Mr Alfred Ernest Moore was born in Wootton, Isle of Wight, Hampshire, England in the closing months of 1873.
He was the son of James William Moore (b. 1836), a railway labourer, and Ann Pittis (b. 1836), both Hampshire-natives who had married in 1857, and he had eight known siblings: John George (b. 1859), William James (b. 1862), Emily Ann (b. 1864), Louisa (b. 1867), Albert Edward (b. 1869), Ada Kate (b. 1870), Harry (b. 1874) and Gertrude Victoria (b. 1878).
Alfred first appears on the 1881 census living at Wootton Packsfield in Arreton, Hampshire with his family who would still be at this address on the 1891 census. Alfred and his brother Harry were listed elsewhere at the time at 88 Monkton Street, Ryde Isle of Wight, the home of his widowed sister Emily Willcocks. His profession then was listed as that of a groom.
Alfred was married in All Saints Church in Ryde on 25 August 1897 to Charlotte Ellen Bartlett (b. 16 September 1874 in St Helens, Isle of Wight, daughter of Charles and Charlotte). The couple would have three children: Charles Alfred Leonard (b. 12 February 1898), Clarence Ralph Archibald (b. 16 October 1899) and Queenie Violet Grace (b. 2 November 1905).
The family appear on the 1901 census living at 3 Bellevue Terrace, St Mary, Southampton, having only recently moved there from Ryde, and Alfred was described as a livery coachman. Living at 135 Clifford Street, St Mary, Southampton by the time of the 1911 census, Alfred was by then described as a House Life Assurance Agent. When he went to sea is not known.
When he signed-on to the Titanic on 4 April 1912 Moore gave his address as 142 St. Mary's Road, Southampton. His previous ship had been the Olympic and as a second class steward he received monthly wages of £3, 15s.
Alfred Moore died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified. The following death notice appeared in The Southern Daily Echo (30 April 1912):
MOORE--On the 15th of April, on s.s. Titanic, Alfred Ernest Moore, of 142 St Mary's Road, Southampton, dearly loved husband of Ellen Moore, youngest daughter of Mr Charles Bartlett, of St Helens, I.O.W., aged 39. Till the Roll is called up yonder, I will be there.
His son Charles, following in his father's footsteps, later went to sea, serving as a steward. He was later married to Hilda May Orman (b. 1899) and raised a large family. He died in Derby in 1943.
His son Clarence later served in the Merchant Navy as a steward; he settled in the USA and worked as an air steward and was aboard Eastern Air Lines flight 21 when the plane crashed near Atlanta, Georgia on 26 February 1941.
His daughter Queenie, later Mrs James Chambers, raised a family and died in Dorset on 24 August 1988.
His widow Charlotte Ellen never remarried and on most anniversaries of the loss of her husband she placed a memorial to him in local papers. She died in Southampton in 1951.
Comment and discuss
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His son Clarence served in the Merchant Navy as a steward, and later died in an air crash in Georgia, U.S.A. on 26 Feb 1941. He was the steward on board an Eastern Airlines DST aircraft.
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Alfred was christened 6th March1879 at Littletown Chapel, Wootton Common, Isle of Wight. To be pedantic, references in the biography to the Isle of Wight and Isle of Wight places being in Hampshire are incorrect. The Isle of Wight was never in Hampshire. Until 1891 the Isle of Wight was in the County of Southampton. From 1891 the Isle of Wight was a County in its own right. It is incorrect to say that Alfred's parents James William Moore and Ann Sophia Pittis were Hampshire-natives.
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The list of siblings is incomplete and slightly inaccurate. Louisa was actually Maria Louisa. Rosa Ellen (b. 1872) is missing. Harry (b. 1874) was actually Frederick Harry.
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His elder sister, Ada Kate (Guttridge), had emigrated to New York together with her two young daughters, aboard the Olympic a week or so before Alfred departed on the Titanic. She arrived in new York on the day that Alfred set sail from Southampton. Her husband William henry had preceded her to New York in September 1911. Ada was widowed soon after and remained in the USA for the rest of her life.
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