 15. he shouted for the lowering to stop while they cut the fall lines, then drifted free. “We pushed out from the side of the ship. Nobody seemed to take command of the boat so we elected a fireman (Barrett) to take charge.” They then rowed away into the night.
At the Senate Hearing Ray later said, “No woman touched the tiller, sir, through the night, and no woman touched an oar.” He also said that he’d wanted to wait for survivors, “I wanted to stand by the ship but, of course, my voice was not much against the others.” He later left the White Star Line to become a poultry farmer. He died in Essex on 15 January, 1977, aged 97.
Roberts (née Humphrys), Mary Kezziah, 31. Stewardess.
Mary Humphrys was born in Liverpool in 1881 and later lived in Nottingham. She married a Mr Roberts and became a stewardess. She transferred to the Titanic from the Adriatic. When the Titanic sank she was probably rescued in Lifeboat 16.
Mary then continued at sea on the Majestic. During World War I she was serving on HMS Rohilla, which was sunk by the Germans. Mary died on 2 January, 1933, aged 52, and is buried alongside her husband at the Church of St Mary the Virgin, London Road, Ewell, Epsom, Surrey.
Robertson, Morgan, author of ‘Futility or the Wreck of the Titan’. In 1898 this retired merchant navy officer wrote a novel about a transatlantic liner which hit an iceberg and sank with the loss of almost all its passengers – due to a shortage of lifeboats, just as happened with the Titanic 14 years later.
Robinson, Annie, 40. Stewardess.
She was born in Bedford, Bedfordshire. Annie became a stewardess and worked for the Canadian Pacific Line. She was on board the Lake Champlain when it struck an iceberg. She survived and married a Mr Robinson. Before joining the Titanic the last ship she worked on was the SS Manitoba. Annie was rescued in Lifeboat 11.
She served on the Galatea in 1913 and on 11 November, when the King and Queen reviewed 109 merchant ships in the Mersey, had a conversation with them. She was initially disinclined to speak, “It is the sort of thing one doesn’t like to talk much about afterward. It was too terrible.”
The King persisted, “But do tell me this. Do you think more lives could have been saved?”
“Among the third class passengers I certainly think so. But they appeared to think more of their belongings than they did of themselves.” Their majesties congratulated her on her escape.
While en-route to visiting relatives in America, she died on 9 October, 1914, aged 42, from drowning. While the Leyland Line steamer Devonian was groping through a heavy fog near Boston she became excited at the sound of the foghorn and leaped overboard!
Roebling, Washington, 31. 1st Class.
He was born at Trenton, Penn, on 25 March 1881, the only son of Charles Roebling, and was named after an uncle who’d been one of the engineers building the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. His mother died during his childhood. Roebling qualified as an engineer, worked in his father’s firm and designed racecars. In 1910 he came second in the Vanderbilt Cup race.
He toured Europe with a friend, Stephen W Blackwell, then they returned together on the Titanic. They were seen to assist passengers to the boats. Both perished. There is a memorial to Roebling at Trinity Episcopal Church in Trenton.
Rosenbaum, Edith Louise, 33. 1st Class.
She was born to a wealthy Cincinnati, Ohio, Jewish family and became a journalist. Professionally she was known as Edith Russell. She went to Paris, France, to report on fashions at the Easter Sunday races, then returned on the Titanic. From Queenstown she wrote to her secretary in Paris, extolling the virtues of the ship but added, “… It is a monster, and I can’t say I like it, as I feel as if I were in a big hotel, instead of a cosy ship: everyone is so stiff and formal… Am going to take my very much needed rest on this trip, but I cannot get over my feeling of depression and premonition of trouble.”
Edith had tried to insure her goods, but was told that as the ship was unsinkable any insurance was unnecessary. While undressing Sunday night she felt the jar, then saw the iceberg glide by her porthole. After much confusion she managed to get her steward to retrieve a small toy pig, which was covered in white fur. When one twisted its tail it played a tune called the Maxixe. Edith was rescued in Lifeboat 11 and amused young children with her wind-up pig.
She may have had an affair with Bruce Ismay, whom she admired as a hero who had saved her life. She confided to the producer of the movie ‘A Night to Remember’, William MacQuitty, that she and Ismay had become ‘more than just friends’.
During World War I Edith spent time in the trenches with troops, so was possibly the first female war correspondent. She was unsuccessful in finding a publisher for her story of the Titanic’s sinking. Throughout her life Edith was involved in numerous catastrophes, including car accidents, another shipwreck and tornadoes.
The last part of her life was spent in a London hotel. She became an eccentric old spinster who threatened to sue virtually anyone for any reason. Edith lived in filthy surroundings and refused to let anyone clean up. She died there on 4 April, 1975, aged 98. A maid commented, “Old Edy was the contrariest old hag what ever crossed my path.”
Rosenshine, George, 46. 1st Class.
