|  | Generations of Southampton residents have lived with the memory the Titanic - 673 crew members died on board, leaving widows and thousands of orphans.
Hundreds more worked in the shops and businesses supplying the great liners, or cheered on the quayside as Titanic sailed out of Berth 44.
BBC Southampton is looking for any memories, tales or anecdotes about the Titanic. If you live in Southampton, or further afield, and have a story to tell we want to hear from you. It could be a childhood memory or a story from a relative, just fill in the details on the form below. Tim Wallace in Hemel Hempstead
My Grandmother has always told me of a relative who died on the Titanic, she was going to America to get married. With her was a full entourage for the wedding. However she never made it, we never knew her name, all we know is she was a 1st class passenger. |
Kerry Keohan in Stevenage England
My great aunt from county sligo ireland was a third class passenger onthe titanic her name was mary delia burns |
Jill Swateman, Southbourne, Bournemouth
Connection: Her uncle, Frank Prentice, was one of the longest surviving people who made it through that fateful night. She has a watch of his which stopped at the time the ship went down. Frank lived in Southbourne and made many TV appearances relating to his rescue. |
Gwen Barker , Ringwood
Connection: Father lived at Woolston. He was a baker. He signed up to be a baker on the Titanic, but illness prevented his sailing. |
Margaret Charlesworth, Lyndhurst
Connection: Margaret found out three years ago that her grandfather, William Bull, was a scullion, working in the kitchens on Titanic, and was lost when she went down.
The clue came from an old photograph of her Grandmother's grave stone, on which her lost first husband was commemorated. Margaret's grandmother, Edith, remarried and became Edith Skeats, going on to have more children with her second husband. Edith lived in Longmoor Avenue, Woolston and died in 1937. The family had no idea of their connection with Titanic until Margaret spotted the inscription on the grave, and it is likely that the Skeats side of the family are still unaware of the connection.
Margaret's research has revealed that, in 1912, William Bull was living at 28, Shandos Street, Southampton though he does not appear on any electoral registers.
He was 37 when he died, and had formerly lived in London, working as a coal merchant. When Margaret tried to find out how much widow's pension her grandmother would have received, she found that records suggest that the couple had been co-habiting.
Margaret believes that there are other relatives, some in South Africa, many of whom may still be unaware of their connections with Titanic. She has found out all she can about William Bull and his family, but would love to know more. |
Peter Sillet, Totton
Connection: Peter's father-in-law performed in a concert in aid of a support fund following the loss of Titanic. The concert was held on May 13th and 14th 1912. His Father- in-law was attached to Royal Canadian Navy, Halifax Nova Scotia, where the recovered bodies were brought back to. |
Dorothy Kendle, Harefield
Connection: She’s the daughter of survivor Edith Haisman, who was 15 when she was on board and lost her father. Her mother was on the lifeboat with Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, and witnessed him firing shots to stop other passengers overcrowding the boat. Dorothy accompanied her mother to the wreck site when it was discovered and they laid a wreath there. Edith died in 1997. |
Lynn Dorey , Swanage
Connection: Great uncle, George Camish, was a fireman on Titanic. He was saved. His brother, Fred, Lynn's grandfather, missed the sailing due to flu. Lynn believes that some of George's relatives live in Southampton area, and would like to make contact. |
Morris Bradbury , Fishborne
Connection: He remembers his mother telling him that his father's mother's brother was a stoker on the Titanic. He thinks his name was Matthews and would like to know if anyone has anymore information. |
Ricky Mowlam, Poole
Connection: Uncle, Reginald Lovell, who lived Winsom Avenue, Millbrook, was a crew member. On his way to join the ship he was hailed by a friend who encouraged him to go for a drink. By the time they got to the dockyard, the ship had sailed. He lived to 79 and had four daughters. Was he one of the infamous six who got drunk in the Grapes? |
Iris Dominey, Hythe
Connection: Maiden name was Darley. May Jeffries says her grandfather, who was a Darley, was supposedly one of the crew who missed Titanic because they were drinking in the Grapes. Iris says her grandfather also missed the boat - are they one and the same Darley? |
Marie Flood (ne Slade), Woolston
Connection: Related to one of the Slade brothers - Titanic crew who missed the boat because they were drinking in the Grapes pub. One was Alfred Slade. They got drunk after a woman in the pub predicted the sinking of the ship. As they rushed to catch the boat, they held up a passenger train and the wealthy people on board missed the ship too. They were sacked, but later reinstated and a number of grateful would-be passengers owed them their lives! |
John Biggs, Smallfield,Horley, Surrey
Connection: My Great Uncle by marriage Arthur Albert Howell was transferred from the Olympic to the Titanic in the capacity of First Class Saloon Steward and perished when the ship sunk.
He was buried at Fairview Lawn Cemetery,Halifax, Nova Scotia. The address given upon signing on was 12,Cliff Road, Itchen, Southampton.
