Francesco Celotti
Francesco Celotti was a sailor from Cape Town.
He was a 3rd Class passenger and did not survive. He applied for a passport at the Cape and was granted one on the 16th February 1911.
He was originally from Italy and was age 24 when he boarded the Titanic at Southampton.
Robert Hichens
Robert Hichens (possibly also spelt as Hitchens) was born in Newlyn, Cownwall, on the 16th September 1882, son of Philip Hichens and Rebecca Wood. On the 23rd October 1906, he married Florence Mortimore in Manaton, Devon. He worked aboard mail boats and liners of the Union Castle line. Prior to sailing on the Titanic, he was living in Southampton with his wife and two children.
He was one of six Quartermasters on the ship. Robert was at the wheel when the warning came from the lookout that an iceberg had been spotted ahead. He swung the wheel as far as possible.
Later that night he was relieved by another Quartermaster and he was put in charge of Lifeboat 6. He testified at the US inquiry into the accident. Afterwards, he returned to England and testified in the English inquiry.
It is claimed that he became a harbour master in Cape Town, according to one Henry Blum in a letter to a Thomas Garvey. Henry was an acquaintance of Robert, and was a Quartermaster on a British ship that docked in Cape Town in 1914.
According to him, the harbour master who met the ship was Robert Hichens. Henry claimed that he and Robert had a talk in which he was told that Robert had been set up in South Africa in return for his secrecy regarding the Titanic. So far, no research has found this part of the story to be true.
His family members stated that he did spend some time in Durban and Johannesburg.
Robert’s brother, William, lived in Johannesburg in 1915.
William returned to England in 1918 and married Penelope Rouffignac Cotton in Newlyn. They had 2 children, Penelope and William, in South Africa. Penelope died in Johannesburg in 1959.
Robert served in the Royal Naval Reserve in the First World War In 1919 he was working as a Third Officer on a small vessel out of Hull. In the late 1920s, he was living in Torquay, Devon, where he did boat chartering.
In 1931, the family moved to Southampton.
Robert had a run-in with the law and was released from prison in 1937.
He died on the 23rd September 1940 aboard a cargo ship.
His wife lived in Southampton until her death in the early 1960s. The couple had six children – Edna Florence, Frances, Phyllis May, Robert, Ivy Doreen and Fred.
Samuel Emest Hemming
Lamp trimmer Samuel Ernest Hemming lived in Southampton.
He was married to Elizabeth Emily Browning on the 4th June 1903, and they had several children.
He was picked up by Lifeboat 4.
He died in Southampton on 12 April 1928, age 59, at the Blighmont Nursing Home, of cancer. Two or three of Samuel’s brothers had immigrated to South Africa, where they started a law firm.
Mary Griffin
Mary Griffen (née Webber) is buried at Braamfontein Cemetery in Johannesburg.
She was from Kea, Cornwall. Mary was 33 years old when she married the widower, James Griffin on the 5th November 1863.
They moved to South Africa. Mary died on the 17th June 1897 in Johannesburg.
Her brother, James was on the Titanic on his way back to his home in San Francisco, to the USA.
He was 62 years old and did not survive.
In 1914 a Mr J Griffin of Kynevin Cottage in Port Elizabeth purchased the private rights to Mary’s grave and a stone was erected commemorating Mary and James. James’ estate was left to Harriet Julian, wife of Edmund Julian.
William Bull
Margaret Charlesworth of Lyndhurst, Johannesburg, found that her grandfather, William Bull (37), worked in the Titanic’s kitchens.
He did not survive.
William was born in Hampshire.
He married Margaret’s grandmother, Edith, and is commemorated on her grave stone.
Edith later married a Mr Skeats. She died in 1937. In 1912, William was living in Southampton.
Source: 2007-04-17 12:27 as published by Anne Lehmkuhl, News24 User
