Rev. J. Stuart Holden was a prominent Anglican minister and missionary preacher. In 1912, Holden booked a first-class ticket on the Titanic to attend a U.S. convention but cancelled after his wife fell ill, unknowingly saving his life.
The Rev John Stuart Holden was born on 17 June 1873 in Liverpool. He was the son of John George Holden and his wife Sarah Ann. He had one surviving sibling, Elizabeth Maud (born 1875).
Holden went to Liverpool College and then began working at a bank; after about three years at the bank, he left Liverpool to study at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree and then trained for the priesthood at Ridley Hall.
He was ordained in 1899 and served his title as curate at Walcot St. Swithun in Bath.
On 26 September 1901, he was married on the Island of Islay to Glasgow-born Jesie Findlay Galloway. They would have no children.
Holden was an evangelical missionary preacher who worked as vicar of St. Paul's, Portman Square, London, for 29 years, but also travelled widely, especially to Ireland and the USA.
In 1912, he was invited to speak at a convention in the United States, and he booked a first-class ticket. His name appears in the Cave list of first-class passengers.
Unfortunately for her, his wife became ill, and he was forced to cancel his passage. This undoubtedly saved his life, as all the other clergy on the Titanic were lost. He returned his ticket to the White Star line but kept the envelope as a souvenir. Later, he had it mounted and framed so he could hang it on his study wall.
Holden continued his missionary and evangelical work. He edited The Christian for six years up to 1921 and continued to travel widely. It was said he crossed the Atlantic 35 times.
(Daily Express, 16 December 1929)
Holden died in 1934 at the age of 60 at Glassburn House in Beauly, Invernessshire, Scotland; his wife Jessie died in 1947.
They are buried at Putney Vale cemetery, the same cemetery as J. Bruce Ismay.