However I have not found any record of the family living there. The Titanic Relief Fund listed the family as Case 431. Arthur was born in Croydon and left a wife, Annie Jessie nee Wall who came from Paddock Wood in Kent, and a son Arthur Allbert and a daughter Edith Ann who passed away at Sompting near Lancing, Sussex.
Any further information concerning Arthur and his family would be appreciated.
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Denise Bowie, Hythe
Connection: Great Grandfather-Joseph Bradly. He was a Fireman left behind a wife and three daughters. Lived in Bugle St, Soutampton. Believed to have went down with the ship however, story has it that he was saved and changed his identify so to leave behind his responsibilities |
Hazel Winters, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
Connection: My family history research indicates that Wallace Hartley, the Bandmaster of the Titanic was one of my Hartley cousins. I have been collecting data on Wallace for the past few years. |
Neil Hendrix
Connection: Grandmother, Elsie Dowling was a 2nd class passenger on the Titanic and was rescued. She was traveling with her sister-in-law, Ada Dowling, who was also rescued. There is a famous picture of them, walking on the promenade deck with a gentleman.
For many years they couldn’t identify him, but according to the book, Titanic Voices, he was the chauffeur to the Vanderbilts and he went down with the ship. When the film Titanic came out, a commemorative plate was produced and it sported this picture. Neil’s great grandfather ran the Atlantic Hotel on Albert Road, where many of the steerage passengers stayed. He also has a programme of the 1912 memorial concert held at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. It’s signed by Edith Haisman, who was one of the longest-lived survivors. |
Dorothy Cavell, West Totton
Connection: - Dorothy's Father-in-law, George Cavell, was on the Titanic. He lived in Coleman Street in St. Mary’s. He was stoking the fires as the ship went down, but he lived to a grand old age! He’d wondered why no-one had come to relieve him but eventually he heard the others calling him above the roar of the engines to get out of there. He was incredibly lucky, he must have been one of the last to get off, but she doesn’t know how he got off. She’d love it if someone could tell her. Her brother-in-law, George’s son, William, lives in Parkstone. |
Eileen Wilson, Fordingbridge
Connection:- Eileen's Grandfather, John Edward Puzey was a steward on the Titanic, he lost his life, leaving a wife and two sons. They lived in Woolston. She was given a few sovereigns and that was it. They were left in poverty. Her father, who was 10 at the time and descendants, were allowed to have jobs on the liners if they wished. Her father, William John Puzey worked on the Olympic and her three brothers all worked on the liners. |
Janet Wise, Rusper near Horsham
Connection: . Janet can remember her mother talking about her grandfather, Captain Alfred Ethrot Tizzard who was a naval officer - an Admiralty transport officer, who went on board to see the new ship. He then came off before she sailed and told his family that it was lovely but there weren't enough lifeboats. |
Leonard Easter, Millbrook.
Connection:- Grandfather William Willsher, assistant butcher, in his 30s, went down on the Titanic. There's a photo his daughter, Mr Easter’s mother in the book, Titanic Voices. She was being presented with a dolly, as the youngest child orphaned at Northam School. His grandmother was left with 5 children and they all benefited from the fund set up to provide the orphans with apprenticeships - his mother was a tailoress, the youngest boy became an apprentice engineer, the oldest brother was a bellboy on the Olympic. |
Sue Fray, Taunton
Connection: Podesta was a family name and a John Podesta was on the list of survivors. She knows from some cousins that there was a family member who survived, but she doesn’t know what relation he was. Her maternal grandmother was Cecilia Podesta who lived in Shirley. Was this survivor her brother or some other relation? Her grandmother had three brothers, Joseph, Harry and Frank. Cecilia was born in April 1866, and her brothers were christened in the following years: Joseph, 1857; Harry, 1870; Frank, 1873. The John Podesta listed as a survivor was born, 14.9.1887. He was listed as a fireman, while she understood her relation was a steward. Does anyone have any information? |
Dr Mike Hoskin, Portsmouth
Connection: – Grandfather, George Fox Hoskin, was the senior third engineer on the Titanic who lived in Avenue Road in Itchen. He was from a seafaring family in Shalden in Devon. Mike’s father was born in Southampton was two years old when his father died. He had two brothers and a sister. The family was left in some poverty, helped out by the Marine Engineering Institute Benevolent Society and had their fees paid at boarding school.
Mike’s father became a captain, William Bock Hoskin, who also drowned in the South China Sea. He wants to pay tribute to engineering officers on the liner, none survived because they all stayed at their posts. His father’s middle name was Bock, named after a wealthy relative, but the local paper in Newton Abbot, near Shalden, received a telegram from a relative in New York called Bock, who travelled 300 miles to New York to meet the Carpathia which carried the survivors, to check if any of the engineering staff had survived, so somewhere in America there’s a family connection, through a cousin called Bock. His telegram informed the local paper that unfortunately George Hoskin hadn’t survived. Does anyone have information about Bock? |
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