Edward was one of Henry Castleman’s ten children, born in 1874 in Littleton, Hampshire. Seven of the children were from his father's previous marriage to Charlotte Rose, who sadly passed away early. Edward was conceived from Henry's new wife, Elizabeth Lock, who he remarried to in 1874, along with two other children, a brother named Fred, and a sister called Martha, who came after Edward.
His early life was spent living at Harestock Farm, where his father was an agricultural labourer and his mother a dairywoman. When Edward left school he became a farm servant but, after his father’s death, his mother moved to Shirley Southampton to live with her married daughter, Martha Dabell. It’s probable that Edward joined her when she moved but he is not listed on the 1901 census and was most likely already working at sea.
In 1905 Edward married Kate Amy Marchant in South Stoneham. When he joined Titanic, the couple were living at 37 North Road and had no children. He signed on as a Greaser, earning £6 10s a month. His brother-in-law, Martha’s second husband Walter Alexander Bishop, was also working aboard as a Bedroom Steward.
Tragedy struck when the ship made conctact with an iceberg on the late night of April 14, which caused such a damage that she sank on April 15, less than 3 hours after impact.
Both Edward and Walter were lost in the sinking and their bodies were never identified.
A death notice was posted in The Echo on 30 April 1912.
Two years later Kate married Frederick Stevens. She remained in Southampton and died in 1948.
Sources[]
Special thanks and credits to Marie Keates for allowing me to use a large part of this information of her blog:
https://iwalkalone.co.uk/titanic-tales-from-st-denys : Titanic tales from St Denys – I Walk Alone