Mr William John Mellors 1 was born on 14 January 1893 in Wandsworth, London, England.
His parents were unmarried at the time of his birth.2 His father William John Mellors (b. 1871) hailed from Nottingham and worked in London as a porter at His Majesty's Stationery Office. He was married to Harriet Stacey (b. 1871), a native of Shaftesbury, Dorset on 20 February 1893 in London. The couple went on to have a further two children, Samuel Henry (b. 1898) and Violet Adelaide (b. 1903).
William and his family appear on the 1901 census living as boarders at Enmore Green, Dorset. His father was absent and at the time was in Africa serving in the Boer War. The family later appeared on the 1911 census living at 8 Christ Church Terrace, Chelsea, London and William was described as a shop assistant in a trunk store.
He boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a second class passenger (ticket number SW/PP 751 which cost £10, 10s). He was destined for New York where he had secured a job in Staten Island. During the voyage he appears to have spent time with Mrs Bessie Watt and her daughter Bertha.
Mr Mellors survived the sinking in waterlogged collapsible A and suffered from frost-bitten feet.
After arriving in New York, he went to his cousin, Mr Hale, at Richmond Country Club, Donganhills, Staten Island (400 West 57th Street, New York) where he would later work.
He was married in 1920 to Juanita Veronica Sarber (b. 8 October 1894), a native of West Virginia and they had a daughter Virginia (later Mrs Charles Bell) the following year. They lived in Manhattan before moving to Detroit, Michigan in the 1930s where William worked as an editor for a magazine, The National Republic.
William died in Detroit on 23 July 1948 aged 55.Mellors His wife passed away in 1954. He is buried at Evergreen Cemetery, Detroit
Comment and discuss
-
I sat down to read Bob Bracken's article on 2nd class passenger William J. Mellors and was most impressed. Not much was known about his life, and not only does this article tell his full actions aboard Titanic, (which includes letters he wrote home on Titanic stationary), it gives a full view of his political adventures afterwards. He truly was one of the more interesting individuals aboard and I hope others enjoy his story when they have a chance to read it. Especially those interested in Titanic memorabilia. There are pictures of the stationary and the postcard he sent home.
-
I just realized that Second Class passenger William Mellors could be an exception to that situation. I found a couple of statements in the book On A Sea of Glass that suggest that he was already well forward on the boat deck in the vicinity of Collapsible A before the wave hit. On p229 of the book there is information based on a letter written by survivor Eugene Daly to his sister Maggie in Ireland less than a week after the disaster. Although eventually rescued on Collapsible B, Daly's description of his activities while helping to fee a collapsible lifeboat in those last frantic minutes has made the authors deduce that he was referring to Collapsible A at the time and not the lifeboat that he was actually saved on. Among the people who were with Daly at the time was William Mellors; even though Mellors was a Second Class...
-
I just realized that Second Class passenger William Mellors could be an exception to that situation. I found a couple of statements in the book On A Sea of Glass that suggest that he was already well forward on the boat deck in the vicinity of Collapsible A before the wave hit. On p229 of the book there is information based on a letter written by survivor Eugene Daly to his sister Maggie in Ireland less than a week after the disaster. Although eventually rescued on Collapsible B, Daly's description of his activities while helping to fee a collapsible lifeboat in those last frantic minutes has made the authors deduce that he was referring to Collapsible A at the time and not the lifeboat that he was actually saved on. Among the people who were with Daly at the time was William Mellors; even though Mellors was a Second Class passenger and Daly Third, they both survived and had 3 days on board the Carpathia to introduce themselves to...
-
The references that I have quoted are in the book On A Sea of Glass, that is very well researched and has relevant appendix and endnotes to indicate the sources of information wherever possible. The part about Eugene Daly and William Mellors helping to free Collapsible A along with Murdoch, Moody, Edward Brown, Thomas Whiteley and Cecil Fitzpatrick is on p229. The source is Endnote #460 on p418 which mentions a letter that Daly wrote to his sister Maggie a few days after reaching New York. More convincing is the entry that William Mellors was near Collapsible A when he was knocked on to a stanchion by the "wave" and injured his ankle (p231). The source for this is Endnote #481, also quoted on p418, and is about a private letter that Mellors himself wrote to someone called Dorothy Ockenden on 9th May 1912. That would be first hand information.
-
The quote in On A Sea of Glass reads: "Near Collapsible A, William Mellors was knocked into a stanchion by the wave, seriously injuring his ankle, and he found himself 'whizzing through the air at an awful pace." The reference in Mellors' letter to Dorothy Ockenden reads: "At this time it was almost impossible to walk on the deck without you caught hold of something owing to the ship heeling right over.We were trying to fix up a collapsible boat when she gave the first signs of going under. "There seemed to be a tremble run through the whole of the ship and the next thing we heard were loud reports inside which I think were the water-tight doors giving way and before you could say Jack Robinson there seemed to be mountains of water rushing through the doors, and I was swept away from where I was right against the collapsible boat, and I simply clung on for all I was worth, whilst all this was going on she was going under water and it seemed as if thousands of...
-
I think that statement is significant. All Collapsible boats were in the bow section and the only two that needed fixing were #A and #B. Since it is now accepted that Mellors was rescued on Collapsible A and that lifeboat needed considerable manpower to drag uphill etc, it seems evident that Mellors was referring to #A. His statement also tallies with Eugene Daly's letter to his sister. The letter was written on 9th of May 1912, by which time his injured ankle had probably healed. Considering that there were so many other injuries including some degree of frostbite to almost everyone on board Collapsible A, perhaps Mellors thought that his ankle sprain was not that significant to specifically mention.
-
Just for the record, the information about Mellor's injury came from Algernon Barkworth in a newspaper story in the Evening Banner, Bennington, (Vermont), April 26, 1912. ''Mr. Barkworth explained that Mellor had been a second cabin passenger, whom he had taken into his stateroom on the Carpathia. Mellor had a terrible experience while the ship was sinking in being hit by a wave that rushed over the forward deck and swept him against a stanchion. He had a foot frozen and his other ankle was seriously injured. He used to be a valet for Sir Frederick Schuster and was coming over here to better himself..."
Open Thread Leave a Reply