Walter William Binstead

Walter William Binstead was born in Southampton, Hampshire, England on 9 November 1891 ¹. He was the son of Charles Binstead (1849-1914) and Caroline Jane Silvester (1853-1917). His father was from Bitterne, Southampton and his mother from the Isle of Wight and they had married in Southampton in 1872.

Walter was one of seventeen children born to his parents, eight of whom survived infancy. His known siblings were: Eliza Letitia Jane (b. 1873), Caroline Charlotte (b. 1875), Laura (b. 1880), Matilda Florence (b. 1883), Charles Thomas (b. 1886), Alice Mary (b. 1888) and James Peter (b. 1890).

On the 1891 census, several months before Walter birth, his parents and siblings were living at 1 Wharf Street, Southampton and his father was described as a ship's blacksmith. The family are still at this address when Walter first appears, on the 1901 census.

On the 1911 census Walter is listed as living at 49 Endle Street, Southampton. His father is absent, perhaps at sea, and his mother is described as a midwife. Walter is described as unmarried as a boiler scaler.

When Walter signed-on to the Titanic, on 6 April 1912, he gave his address as 49 Endle Street, Southampton. Before joining the Titanic he had served on the New York, the vessel with which Titanic was almost in collision when leaving Southampton on 10 April 1912. Binstead had previously worked as a Fireman but on the Titanic he was employed as a Trimmer. As such he received £5 10s per month. He came aboard at 6 a.m. on 10 April.

Mr Binstead was rescued (possibly in lifeboat 3).

Walter continued to work at sea into the 1920s. He remained a bachelor for much of his life before he was married in Southampton in 1941 to Cecilia Frances Lahey, née Whitcombe (b. 21 September 1904), a widow originally from Southampton who was first married to John Lahey in 1926 and was widowed in 1940.

Walter and Cecilia had two children: Michael Walter (b. 1941) and Kenneth Charles (1943-2000). The couple continued to live in Southampton and Walter died there in 1959.  He was cremated at South Stoneham crematorium, Southampton and his ashes were scattered in the garden of rest at South Stoneham cemetery (section 6). His widow died in 1981.