Mr Charles Olive

Charles Olive was born in 1881 in Southampton, Hampshire, England and his birth was registered in the first quarter of that year. He was the son of Harry Olive (1861-1887) and Henrietta Rickman (1861-1938), both Southampton-natives who had married in that city in 1879 and going on to have at least four children: Harry Richard (b. 1879), Lilian Maud (b. 1882) and Albert George (b. 1884) and Charles.

On the 1881 census a 3-month-old Charles is listed with his family at 27 Briton Street in St Mary, Southampton: his father is described as a carman and his mother a dressmaker. Charles' father died in 1887 and by the 1891 census he and his family are living with widower Frederick Doel at 1 York Street in Southampton, his mother being described as a housekeeper. Henrietta Olive and Frederick Doel were married in late 1892 in Southampton following the birth of sons Frederick Olive in 1889 and Alfred James in 1891. They went on to have a further ten children: Arthur Thomas (b. 1893), William Henry (b. 1893), Lucy Violet (b. 1894), Albert Edward (b. 1896), Daisy Winifred (b. 1897), Cecil James (b. 1898), Gladys May (b. 1899), Reginald Kimberley (b. 1901), Norman Charles (b. 1902) and William Kildonen (b. 1907). Out of a total of twelve children born, only four survived past infancy.

By the time of the 1901 census Charles is absent but his mother, step-father and siblings are living at 9 College Street, Southampton.

Charles was married in early 1907 to Rosina Channell (b. 1884 in Southampton). They had one child who died in infancy. On the 1911 census Charles is again absent but his wife is listed alone at 43 College Street, Southampton.

When Charles signed on to the Titanic he gave his address as 43 College Street, Southampton; his previous ship had been the Oceanic. As a greaser he could expect to earn monthly wages of £6 10s. Also serving on the Titanic was his step-brother Frederick Olive Doel.

Charles was lost in the Titanic disaster and his body, if recovered, was never identified. His step-brother Frederick survived.

Charles' mother was widowed within a fortnight of the Titanic disaster when his step-father died. She remarried in 1914 to George Coles and died in 1938. His widow Rosina was remarried in 1913 to Henry Dempsey and they had a son, Ernest in 1922. Rosina died in Southampton in 1941.