Engineer William Mackie

R

Robert Thompson

Member
William (Bill) Mackie Was The Brother-in-law of my great grandmother. They Lived in the same house in London until my great grand parents emigrated to Australia.

I have a letter from him written to my grandmother just before he sailed on the Titanic. My great auntie Peg gave me the letter because of my interest in the Titanic. She was 5 when they emigrated but still remembers Bill. We only have a limited knowledge of him from her and was wondering if anyone can give me any more information on him.

I would especially like to know of any relatives in England
 
Robert wrote:
> William (Bill) Mackie Was The Brother-in-law of my great grandmother. ...

> I have a letter from him written to my grandmother just before he sailed on the Titanic. My great auntie Peg gave me
the letter because of my interest in the Titanic. ... We only have a limited knowledge of him from her and was wondering if anyone can give me any more information on him

Hi Robert,

I assume that you have seen the brief bio here at ET: William Dickson Mackie : Titanic Victim

Dr. Denis Griffith's web site also has biographies of Titanic's engineers, including Mr. Mackie (the text of the bio is the same both places): stfaiths100.freeserve.co.uk/html_files/titengdr.htm

I am very interested in the engineers and all of the "black gang". Would you consider sharing some excerpts from the letter with us?

Does your family have any other photos or information about Mr. Mackie?

Warm Regards,

Cal
 
I am currently trying to set up a web page in memoriam, with a copy of the letter and a bit more of a bio from the information I have.

Will keep you posted and hope to have the page linked to ET if it's good enough.

Will keep you informed
 
Robert & Cal

You may be interested to know that in 1992, The Institute of Marine Engineers produced a commemorative booklet as a tribute to the engineering staff of Titanic on the 80th Anniversary of the sinking. It contains biographies for all of the engineers, electricians and boilermakers, letters of tribute and construction details of the ship.

Within the U.K. this booklet costs £5.00 inc. postage, and is available from :

The Publications Administrator
The Instituate of Marine Engineers
80 Coleman Street
London
EC2R 5BJ

Email : imare @ imare.org.uk Website : imare.org.uk

All proceeds go to The Institute of Marine Engineers Guild of Benevolence.

It says the following about W.D.Mackie, Junior Fifth Engineer.

“Mr. William Dixon Mackie, who was born in Glasgow, was at an early age brought to West Ham, Essex, where he spent his school days. He served his apprenticeship at the Glengall Ironworks, Millwall, and since the end of his apprenticeship days had been mostly away at sea. He was for a few years in the P & O service, leaving that Company to join the White Star Line. Under this Company he served in the Majestic and Olympic, and was on board the latter vessel at the time of her collision with the cruiser Hawke in the Solent. He was later transferred to the ill-fated Titanic. Mr. Mackie was thirty-two years of age and of a bright and cheerful disposition. His wife predeceased him last year and since her death he had taken up residence when ashore with relatives at Forest Gate, to which district he had moved from Southampton”.

Regards

Chris
 
Thanks for the additional info Chris. I Have seen the booklet you mentioned and have a copy of the page about Bill. I'm very pleased to learn that it is still available to buy and have Emailed the Institute to see if I can get a copy in Australia. If not I'll have to impose on a friend currently working over in the UK.

This is the most information I have been able to find on Bill and even this is not entirely accurate, as he lived with my great grandmother long before his wife died. His Wife's name was anne and was my great grand mothers sister. Both sisters were married to marine engineers so both husbands were not at home most of the time. Also living with them was my great aunty Peg who was only aged five at the time, As well as great great grandmother.

According to my aunty Peg it was a very large house with Bill and Anne living on the first floor, Aunty peg and my great grandparents on the second and finaly my great great grandmother living on the third.

My aunty peg is an incredable woman and will be 96 this December. She remembers immigrating to Australia and also remembers Bill fondly and refers to him as 'uncle bin'. Being only five at the time she dosen't remember everything and unfortunately we do not have any photos of Bill.

The letter from Bill was sent to my great grandmother just before he sail on Titanic and the only reason it would have been kept was the fact the due to the long delays in receiving mail in Australia his fate would have been known before the letter was received.

The letters now I suppose is an important historical document, that I feel needs to be shared with others. For this reason I will be writing to Phil to see if he will include it on the ET site.
 
Robert

I've replied to you in full via e-mail but since then have found that your Mackie family may have a connection with Hotham Street, West Ham. I'll send that information through to you.

Chris
 
I believe that Robert Mackie was. my father,George Daniel Mackie 's uncle.His father died in WW1 and was also named George Daniel Mackie. Born Edinburgh.
 
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