Edward Thomas Stone was born in 1882/83 in Shirley, Southampton. He himself quotes his birthplace as Cornwall when signing on Titanic but this appears to be erroneous. (It is currently assumed that he lived there for a while when young). He was the son of Edward George Robert Stone and Harriett Matilda (nee Mantell). His father was originally of the village of Chideock in Dorset (baptised there 2 May 1858) and his mother born at West Cowes, Isle of Wight in 1862.
The couple had married at Wareham, Dorset (at the parish church of Wareham Lady St Mary) in late 1880 and in the following April census has them nearby the church, on the quay, at the New Inn where Edward’s father is shown as the innkeeper.
Sometime following the 1881 census the couple moved from Wareham to Southampton where their son, Edward Thomas Stone was born in 1882/83. How many siblings Edward had is uncertain but it is known that he had a younger sister called Hester who was born in Shirley, Southampton in 1896.
By the time of the 1901 census the family are confirmed as still living in Shirley. Edward’s father is shown as a furnisher’s storekeeper and Edward jnr a billiard marker, his place of birth is shown in the census as being in Shirley.
The family remain in Southampton and by 1912 Edward is living at 91 Shirley Road with his wife, Violet Alice. He signs on for Titanic on 4 April 1912 as one of the victualling crew on a monthly wage of £3 15 shillings.
As a bedroom steward in second class he showed in the sign-on sheet that his previous ship had been the New York.
Lost in the sinking, aged 29 his body was later recovered from the sea by the Mackay-Bennett. On 6 May 1912 his body was interred at the Fairview Lawn Cemetery and a headstone marks his grave but incorrectly shows his name as E J Stone rather than E T Stone. (nb. E J Stone was in fact Edmund J Stone, a steward in the first class accommodation).
Shortly following the tragedy his wife Violet placed the following item in a local Southampton newspaper, ‘Not gone from memory, not gone from love. But gone to our Fathers home above. We must not murmur or complain, trusting in heaven to meet again.’
In the March of 1913 Violet started receiving payments from the Mansion House Titanic Relief Fund.
Edward’s sister Hester died in 1953 and his parents both in 1954. Their graves are located in the Old Cemetery, The Common, Southampton and Hester’s grave also has the following inscription ‘also their beloved son, Edward Thomas Stone, lost in the Titanic disaster, April 15th 1912, aged 29.