Bertram James Gosling was born in Southampton, Hampshire, England in the early months of 1890.

He was the son of William Edward George Gosling (b. 1856), a boilermaker, and Emma Sophia Skinner (b. 1857), both Southampton-natives who had married in 1877 and who went on to produce ten children (three of whom died in infancy). Their surviving children, besides Bertram, were: Emma Louise (b. 1877), Florence Mary (b. 1883), Alice Maud (b. 1888), Edith Gertrude (b. 1894), Ernest Richard (b. 1896) and Archibald Ferguson (b. 1900).

Bertram first appears on the 1891 census when he and his family were living at 104 Millbrook Street, St Mary, Southampton. They later moved to 11 Lower York Street, Southampton and Bertram would live here for the rest of his life. He was absent from the 1911 census and presumably at sea.

When he signed on to the Titanic, on 6 April 1912, Bertram gave his address as 11 Lower York Street, Southampton and his previous ship as the Olympic. As a trimmer, he could expect to earn monthly wages of £5, 10s.

Bertram Gosling died in the sinking. His body, if recovered, was never identified. The following death notice appeared in the Southern Daily Echo (28 April 1912):

GOSLING--April 15th, at sea, on S.S. Titanic, Bertram James, the eldest son of William and Emma Gosling, of 11, Lower York-street, Northam, Southampton. May his dear soul rest in peace.

Both his parents continued to reside in Southampton. His mother passed away in 1925 and his father in 1935.

Bertram is remembered on the Titanic memorial boards formerly at St. Augustine's Church, Southampton; now in the safekeeping of the Southampton Maritime Museum.