George William Mackie

George William Mackie was born in Lambeth, London, England on 3 December 1877; his birth was registered in the first quarter of that year and he was baptised on 27 March 1881 in St John the Evangelist Church, Lambeth. 

He was the son of William Mackie (1847-1911), a coach painter, and Mary Pocock (1844-1903). His father hailed from Worcestershire and his mother from Lymington, Hampshire, the couple marrying in the latter on 25 May 1870.

One of eight children (as per the 1911 census), George had six identifiable siblings: Ida Mary (b. 1871), William Arthur (b. 1872), Grace Eleanor (b. 1875), Lydia Jane (b. 1879), Jessie Augusta (b. 1883) and Charles Herbert (b. 1886).

On the 1881 census George, his parents and siblings were listed at 11 Lower Ann Street in Lambeth. The family moved to his mother's birthplace of Lymington around 1882 and show up on the 1891 census living at 1 Rosetta Place.

George was married around 1900 to Mary Broomfield (b. 6 March 1876) a native of in Uffculme, Devon and daughter of James Broomfield, a dairyman and his wife, the former Martha Gollop.

George and Mary went on to have three children: Elsie Mary (b. 1 March 1901), Jessie Martha (b. 1903) and George William (b. 29 December 1908).
Mackie was absent from the 1901 census but his wife and first child were listed as living with his parents at Queens Road, Lyndhurst. On the 1911 census the family were still at the same Queens Road address but George was again absent. His father was by then a widower, George's mother having passed away in 1903. His father would pass away in the latter-half of 1911.

When he signed-on to the Titanic on 4 April 1912 Mackie gave his address as 31 Winchester Road, Southampton. His previous ship had been the Olympic and as a bedroom steward he received monthly wages of £3, 15s.

George Mackie died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.

George's widow and children later benefitted from the Titanic Relief Fund. 

His widow Mary never remarried; in later years she moved with her son to Wembley in London before returning to Hampshire where she spent her final days living at Bloomsbury House on Bloomsbury Walk in Southampton. Mary died on 30 October 1956.

His son George later worked as a telephone engineer and was married in 1934 to Vera Edith Prowles (1906-2002), with whom he had two daughters. He died in Chichester, Sussex in 1991. 

His daughter Elsie was married in 1927 to mariner Horatio Harold Willis (1898-1973) and they had three children. She worked as a club stewardess and lived all her life in Hampshire. Elsie died in Hedge End, Southampton on 7 June 1991.

His daughter Jessie was married in 1926 to Eugene Wilfred Neall (1900-1964), a telephone inspector; they had one daughter Patricia, born in 1930. Jessie died in Southampton in 1939.

In April 2012 George's granddaughter Patricia Neall Watt (daughter of Jessie) was on board the MS Balmoral for the Titanic Memorial Cruise, one of around 50 descendants of Titanic passengers and crew present for the voyage.