Florence Louise Ware

Mrs John James Ware was born as Florence Louisa Long in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England on 29 October 1879, later being baptised on 11 May 1884.

She was the daughter of John Long (b. 1843), a coppersmith, and Martha Lucy Ley (b. 1840), a laundress, both Bristol natives who had married in 1866. Florence's known siblings were: Mary Martha (b. 1866), Edith Laura (b. 1868), Walter John (b. 1870), Albert George (b. 1872), Mary Louise (b. 1874), Henry James (b. 1877) and Lillian Maud (b. 1883).

Florence and her family appear on the 1881 census living at 17 Conduit Place, Bristol and on the 1891 census at 5 Brighton Street, Bristol, moving four doors down for the 1901 census to 9 Brighton Street. Florence, then aged 21, had no stated profession.

She was married in 1906 to Somerset-native John James Ware (b. 1865), a carpenter and a recent widower with a teenage son, Fred (b. 1892). The couple appeared on the 1911 census, living at 53 Grosvenor Road, Bristol.

Florence and her husband boarded the Titanic at Southampton as second class passengers (ticket number 31352, £21). They were due to have travelled on another ship but were transferred due to the coal strikes. Their destination was to have been to her brother-in-law Charles Ware who was already living at 186 South Main Street, New Britain, Connecticut. When there John Ware was intending to start up in the carpentry trade. He was taking his tools and household effects with him on the Titanic together with $1250 in cash.

Mrs Ware later recounted:

"I heard the noise when the steamer hit the iceberg, but did not pay any attention to it. The next I knew a man was pounding on the door of our state-room and saying, 'Men and women put on life-belts and get upon deck'. We did not put on our lifebelts, but ran on deck. As soon as we arrived there some men led me towards a boat. I did not wish to leave my husband, but the men said I must.My husband just shook my hand and said I should go and that he would see me soon.

Mrs Ware is believed to have been rescued in lifeboat 10. Her husband was lost.

'In our boat there were a lot of women, and one steward and a fireman. None of the men knew anything about managing a small boat, so some of the women who were used to it took charge. I had nothing on but a night-gown and was very cold and I worked as hard as I could at an oar until we were picked up. There was nothing to eat or drink in our boat.'

She tried to sent a Marconigram from the Carpathia to her mother's address but it was not transmitted because of the operators' workload.

Long 13 Salthrop Road Bishopston Bristol
Safe uncert but uncertain Jack
Florrie

After spending a while with her brother-in-law she returned to England where her stepson Fred was still living. Fred later emigrated the following year, settling in Connecticut before his death in Florida in 1979.

Florence never remarried and later settled in Plymouth, Devon. She died there on 24 August 1973, just a few months shy of her 94th birthday.  She was cremated at Weston Mill cemetery and crematorium, Plymouth England on the 30th August 1973 her ashes were scattered in the garden of remembrance.