Master Walter John van Billiard was born in France, on 28 February 1903, the younger son of Austin Blyer van Billiard and Maude Murray.
Walter boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger , together with his father and brother James
Walter lost his life in the sinking. His body, was identified by the Red Cross as the very first to be recovered by the MacKay Bennett1.
NO. 1. - MALE. - ESTIMATED AGE. - 10-12. - HAIR. LIGHT.
CLOTHING - Overcoat, grey; one grey coat; one blue coat; grey woolen jersey; white shirt; grey knickers; black stockings; black boots
EFFECTS - Purse containing few Danish coins and ring; two handkerchiefs Marked "A".
PROBABLY THIRD CLASS
The body was returned to Halifax and, following communication on 2 May, were forwarded two days later to North Wales, Pennsylvania. Walter van Billiard at his father were buried at Union Cemetery, Zion Lutheran Church, Flourtown, Pennsylvania.
Comment and discuss
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I was doing some research and thought that Body 1 might actually be Filip Oscar Asplund. The physical description matches more than it does for van Billiard, who seems to be dark-haired in the one photo there is of him (he also seems a little young for someone identified as 10-12 years old, but I digress). Also, the A on the handkerchiefs would make sense, because his last name is Asplund. Finally, he was Swedish, which has an alphabet that is almost identical to Danish, and I doubt the boat who picked him up had anybody who could tell the difference. The fact that it is a Danish coin is unexplainable, but it's possible it was actually Swedish and was just mistaken for Danish. It's also fairly plausible that a Swedish immigrant would have Danish coins anyway, since the two countries are fairly close. Also, I don't know if this strengthens the argument, but the boy's father was found nearby, and I've noticed that clumps of family members seemed to be found together, likely because they...
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