William Henry Nancarrow was the only son of the second marriage of Thomas Nancarrow (b1819). His mother was Maria (b1840). His birth took place in or near St. Austell, Cornwall in 1877.
His father was described in the various census returns as a mining engineer/static mine engine driver and had previously been married to Hannah. Following her death he remarried in 1876 to a widow, Maria Opie (formerly) Morcom.
At the time of the 1881 census Thomas, Maria and William were living in the hamlet of Boscoppa Downs, a few miles east of St. Austell. With them, William’s step-sisters, Mary Opie (b1864)and Laura Nancarrow (b.1868).
Ten years later, William by then aged 14 was with his parents at ‘Bucklers’ in Charlestown, a port not many miles from St Austell.
William married in about 1897 in the St. Austell area to Mary (maiden surname not established). By the time William sailed on Titanic the couple had had 8 children, Thomas Henry (1898), Walter (1900), Lilian (1902), Marion (1904), Beatrice (1906), Evelyn May (1908), Nellie (c1910) and Stanley (c1911).
William travelled third class on Titanic and accompanied his cousin, Charity and her husband Alexander Robins. (William’s father and Charity’s mother, Susanna, were brother and sister).