Photo in Lawrence Beesley's Biography

E

Esther Graf

Guest
I've got a question: who took the photograph of Lawrence Beesley (2nd class passenger) and a friend in the gymnasium on the Titanic? Was it taken before the ship left or did anyone take photos on the ship during its voyage? Sorry if my english is not perfect, but I'm from Switzerland :)

Thanks for your help!
 
Esther,

Our resident Beesley-o-phile, a certain Cap'n Cook, will surely be able to answer your question.

Where is that ornery devil anyway?

Randy
 
Hi Esther,

I can tell you that the photo of Lawrence and friend was taken by the London Illustrated News while the ship was in Southampton - the news service subsequently published it in their newspaper. There was other such photos taken at the time (the shot of gymnasium intructor McCawley springs to mind) by them and other news services. However, you must understand that Titanic, now arguably the best known ship in the world, was only the 2nd of the Olympia style of White Star Liners - big sister Olympic got most of the press.

And, of course, there's the Father Browne photos aboard Titanic - these are showcased in the book "The Last Days on the Titanic" by E. E. O'Donnell.

Hope this is of some help.

Best regards,
Cook
 
Esther, the book Pat mentions is also sold as "Father Browne's Titanic Album".
 
Pat,

If I recall correctly, Beesley mentions more than one photo being taken. Illustrated London News subsequently chose just this one photo to publish:

55622


I guess it is very safe to assume that at least once there were more photos of Beesley and other areas on Titanic that were never published and remained in the newspapers' archives .... perhaps they're still somewhere, long forgotten.

Daniel.
 
Hi Daniel,

Always a treat to hear from you, sir.

Actually, according to Beesley, the instructor (McCawley) came in with two photographers to 'make a record' of him and he insisted that Beesley and his friend remain. My guess is there may be more photos of McCawley and, as you said, perhaps a 'safety' or two of Beesley. Don't you wish we could see those?

Best regards, as always,
Cook
 
Can anyone out there tell us the name of the lady with Lawrence Beesley in the gym picture?
Thanks!
 
Back
Top