Athol Frederick Broome

Mr Athol Frederick Broome was born in Wood Green, Haringey, Middlesex, England in the summer of 1881 and he was baptised on 14 August that same year in St Michael’s Church in Wood Green. 

He was the son of Harry Broome (1854-1896), a commercial traveller, and Rosa Ellen Harris (1856-1925) who had married in 1880. Both his parents hailed from Hampshire, his father from Portsmouth and his mother from Hartley Witney. He had two younger siblings, Madge Lilian (1883-1967, later Mrs Hugh Roskilly) and an unnamed stillborn brother who arrived in the summer of 1890. 

On the 1881 census, taken only months before Athol's birth, his parents were living at 4 Lansdowne Terrace, Winkfield Road in Tottenham, Middlesex. Athol first appears on the 1891 census and at the time he and his sister Madge were boarding pupils at Glen Bessie Street School, Church Lane, Edgware, Middlesex whilst his mother was listed elsewhere at 219 Oxford Street, St James, Westminster and was working as a dressmaker. 

Athol’s father died in 1896 aged 42 and by the time of the 1901 census Athol and his mother were living at 60 Charlotte Street, Marylebone. His mother was working as a costumes salesperson and Athol was already working at sea, described as a steward in the mercantile marine. 

In October 1903 Athol and his sister Madge, whose address was stated as Ditton Cottage in Sandhurst, Kent, were hauled before the courts for, of all things, riding their bicycles on the footpaths in Crowthorne, Berkshire in September that year. Athol pleaded guilty to his charges and he and his sister were fined 10s each.

Broome was married in Southampton in the latter half of 1910 to Alice Schipper (b. 22 February 1888); Miss Schipper was born in St John's Wood, Middlesex to a German-born father, Frederick Schipper, and a Yorkshire-born mother, Alice Ouston of Hull. 
Athol and Alice had no children together; Alice appears on the 1911 census residing at White Lodge, Castle Road, Bitterne Park, Southampton, the home address of her mother Alice Schipper, whilst Athol was not listed and was presumably at sea. 

When he signed-on to the Titanic, on 4 April 1912, he gave his address as 1 White Lodge (Bitterne Park, Southampton). His last ship had been the Oceanic. As one of two Verandah and Palm Court stewards in first-class he received monthly wages of £3, 15s.

Athol Frederick Broome died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.

Athol's widow Alice was remarried in 1914 to Sydney Eustace Hill (1876-1948), a furniture manufacturer, and they had three children, later moving to Birmingham. Alice died in Kidderminster, Worcestershire in 1974.

A steward's jacket with the name 'Broome' sewn into it was recovered from the wreck during the salvage operations in the late 1980s and early 1990s.