Mr Edward Ryan

Mr Edward Ryan 1 was born on 28 January 1888 the son of Daniel Ryan. He lived at Ballinareen, County Tipperary, Ireland.

Ryan boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger (ticket number 383162, £7 15s). His destination was the home of his sister, Mrs Bridget Welsh, Troy, New York. Although on the passenger list he had been listed as a general labourer, when he arrived in New York he gave his occupation as chauffeur.

On the night of the sinking Edward managed to board lifeboat 14 wearing a towel over his head, a fact which he freely conceded to his parents in a letter dated 6 May 1912.

"I stood on the Titanic and kept cool, although she was sinking fast. She had gone down about forty feet by now. The last boat was about being rowed away when I thought in a second if I could only pass out [i.e. get into the boat] I'd be all right. I had a towel round my neck. I just threw this over my head and left it hang in the back. I wore my waterproof overcoat. I then walked very stiff past the officers, who had declared they'd shoot the first man that dare pass out. They didn't notice me. They thought I was a woman. I grasped a girl who was standing by in despair, and jumped with her thirty feet into the boat."

Edward may have been the man whom Officer Lowe pitched violently into another lifeboat during lifeboat 14’s emptying after the sinking, after discovering the agile passenger to be a man.

Ryan moved back to England three years after the disaster, he settled in Hull in 1916 where he worked for Rose, Downs and Thompson Ltd. He was married to Gertrude Annie, together they had three children, Monica, Norman and Kathleen (who predeceased her father).

Notes
1. Newspaper reports at the time of his death gave his name as Edmond.

Articles
Recollections of a Titanic Survivor

Documents
Unidentified Newspaper (Hull), 6 November 1974, Hull Survivor of Titanic Disaster Dies
Unidentified Newspaper (Hull), 6 November 1974, Death Notice

References
Contract Ticket List, White Star Line 1912 (National Archives, New York; NRAN-21-SDNYCIVCAS-55[279])
Names and Descriptions of British Passengers Embarked at the Port of Queenstown, 11 April 1912 (PRO London, BT 27/776/2).
List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the United States Immigration Officer At Port Of Arrival (Date: 18th-19th June 1912, Ship: Carpathia) - National Archives, NWCTB 85 T715 Vol 4183
Noel Ray (1999) List of Passengers who Boarded RMS Titanic at Queenstown, April 11, 1912. The Irish Titanic Historical Society
Robert L. Bracken (2000) Irish Titanic Passengers
Hermann Söldner (ed.) (2000) RMS Titanic: Passenger and Crew List 10 April 1912-15 April 1912. ä wie Ärger Verlag.
Senan Molony (1999) The Irish Aboard Titanic. Wolfhound Press, Dublin ISBN 0 86327 805 1
Walter Lord (1976) A Night to Remember. London, Penguin. ISBN 0 14 004757 3

Contributors
Arne Mjaland, Norway
Noel Ray, Ireland