Mr John Coffey, 23, was born in Queestown, Ireland.
When he signed-on to the Titanic, on 6 April 1912, he gave his address as 12 Sherbourne Terrace, (Southampton). His last ship had been the Olympic. As a fireman he received monthly wages of £6.
Coffey deserted the Titanic at Queenstown and joined the Mauretania shortly afterward. Reports stated that he had had a foreboding of disaster, possibly a fire, but it may simply have been that he wanted a passage to his home in Queenstown and always intended to leave the ship.
He evidently remained a fireman at sea. A 1941 article describes how he was rescued having fallen into the river in Hull in 1940.
He died in Hull 12 June 1957 and is buried in Eastern Cemetery, Hull (section 373, plot 36) in an unmarked grave.
Comment and discuss
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Family legend has it that my Great Uncle Jack Coffey missed the sailing of the Titanic due to illness he later went to America returning to the UK for a holiday in 1923 on his return to America we lost contact with him.Could he be the John Coffy the Stoker who deserted, can anyone tell me were he deserted and is there any record of his home address when he signed ships articals as this would prove wether it was the same person. Cheers Tom Kelly
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It's not likely this was the same John Coffey, as the ET bio for John Coffey the stoker lists his death as occurring on 12th June 1957 (his bio can be found at ). Hope this is helpful.
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I would like to ask if there is any updated information on John Coffey born 1889? I have recently come across information on his grandson Brian Coffey and would like to know more about this brian person.
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A few years ago I had the privilege of being able to visit the Cork Central Library and peruse the Kelly's dtreet Directory for 1912. I found that there were 9 addresses where the occupant was named 'Coffey' and 3 of these were Mrs Coffey. If we remember the strict religious...
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The official records show Coffey as a deserter.
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My Grandmother married a John Coffey in 1909
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he was a merchant seaman i believe with white star, they had 3 children lillian elizabeth and John. John was the only one who had children, Brian and Wendy, brian would then be John Coffeys Grandson. I believe that this John Coffey was the one who Jumped Ship, as he was born in Queenstown, although he later lived in Kirkdale,Liverpool and then Southampton, and was also the same age..........My grandmother later married again to a William Peacock
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