Martin Gallagher was born in the village of Currafarry in Co. Galway on January 18, 1883. He was the son of Patrick Gallagher and Catherine Finnerty and had two brothers and two sisters.

He first emigrated to America in 1900 and lived in New York City. He later secured a job in Rye, New York and was living there when he returned to Ireland for a family visit in l912.

He bought his return ticket on Titanic, as did the others from Caltra parish, at Ryan's Travel Agency in Ballygar, Co. Galway. The third class ticket (No.36864) cost £7 14s 10d.

At the time of the crash, Martin located Ellen Mockler and Margaret Mannion and took them and several other Irish girls to Lifeboat 16 and helped escort them into the boat. He then stepped back on the deck. The last the girls remember of him was seeing him leading a group of Irish men in the recitation of the Rosary on Titanic's sloping deck.

He lost his life in the disaster. His body, if recovered, was never identified.

Notes
Ray (1999) gives his age as 25.

Sources
Contract Ticket List, White Star Line 1912 (National Archives, New York; NRAN-21-SDNYCIVCAS-55[279]).
Noel Ray (1999) List of Passengers who Boarded RMS Titanic at Queenstown, April 11, 1912. The Irish Titanic Historical Society

Contributors
Cameron Bell, Northern Ireland
Robert L. Bracken, USA
Michael A. Findlay, USA
Noel Ray, Ireland

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