Charlotte Caroline Collyer (October 1st, 1881 - November 28th, 1916) was a Second Class passenger of the Titanic. She survived the sinking.
Early Life[]
Charlotte, known as "Lottie", was born in Cobham, Surrey, England on 1 October 1881. She was the eldest daughter of Allen Tate, and Louisa Townsend. She had six known siblings: Louise Alice (b. 1883), Nellie (b. 1885), Lily Maud (b. 1886), Allen (b. 1888), Gladys Florence (b. 1891), and Eva Elsie (b. 1893).
By the time of 1901, Charlotte had left home and was working as a domestic cook for the Reverend Sydney Sedgwick, a Church of England clergyman who lived at Fanfield Hill, Leatherhead. It was perhaps through the church that Charlotte met her future husband, Harvey Collyer (b. 1880) who was the church sexton and verger.
Harvey and Charlotte were married in St Mary and St Nicholas' Church in Leatherhead on 5 May 1905. The couple had one child, a daughter, born in 1904 and whom they named Marjorie Lottie.
At which point they decided to buy a farm in the same valley as their friends in America. The next morning the Collyers went to Southampton, where Mr Collyer drew from the bank the family's life savings (including the money from the sale of their store in Bishopstoke). He took the money in banknotes instead of a draft, and put the money in the inside breast pocket of his coat.
On the Titanic[]
In the Titanic's hold were the few personal possessions that the family had kept after the sale of their home, which meant that everything the Collyers owned was on board the Titanic, which they boarded under joint ticket number 31921 which cost £26, 5s).
When the Titanic collided with the iceberg, Charlotte was in bed feeling nauseous due to her meals having been too rich that day. Her husband went out to investigate and reported back, saying: 'What do you think? We've struck an iceberg, a big one, but there's no danger. An officer told me so!' She just asked her husband if anybody seemed frightened, and when he said no, she lay back again in her bunk.
Charlotte and Marjorie were rescued in Lifeboat 14 but Harvey Collyer died in the sinking.
Following her arrival in New York, she later wrote to her mother:
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Brooklyn, New York Sun April 21st My dear Mother and all, I don't know how to write to you or what to say, I feel I shall go mad sometimes but dear as much as my heart aches it aches for you too for he is your son and the best that ever lived. I had not given up hope till today that he might be found but I'm told all boats are accounted for. Oh mother how can I live without him. I wish I'd gone with him if they had not wrenched Madge from me I should have stayed and gone with him. But they threw her into the boat and pulled me in too but he was so calm and I know he would rather I lived for her little sake otherwise she would have been an orphan. The agony of that night can never be told. Poor mite was frozen. I have been ill but have been taken care of by a rich New York doctor and feel better now. They are giving us every comfort and have collected quite a few pounds for us and loaded us with clothes and a gentleman on monday is taking us to the White Star office and also to another office to get us some money from the funds that is being raised here. Oh mother there are some good hearts in New York, some want me to go back to England but I can't, I could never at least not yet go over the ground where my all is sleeping. Sometimes I feel we lived too much for each other that is why I've lost him. But mother we shall meet him in heaven. When that band played 'Nearer My God to Thee' I know he thought of you and me for we both loved that hymn and I feel that if I go to Payette I'm doing what he would wish me to, so I hope to do this at the end of next week where I shall have friends and work and I will work for his darling as long as she needs me. Oh she is a comfort but she don't realise yet that her daddy is in heaven. There are some dear children here who have loaded her with lovely toys but it's when I'm alone with her she will miss him. Oh mother I haven't a thing in the world that was his only his rings. Everything we had went down. Will you, dear mother, send me on a last photo of us, get it copied I will pay you later on. Mrs Hallets brother from Chicago is doing al he can for us in fact the night we landed in New York (in our nightgowns) he had engaged a room at a big hotel with food and every comfort waiting for us. He has been a father to us. I will send his address on a card (My Horder) perhaps you might like to write to him some time. God Bless you dear mother and help and comfort you in this awful sorrow. Your loving child Lot. -Charlotte Collyer |
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Later life[]
Charlotte needed money desperately shortly after the disaster. America was a strange place for and it wasn't easy for her to find income without her lost husband. The 300 dollars that Semi-Monthly Magazine offered her in May 1912, to give her story about the tragedy were more than welcome.
Charlotte and Marjorie did not settle in the USA as planned and returned to England where, towards the end of 1914, she was remarried, much to the chagrin of her deceased husband's family.
Her new husband was a Liverpool-native named James Ashbrook Holme, the couple lived at The Fox and Pelican in Greyshott, Haslemere, Surrey.
Charlotte succumbed to tuberculosis which had plagued her on 28 November 1916 aged 35, she was buried in St Mary's churchyard, Eastleigh, Bishopstoke, Southampton.
Her second husband James Holme died less than three years later on 22 March 1919, leaving little Marjorie to be raised by her uncle, Walter Collyer.
Portrayals[]
A Night to Remember (1958)[]
Maureen O'Reilly as Charlotte Collyer in A Night to Remember (1958)
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Please, Lottie, for God's sake, be brave and go! I'll get a place in another boat! Lottie, please! |
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—Harvey Collyer to Charlotte Collyer | ||
Charlotte was portrayed by actress Maureen O'Reilly in A Night to Remember.
She appeared during the loading of Lifeboat 4, wherein Mrs. Liz Lucas watches Charlotte cry because she doesn't want to leave her husband. Charlotte's husband tells her to be brave and go, saying that he will get a place in another boat.
Sources[]
'De Titanic, de ware verhalen' ©2012 Edward P. De Groot