Mr Harry Robert Stubbings was born in Hordle, a village near Lymington, Hampshire, England in early 1881, later being baptised on 3 April that same year in Hordle Church.

He was the son of John Stubbings (b. 1833), a gardener, and Martha Brown (b. 1849), both natives of Rockbourne, Hampshire who had married in 1872. His father had previously been married in early 1868 to Sarah Roberts (b. 1834) but the marriage lasted only months when Sarah died during childbirth with their daughter Mabel Mary (b. 1868) in the summer of that year.

Harry had four direct siblings: Rosa Mary (b. 1873), Laura Emma (b. 1875), Florence Katharine (b. 1877) and Alfred John (b. 1878).

Harry first appears on the 1881 census living with his family in a private house in Hordle, living at Arnewood Towers Road in Hordle by the time of the 1891 census. The family were living in North Cottage in Lymington by the time of the 1901 census but Harry was not listed there and was recorded elsewhere, working as a domestic groom and lodging at 17 St Mary's Road, Southampton. He was shown on the 1911 census, then described as a seaman, and lodging at 5 Gordon Avenue, Portswood, Southampton, the home of Titanic larder cook William Slight and his family.

Stubbings was on board the Titanic for her delivery trip from Belfast to Southampton. When he signed-on again, in Southampton, on 4 April 1912, he gave his address as 144 Onslow Road, (Southampton). His last ship had been the Olympic and second class cook he received monthly wages of £7, 10s.

Stubbings, who was unmarried, died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.

His father received financial aid of 3s 6d from the Titanic relief fund and soon became a widower when Harry's mother Martha died only two months after the loss of her son (on 31 June 1912). His father later died on 29 January 1916.

Harry is remembered on his parents' headstone in Lymington Cemetery, New Forest, Hampshire, England.