Thornton Davidson

Mr Thornton Davidson was born 17 May 1880 the son of Sir Charles Peers Davidson, Chief Justice of the Quebec Supreme Court. The Davidson's were an indomitable Protestant family of United Empire Loyalists. His older brother Shirley and his fiancée, Eileen Hingston, died in a suicide pact by drowning in 1907 after Judge Davidson refused to allow Shirley to marry Eileen because she was a Roman Catholic.

Thornton Davidson was an accomplished yachtsman, " a sailor of intrepid daring and remarkable skill." He played hockey with the Montreal Victorias, played tennis and was a good horseman. He started as a teller at the Bank of Montreal, represented the Wall Street firm of Charles Head and Son in Montreal, then opened a brokerage house of his own with his partner, Robert Hickson.

He married Orian Hays, the second daughter of the president of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in Montreal on 3 November 1906.

Since neither of them had been abroad Charles Hays invited them to join him on a business trip to England. They boarded the Titanic at Southampton and occupied Cabin B-71 (Ticket No. F.C. 12750, £52).

Thornton Davidson died in the sinking, his body was never recovered but he has a memorial stone at Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal, Canada.