Born in 1866 he worked for his family business, Rosenshine Bros, in New York, which imported items including ostrich feathers. Rosenshine boarded at Cherbourg under the name of George Thorne, as his mistress was Maybelle Thorne. They were returning from a business and holiday trip and held first class tickets.
Maybelle boarded Collapsible D, whereas Thorne died. His body was recovered and buried in the Bayside Cemetery, Brooklyn.
Rostron, Arthur H, 43, Captain of Carpathia.
Born in 1869, he first went to sea aged 13 and spent the first ten years under sail. Rostron joined the Cunard Line in 1892 and rose steadily in rank. An experienced mariner he was known as the ‘electric spark’ for his decisiveness and energy. He was also deeply religious and neither smoked nor drank.
In January 1912 Rostron was given command of the Carpathia, a 13,564 ton passenger liner. He was three day south of New York with 800 passengers aboard when the Titanic’s radio appeal for assistance was received. He altered course to the north-west, went to full-speed ahead and began preparing for receiving survivors. Though he had never been involved in a sea rescue before, he calmly and analytically issued instructions in detail to every department.
At 2.40 am they saw the first green flare, then the icebergs. He never reduced speed, but swerved between them on his errand of mercy. At 4 am the engines were stopped and they began gathering in the lifeboats. When all had been picked up he searched the area, had words with the captain of the Californian, which had showed up, then left for New York.
Rostron was criticised for not divulging full details to the world’s press. He allowed only passengers messages to pass until they reached New York. He first delivered lifeboats to the White Star Line, then allowed his passengers to disembark before the Titanic’s survivors were allowed down the gangway to a hungry press. Rostron thereafter testified at the Senate Hearing.
In 1915 he was given command of the Mauretania, the Cunard Line’s most prestigious vessel. In 1928 he was made commodore of the line and he retired in 1931. Captain Rostron died in 1940, aged 71.
Rothes, Countess of (nee Dyer-Edwards), Lucy Noël Martha, 33. 1st Class.
Lucy Dyer-Edwards was born in Kensington, London, on 25 December, 1878, the only child of Thomas and Clementina Dyer-Edwards. Her second name was on account of her birthday. She married Norman Evelyn Leslie (19th Earl of Rothes) on 19 April, 1900, and they had a son, Malcolm, in 1902 and another, John, in 1909.
The countess, her parents, her cousin Gladys Cherry, and maid, Roberta Maioni, boarded the Titanic in Southampton. Her parents disembarked at Cherbourg, while the remainder of the party planned to travel to Vancouver, where Lucy’s husband was. Her maid, Roberta Maioni, fell in love with a crewman, who did not survive the sinking.
She and Gladys Cherry had difficulty in putting on their life jackets, so were assisted by a gentleman, who then gave them raisins to eat. Purser McElroy said to the countess that he was pleased she hadn’t demanded her jewellery from the safe. Near Lifeboat 8 they saw a newlywed Spanish couple who were bewildered. Victor Penasco was 18 and his bride 17. Lucy hurried over, spoke a few words in French and the young man surrendered her to the countess’s care and stepped back.
They were rescued in Lifeboat 8 and the countess rowed next to Mrs Bucknell, then for most of the night manned the tiller. Able Seaman Jones joked, “When I saw the way she was carrying herself and heard the quiet determined way she spoke to the others, I knew she was more of a man than any we had on board … She had a lot to say, so I put her to steering the boat.”
In the early hours Jones turned to the Countess of Rothes and said to her, “Can you see any lights? Look on the next wave we top, but don’t say anything in case I’m wrong.” On the next swell Lucy looked and saw a dim light. They told the rest that a steamer was on its way to them. Jones later presented her with the brass number plate from the boat and in later years they corresponded.
The Earl of Rothes died in March 1927, leaving 2,000 pounds in his estate. In December 1927 Lucy married Colonel Claude Macfie DSO in London. She died in Hove, Sussex on 12 September, 1956, aged 77.
Her son, Malcolm, (Lord Leslie, 20th Earl of Rothes), married Beryl Dugdale in 1926 and had children. He died in 1975, aged 73. The Honourable John Wayland Leslie died in 1991, aged 82.
Rothschild, Martin, 46. 1st Class.
Rothschild (nee Barrett), Elizabeth Jane Anne, 54.
Elizabeth Barrett was born on 10 February, 1858, in Schuyler County, New York, the fifth daughter of an English innkeeper and his Irish wife. Martin Rothschild was the fifth and youngest child of Jewish Prussian immigrants, who had settled in Alabama in 1848 and moved to New York 20 years later.
Rothschild became a successful clothing manufacturer. He was an uncle of the writer and poet, Dorothy Rothschild (later Parker, 1893-1967). On 2 June 1895, when he was 29, he married Elizabeth Barrett, 37, a devout catholic. They were childless and travelled extensively.
