William Angle

Mr William Angle was born at 33 Penkhull Street, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England on 8 May 1881.

He was the son of George Angle (1847-1904), a potter and tile maker, and Ellen Fallows (1851-1929), Staffordshire natives who had married on 1 February 1874. William had four siblings: Mary Ann (b. 1874), Thomas (b. 1877), George (b. 1878) and Ellen (b. 1890).

In weeks prior to William's birth his family were recorded on the 1881 census living at 33 Penkhull Street in Newcastle-under-Lyme. William first appears on the 1891 census when the family were at the same address. They would later moved to Hanley, Staffordshire.

William would follow in his father's footsteps and work as a tile maker and fixer and he was listed as such when he appeared on the 1901 census living away from home as a lodger at 23 Tower Road, Aston, Birmingham. It was perhaps whilst living and working in the locale that he met his future wife, Florence Agnes Hughes (b. 1876), a nurse, and the pair were married in late 1906. Mr Angle and his wife emigrated only weeks later on 24 November 1906 aboard the Campania. 

William had previously spent time in the USA and on 16 November 1904 he had left British shores with several other men of his trade aboard the Baltic which was, at the time, commanded by none other than Captain Edward James Smith. He returned home to England, arriving a year to the day that he left, this time aboard the Cedric.

Immigration records describe Mr Angle as standing at 6' and with brown hair, blue eyes and a medium complexion; his destination address was 460 West 24th Street, New York City.

By 1912 Mr and Mrs Angle made their home at 339 West 19th Street, Manhattan but had no children. They returned to England in the latter half of 1911 to visit relatives, including his elderly mother who lived in Stoke.

William and Florence, for their return to New York, booked passage aboard the Titanic as second class passengers (ticket number 226875 which cost £26).

In a 1961 interview, Mrs Angle recounted that she had been asleep at the time of the collision; her husband wakened her, telling her that something had happened and to get dressed. He went up on deck to investigate but Florence nonchalantly fell back asleep. Only the commotion from outside her cabin stirred her again. The couple went to the upper decks together and she was later separated from him and put into a lifeboat. The last she saw of him was of him waving to her from the deck.

William Angle died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified. His wife Florence survived and later returned to England where she died in 1969.

THE TITANIC DISASTER--After the publication of our last issue Nurse Hughes, of Mill Street, received a cablegram stating that her sister, Mrs Angle, had been saved and her brother-in-law drowned. In our advertisement columns will be found a list of the donations to the Mayor's fund.  - Warwick and Warwickshire Advertiser, 27 April 1912