Albert Edward James Horswell was an Able Seaman of the Titanic. He survived the sinking.
He was the son of Roger Horswill (Police Constable) and Mary Jane Rouse. Roger and Mary were natives of Devon and it was there that their first two children were born. Around 1871 they moved to Essex. In 1881 Albert, aged two, was living at 328 Romford Road, West Ham, Essex together with his parents and elder siblings: Henry (20), Fanny (15), Clara (13), Susan (10), William (8), Mary (6), Alfred (4) and younger sister Alice (1 m). Albert later spoke of living in Edinburgh, Scotland so it is possible that the family moved yet again.
In a 1934 radio broadcast Albert told how, at age 11, he had run away from home to sail on a windjammer out of Liverpool. In 1896 he joined the Royal Navy and was aboard the Royal Sovereign when it blew up off Malta killing 24 men. He then worked aboard the Cornwall but was finally invalided out of the Navy in 1902 when his work with heavy guns damaged his hearing. That year he joined the White Star line.
Between 1904 and 1912 he worked on the Oceanic variously employed as an able seaman, quartermaster and lookout. It was from this ship that he transferred to the Titanic. When he signed onto the Titanic on 6 April 1912, he gave his address as 44 Derby Rd, (Southampton). As an able bodied seaman he received monthly wages of £5.
Horswell told how he had been in his bunk when the Titanic struck the iceberg. After rounding up passengers to fill the boats he was finally rescued in Emergency Lifeboat 1. He subsequently testified at the British Inquiry into the disaster.
He continued with the White Star Line until 1913 and moved to Gary, Indiana where he worked in a powder factory, later as a painter and finally as a carpenter. He retired in 1946. It was only in October 1940 that he applied for naturalized status in the United States.
Albert Horswill was married to Augusta (born July 29th, 1892) and they had four children Agnes, Walter, Albert, Jr., and LeRoy.
In later years the family moved to Humble, Texas where Albert died on April 7th, 1962 at the Keightley Nursing Home, Harris County, aged 83. He was buried at Rosewood Memorial Park on April 10th, 1962, the 50th anniversary of Titanic's departure. His wife died on February 18th, 1967. He has children currently living in Nashville, Tennessee and in Louisiana. Grandchildren still live in the Houston, Texas area.
