William Swan

Mr William Swan was born at Bridge Street in Ballymena, Co Antrim, Ireland in 1863.¹

He was the eldest son of William Swan (b. 1828) and Rose Anna Caldwell (b. 1838) who had married in 1859. His father was a publican and ran the White Swan public house on Ballymena's Bridge Street for many years. Although a respected member of the community, on at least one occasion Mr Swan was hauled before the authorities for selling alcohol on Sundays, which was then strictly prohibited. 

William’s known siblings were: Rose Ann (b. 13 March 1864), Agnes (b. 15 April 1865), John (b. 21 March 1866), Robert (b. 3 October 1867), Andrew (b. 3 January 1869), Elizabeth (b. 8 January 1871) and John (b. 16 November 1874). The elder of his two brothers named John died aged 8 in May 1874 after he sustained injuries during a playfight with his friend, a boy named John Higgins. 

As per family lore William and his brothers Robert, Andrew and John were staunch Irish Unionists and Orange Men but to which lodge they were attached is not certain. However, they all left Irish shores in the 1880s with William settling in Liverpool where it appears he may already have had extended family. His father died on 25 March 1889 and his mother later settled in Vancouver, British Columbia where she died on 18 February 1927.

William was married in St Mary’s Church, Liverpool on 30 July 1888 to Mary Elizabeth Caldwell (b. 18 November 1866), a native of Bevington, Lancashire and daughter of Robert Caldwell and the former Sarah Benson. 

William and Mary welcomed their only child William Douglas on 24 February 1890; the family appear on the 1891 census living at 20 Eton Street, Walton, Liverpool and William was described as a sea steward. Also living with them was his brother Andrew, a corn van driver.

Swan had been at sea since at least the mid-1880s and first appears on record in January 1886 when he was a waiter aboard the Servia. By July 1889 he was a waiter aboard the Pavonia before beginning a career of several years aboard the Lucania, his presence aboard that ship being recorded up until 1898 when his address was 76 Delaney Street, Liverpool. By 1903 and into the following year he was second cabin steward aboard the Lake Erie and his address was then 57 Seymour Street.

Whilst Swan was absent from the 1911 census, his wife Mary was recorded as living at 9 Riddick Road in Litherland, the home address of William’s younger brother John, a marine engineer, and his young family.

Swan initially signed-on to the Titanic in Belfast on 1 April 1912 for the delivery trip, and again on 4 April for the maiden voyage. He gave his local address as 174 Shirley Road, Southampton but his permanent address was 62 Hale Road, Walton, Liverpool (the home address of his mother-in-law Sarah Caldwell on the 1911 census). His previous ship had been the Olympic and as a first class steward he received monthly wages of £3, 15s. 

William Swan died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.

His widow Mary, son William and his mother were all looked after by the Titanic Relief Fund as Class B dependents.  

Widow Mary remarried in 1914, becoming Mrs John Beaumont. She remained in Liverpool where she died in 1947 aged 80. 

His son William, who had worked at sea as adolescent, served with both the Royal Navy and the RAF during WWI whilst in later life he worked as a radio engineer and taxi driver. He had married in 1911 to Lilian Berry, with whom he had four children: Edna Lilian (1912-1916), Wilfred James Douglas (1914-1915), Stanley Douglas (b. 1921) and Doris Lilian (b. 1922). He later began a relationship with waitress Catherine Gertrude Walsh (1897-1971), with whom he had three daughters and one son: Rosemary Gertrude Marjory (b. 1930), Hazel Joan Alma (b. 1935), Jeffrey Douglas (b. 1936) and Patricia (b. 1941). William Douglas Swan died in Wallasey, Cheshire in 1967.