Sidney Daniels

Hi all! I am from Argentina, my name's Federico, I'm 26 and just wanted to let you know that I interviewed Sid Daniels' daughter back in 2014 (I just returned here today) and the interview was largely published in the area. It's now been used at schools for History classes and Lengua classes (Lengua would be in English... uhm.... Writing?... Edition?.-.. Language'?) is that at your schools in the UK or US?

I shared the pics of the article with Mr. Daniels'' daughter. And just that, the Titanic still survives.

Cheers all. And have a wonderful summer (extremely cold winter down here in Argentina) LOL.
 
I just came across something very interesting in some old scribbled notes that I had made back in April 1985 during a conversation with Mr Sheppherd, the proprietor of a second-hand bookshop in Burton-on-Trent, England and the man who seriously revived my interest in the Titanic. Mr Sheppherd had known Third Class Steward Sidney Daniels quite well and went to school with one of his sons.

Apparently, Sidney Daniels used to tell the kids about his Titanic experiences including how they stood on a 'raft' (I took it mean the overturned Collapsible B) for several hours after the sinking, talking and nudging each other to stay alert in the biting cold. That was the reason why Mr Sheppherd himself became a Titanic enthusiast and that later rubbed off on me.
 
Did anybody in the UK watch the BBC TV programme Antiques Roadshow tonight? I was in the shower when my wife yelled out but I arrived a mite too late. Sideny Daniels's son and daughter were present but I missed their introduction and hence their names or what they were there for. The man did not look old enough to have been Albert Daniels, who would be 94 if alive today; so I guess it must have been Richard Daniels (b 1935). The lady was a few years younger and so must have been his sister Jean.

As I mentioned before, Mr Sheppherd, who rejuvinated my interest in the Titanic in 1985, went to school with Albert Daniels.

Please, if anyone else saw this show tonight, let me know the full details.
 
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Thanks Jason. I saw the clip and while it conformed that the siblings had brought an old letter to Sidney from his family (currently valued at £10,000) written after the disaster, they were never introduced. I first checked the BBC site and other on-line sources about that Antiques Roadshow episode but got no futher. BUT THEN, I found a 2012 article from The Daily Mirror showing a photograph of the then 76-year old Richard Daniels showing the same letter in an interview; it was clearly the same man from last night albeit 10 yers younger. So, Sidney Daniels' son who appeared last night on Antiques Roadshow was definitely his youngest son Richard Daniels.

I had thought that the lady in the show, Richard's sister, appeared a few years younger, but on watching your clip again, she could have been a bit older. So, Sidney's daughter could have been either Marion (b1932) or Jean (b 1938).

What I never found out is if the then 18-year-old Sidney Daniels, a steward who apparently mainly worked as a plate washer, knew John Collins the 17-year old scullion. I think it is quite likely given their ages and positions on the ship. Both were rescued on Collapsible B and might have spent time together on board the Carpathia.
 
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£10,000 for the letter and artifacts seems like a low valuation to me.
That's probably the average value based on what an "ordinary" enthusiast would be prepared to pay for them. Many of us genuine Titanicians would likely value it higher but I am not sure how many of us can actually afford that price. I certainly cannot. ;)
 
It would be nice if Southampton City Council archivists could put online their 1982 tape recording of Mr Daniel's interview regarding his experiences.
 
I watched Antiques Roadshow on BBC 1 this evening from Portchester Castle. Is this a repeat? The Daniels stuff I’m having some difficulty with unless he fathered kids when he was getting on a bit? Those interviewed talked about their ‘Dad’.
 
Being still stuck in India I did not see the show yesterday, but the one I did last year was at a castle and so yesterday's one might have been a repeat. Following last year's show, Jason kindly passed my contact details to Sidney's son Richard Daniels, who then got in touch with me by e-mail. Unfortunately, despite being the same age group - Sidney Daniels was 18 and John Collins was 17 years old on board the Titanic and working in the Victualling Department - the two men do not appear to have known each other. At least, Sidney, who lived a long life and died only in 1983, never mentioned the scullion to Richard.

The Daniels stuff I’m having some difficulty with unless he fathered kids when he was getting on a bit? Those interviewed talked about their ‘Dad’.

The man you saw at the show, Richard Daniels, was definitely Sidney's son. Look at this:
Sid was remarried in 1920 to Alfreda Kathleen Clements (born August 15, 1895 on the Isle of Wight). They would have seven children: Kathleen (1922-1966), Sidney (b. 1925), Albert (b. 1928), Robert John (1930-1981), Marion (b. 1932), Richard (b. 1935) and Jean (b. 1938).

So, Sidney Daniels was 28 years old when his first child was born and 44 when the 7th and last arrived. Not all that unusual in those days, I would have thought. Richard Daniels looked well preserved for his 87 years, as did his sister - I think it was Jean who appeared with him.

My interest in Sidney Daniels began in 1985 when I used to live in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK. Opposite our apartment block was a Secondhand Bookshop (Needwood Bookshop) owned at the time by a Mr Alan Sheppherd, a Titanic enthusiast himself. Mr Sheppherd was the one who rekindled my interest in the Titanic; he was originally from the Portsmouth area and went to school with Sidney Daniels' son Albert. As a boy, he had met Sidney himself several times and listened to the latter's stories about the Titanic.

Mr Shepperd was also the man who introduced me in the summer of 1985 to Mrs Alice Braithwaite, a niece of Clarence Woods, John Collins' fellow WW1 POW and friend in Germany; the two men kept in touch after the war. As a young girl, Alice had met John Collins a few times in the 1930s when the latter came to see his friend and what she told me during our only meeting decades later was what started me on the long and convoluted research into the circumstances of the scullion's Titanic survival.
 
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Can you believe today (April 30) marks exactly 116 years since the idea for the Titanic was conceived? It was this day back in 1907 that Ismay and Pirrie came up with the idea to build the three Olympic Class liners. Now the Titanic is only a few years away from complete disintegration. My, how time flies....
 
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