Harold Bride and his watch

[Jemma Hyder]

Had the fortunacy to find out some new things about Harold Bride of late and thought that some may be interested to here a little tale about the man behind the pout lol.

After the disaster Harold was presented with a gold watch by the Marconi Co. Years later he took it to Prince's St in Edinburgh (Fashionable shopping site running parallel to the Castle) to have it cleaned up and serviced if you like. Whilst he left it at the shop the staff inevitably read the inscription and when he returned to collect it he found them lined up and saluting him on the shop floor which he found most amusing. The thought of little Harold recieving a salute from a gang of jewellers made me chuckle anyway.

 

[Tracy Smith]

Thanks for the anecdote, Jemma. I love hearing little tidbits like this.

 

[Inger Sheil]

Excellent stuff there, Jemma! Good to see you chipping away at some of the enigmatic aura that surrounds Bride's post-Titanic life. As Tracy says, its these very human little vignettes that bring these figures back to life with startling clarity.

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Had written to the Marconi folks back in 1984-can't remember now if it was Chelmsford or Cheltenham??? They mentioned the watch and that the next wireless post they knew of that Bride took up was a private craft called the Mona's Isle which I would love to know more about.

 

[Jemma Hyder]

Hi Shelley,

The Marconi Archives are based in Chelmsford, admittedly been slacking off of late when it comes to Bride, but I have got as far as finding a ferry going to and from the Isle of Man called the Mona's Isle, which geographically has relevance to Bride, but I need to verify it.

 

[John M. Feeney]

Jemma: How very sweet! Thanks for sharing that.

Cheers,
John

 

[graham pickles]

> The Mona's Isle was a two-masted flat built by Joseph Ford at Douglas, Isle of Man. She was launched in 1835 and was owned by Barrow's James Fisher from 1859 until her loss in 1867.

A vessel called the Mona's Isle appeared very frequently in the notebooks of Barrow shipbroker William Gawith. She was described as belonging to the port of Preston, and her masters were Robert Hunter (1855 to Feb' 56), Thomas Sumner (March to Oct. '56 and Feb.'57 to June '58), George Sumner (Oct.'56 to Jan.'57), William Hilton (Jan.'57) and Robert Forshaw (May 1865).

source http://www.yachtingr id.demon.co.uk/marhi st/furness/fishers/m onas_isle.htm Regards Graham

 

[graham pickles]

Mona's Isle

Launched from Cammell Laird's on the 12th October 1950, she put into Douglas on the 15th March and then achieved 21.91 knots on trials. Her maiden voyage was from Liverpool to Douglas on the 22nd March. Although she was very like the Snaefell, she could be identified from her by not having the Manx crest on her bows. At the stern, whereas the Snaefell had rails and mesh, the Mona 's Isle had solid bulwarks. She had two major mishaps. In June 1955, she sank the small fishing vessel Ludo at Fleetwood and on the 15th February 1964 she went aground at Peel and severely damaged her stern. She was the last Steam Packet vessel to use low pressure turbines. The 1980 season was her last although she did star in the film Chariots of Fire and took the 150th anniversary cruise around the Island. The 27th August saw her final passenger sailing from Douglas to Llandudno. She was towed away to Dutch breakers on the 30th October 1980.

Gross Registered Tonnage 2491 Passenger Capacity Cars 0 Freight 0 Length (m) 105.16 Beam (m) 14.38 Builders Cammell Laird, Birkenhead Build Cost £570,000 Official Number 165288 Service Speed 21.5 knots Previous Names

source http://www.shipsofma nn.fsnet.co.uk/monas %20isle%205.htm

 

[graham pickles]

Ok serves me right for not reading properly. Bride was a radio operator on the Mona's Isle in 1914 - 1915. So the above two could not be it but this one is it.

Builders: Caird & Co Greenock 1882

Propulsion type: Paddle Compound Oscillating

Owners: Isle of Man Steam Packet Co Ltd

Service dates: 1882 - 1915

Tonnage: Gross 1564

Comments:

This graceful steamer was the first steel paddler built for the IOMSP Company and was launched on 16 May 1882 after achieving over 18 knots on her trials. She was the largest steamer that the company had owned up to that time and proved very popular with her passengers, for which she had a capacity of 1561, comfortably the largest of any of the company's ships until the introduction of Empress Queen some 15 years later. On 6 September 1892 she was stranded with 400 passengers on board when she ran aground at Scarlett Point in the Isle of Man on a trip from Dublin. She was refloated after assistance from Tynwald two days later, her passengers having previously been landed onto the rocks by way of a rather precarious ladder from her bows! She was present on the South Coast of England briefly in 1902, being on charter for the Fleet Review at Spithead for the coronation of King Edward VII. She continued in service for the company until purchased by the Admiralty for net laying, after fitting out by Vickers at Barrow. After the end of the First World War she was not fit for reconditioning and despite being offered for sale by the Admiralty, no bids were forthcoming and she was broken up by T W Ward & Co at Morecombe in September 1919.

Source http://website.lineo ne.net/~tom_lee/mona sisleIII.htm

Ohh and Jemma if you still want the information on Binns please let me know.

Regards Graham

 

[Jason D. Tiller]

Thanks for posting that Jemma. I love hearing that kind of stuff.

Best regards,

Jason

 

[Jason Veichman]

Does anybody know what happened to Harold Bride's wife/children after he died? According to his death certificate he died in Scotland so I assume that his family remained there for a while. Does anybody know where his body was buried/cremated at?

 

[Jemma Hyder]

Jason,

All three of Harold's children joined the diplomatic service and ended up working in various parts of Africa, his wife Lucy continued teaching and died in the 1970's. Her ashes were scattered with Harold's in Glasgow

Cheers

Jemma

 

[Kritina Johnston]

I could have sworn I saw something about this mentioned in one of the wireless threads, but I'm dumb and could be mistaken, so I'll ask anyway...

In an updated version of Pellegrino's "Her Name, Titanic", it's mentioned that Harold Bride was presented with a gold watch by the Marconi Company. Now, this doesn't seem out of character, given that Jack Binns was presented with one after the Republic disaster (there's a picture of it from one of the Commutators). But, what became of it, if he was presented with one?

 

[Jemma Hyder]

Hi Kritina,

There's a story I was told quite near the top of the crew research threads labelled "Harold Bride and his watch." It was presented to him at a ceremony in 1912, in the same fashion as Binns and his watch.

[Moderator's note: This message and the one above it have been merged into the thread Jemma's referring to here. MAB]

 

[Andrew J. Kahl]

What was inscribed in the watch and what happened to it? Much Obliged!I heard he got one from the Marconi Co.

[Moderator's note: This message, originally a separate thread, has been moved to this pre-existing thread discussing the same watch. MAB]