Laurence Gavey

Mr Lawrence William Gavey was born in Vale, Guernsey in the Channel Islands on 9 April 1886.

He was the son of Job Gavey (b. 1852) and Alice Duquemin (b. 1861), both natives of Guernsey who had married around 1880. One of nine children born to his parents, he was one of six surviving children, the others being: Francis (b. 1883), Chryssa (b. 1887), Thomas (b. 1890), Ernold (b. 1893) and Daphne (b. 1899).

The family appear on the 1891 census living at The Banks in St Sampson, Guernsey and his father is described as a gardener. Later, and by the time of the 1901 census, they are at the same address and his father is now working as a fruit grower with Lawrence having already left school and apprenticed as a plumber's fitter.

Lawrence had emigrated to the USA around 1907, settling in Elizabeth, New Jersey where he worked as a travelling oil rig fitter for the company of Rockefeller and Hawkins and where he was also a keen amateur footballer. A trip back home to his native Guernsey took place, perhaps in late 1911. The 1911 census shows Lawrence absent from the home but his by now widowed mother and two sisters, Daphne and Chryssa, are by now living at Bas Courtils in St Sampsons, Guernsey and his mother was still working as a fruit grower.

For his return voyage to America Lawrence boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a second class passenger (ticket number CA 31028 which cost £10, 10s). He may have been travelling with his second cousin Clifford Parker (they shared a common great grandfather) and Albert Denbuoy and the Jefferys party.

Lawrence Gavey died in the sinking. His body, if recovered, was never identified.