After the collision Rothschild saw Elizabeth and her Pomeranian onto Lifeboat 6. He later quipped to Steward Ray, “I don’t think there’s any occasion for it.” They parted on A Deck and Ray went to a lifeboat. Rothschild’s body was not recovered. The Carpathia crew at first refused to take her dog aboard, as she had left her husband behind. The dog, one of three saved, was later killed in a dogfight in New York.
Elizabeth’s brother, Thomas Barrett, became a Roman Catholic priest. She often dressed in black, mourning her husband. When her brother lived with her they maintained a private chapel, the only one in the USA, with the permission of Pope Pius XI. She was active in church affairs and in 1941 was awarded the papal Distinguished Merit Cross.
She died in New Jersey on 29 October, 1943, and was buried in a mausoleum in the St Mary’s Cemetery, Watkins Glen, NY. A three foot bronze plaque before the altar commemorates Martin Rothschild, lost in the Titanic disaster.
Rowe, George Thomas, 32. Quartermaster.
Rowe was born in Gosport, Hampshire, in 1880 and continued to live there. He served in the Royal Navy before joining the White Star Line and had recently served on the Oceanic. He joined the Titanic as a lookout in Belfast, then became a quartermaster at Southampton.
During the night of 14 April Rowe was on duty at the aft docking bridge, a high structure at the stern. He was pacing up and down to keep warm when he saw an iceberg glide by, like a windjammer (sailing ship) with sails the colour of wet canvas. He noticed that the engines stopped. About 45 minutes later he saw a lifeboat (no 7) in the water, so telephoned the bridge. Fourth Officer Boxhall was surprised to hear hs news.
Boxhall then ordered Rowe to bring rockets to be fired from the bridge, as he had seen the lights of a ship on the horizon and Captain Smith agreed to him sending up rockets as a distress signal. They fired the first rocket at 12.45 am, then continued at five to six minute intervals. They also tried to signal the ship with a morse lamp. Rowe thought that the vessel moved away, as the light disappeared, but they continued firing rockets until 1.25 am. By then Boxhall had left to take charge of Lifeboat 14.
Captain Smith then instructed Rowe to take command of Collapsible C. When there was no further response to his calls for women and children Chief Officer Wilde told him to lower away. As it left two first class passengers stepped aboard: Bruce Ismay and William Carter. This was at 1.40 am and was the last boat to leave the starboard side. It was difficult to lower as the ship listed six degrees to port. “The rub strake kept on catching on the rivets down the ship’s side, and it was as much as we could do to keep off. It took a good five minutes, on account of this rubbing, to get down.” At daybreak they found four Chinese or Phillipino stowaways, who had hidden under the seats.
They steered for the ship’s light but made no progress, so aimed for a boat which showed a green light, then at daybreak were met by the Carpathia. Rowe testified at the Senate Hearing, especially about Ismay’s boarding of his boat.
He then signed on to the Oceanic and when the 1st World War began he served on the hospital ship Plassy with the Great Fleet. Afterwards he worked with Thorneycroft ship repairs in Southampton until in his eighties. Rowe was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) for his services. He died in 1974, aged 91.
Rush, Alfred George John, 16. 3rd Class.
He had turned 16 while on the Titanic and was in the care of Frank Goldsmith and family, who had promised to take him to his brother in Detroit, Michigan. When Emily and Frankie Goldsmith boarded Collapsible D he was offered a seat but replied, “No. I’m going to stay with the men.”
Russell, See Rosenbaum.
Ryerson, Arthur Larned, 61. 1st Class.
Ryerson (née Borie), Emily Maria, 48.
Susan Parker, 21.
Emily Borie, 18.
John Borie, 13.
The Ryerson family came from Haverford, Pennsylvania, and sailed from Cherbourg with Mrs Ryerson’s maid, Victorine Chaudanson. They were returning hurriedly as they’d heard of the death of their son, Arthur Ryerson Jnr. Another child, Ellen, had not accompanied them. Unknown to them a 4th cousin, William Edwy Ryerson, worked on board as a steward in the dining saloon.
Young John (Jack) Ryerson had been born on 16 December, 1898, in Illinois. A photograph was taken of him spinning a top on the deck of the Titanic. At 5 pm on the 14th Marian Thayer asked Emily to accompany her on a walk around the deck. She did so and they were shown an ice warning by Bruce Ismay.
After the ship collided the Ryersons attempted to board Lifeboat 4, but Lightoller refused Mr Ryerson and Jack. His father protested that Jack was only 13, so Lightoller relented.
Mr Ryerson was lost in the sinking. Suzette married George Patterson but had no children. She died after an operation on 13 January, 1921, aged 30. Emily Borie married a Mr Cooke and died in 1960. Jack Ryerson assisted Walter Lord with research for ‘A Night to Remember’, but otherwise never discussed the Titanic. He lived with his wife, Jane Morris (1909-1990) in West Palm Beach, Florida. They had no children. He died on 21 January, 1986, aged 87.