Mr Thomas Francis McCaffry

Mr Thomas Francis McCaffry, 46, was born 5 February 1866, not in Ireland as often stated, but at Three Rivers, Quebec. He was of Irish-Scots descent, the son of James McCaffry and Mary Ann Campbell, and he was raised in Montreal with his two sisters, Annie and Mary Eva.

He began his career as a junior at the Union Bank of Canada in Three Rivers before becoming a clerk in Montreal in 1885. He rose through the ranks until he was sent west to manage the Union Bank in Neepawa, Manitoba. In 1897 he moved to Winnipeg to manage another branch; there he befriended Thomson Beattie. They would travel together to the Agean in 1908, and to North Africa in 1910 as well as, ultimately, on the Titanic.

In 1900 McCaffrey resigned his job to go to Vancouver where he managed the gold assay office opened by the Dominion Government. In 1907 he left to became manager of the newly opened Vancouver branch of the Union Bank.

In early 1912, he and Beattie left with John Hugo Ross on the eastward crossing of the Franconia, and they spent the next few months touring the middle east and Europe.

The party arrived in Cairo about 10 February where they visited a hospitalized friend before taking a side trip up the Nile to Luxor and Aswan. They left Cairo on 23 February and headed for Naples.

McCaffry and his frineds booked first class passage on the Titanic, which they boarded when the ship touched at Cherbourg on the evening of 10 April. McCaffry and Beattie shared cabin C-6 (Ticket No. 13050, £75 4s 10d). C-6 was a forward cabin whose window looked out directly upon the base of an electric crane.

Both McCaffry and Beattie were almost certainly on the roof beside the last available raft, Collapsible A, when the Titanic began its slide. Beattie made it into the boat; McCaffry didn't. His body was later recovered by the MacKay Bennett (#292).

Documents
Record of Bodies and Effects (#292)

References
Contract Ticket List, White Star Line 1912 (National Archives, New York; NRAN-21-SDNYCIVCAS-55[279])
Record of Bodies and Effects: Passengers and Crew, S.S. Titanic (Public Archives of Nova Scotia)
Alan Hustak (1999) Titanic: The Canadian Story. Véhicule Press. ISBN 1 55065 113 7
Unidentified Newspaper, 25 April 1912, Article

Contributors
George Behe, USA
Alan Hustak, Canada
Diane Lapierre, Canada

Travelling Companions (on same ticket)
Mr Thomson Beattie