Harold Reynolds was a Third Class passenger on the Titanic.
Background[]
The wife of George Reynolds, Rachel Liddle carried Harold until their son revealed himself in 1891, in Lewisham, Kent, England. Kent was the place that both parents had grown up themselves before they pledged their vows to eachother in the Saint Mary’s Chruch in Lewisham on the 24th of September, 1877.
Harold was their 7th child. Before him, 6 others arrived, starting with Walter Sale in 1878 before Rachel bore Phoebe Maud in 1880. In 1881, Burgess came into the light, then it was George’s turn to show up in 1884. The ever growing family expanded further with Rachel Roslyn in 1886 and John in 1889. Harold would have two younger siblings in 1893 and 1896 respectively: Henry Arthur and Stanley Geoffrey.
Within two months since the birth of Harold, the Reynolds’ had moved away from Lewisham to Blackheath, London. In 1901, they were back in Lewisham but in a different street. In the 1900s, Harold was active as a dougher’s helper. He did not have an official partner throughout these years.
Since May 21, 1908, he was with the British Troops, his rank being a hireling and also a chauffeur. He would therefore no longer be part of the household of his parents in Lewisham, He did field work since March 1909, while being stationed in Alton, Hampshire, not long after he had made himself unpopular with his commanders and his behaviour was corrected with some sort of disciplinary action. By 1911, he still had the same status.
His bosses were more unhappy with him when he sneaked out of his regiment and travelled to Southampton, from where he wished to travel overseas . He had been longing to see one of his two sisters in Wyoming, Ontario in Canada. He also had a falling-out with a headman before he turned his back on his army. On the 9th of April, he had paid his dear mother a visit in Lewisham, to move on further, to Southampton.
Titanic[]
On April 10, he saw his opportunity and landed a Third Class ticket for the sailing of Titanic. It would be her first time to get out in the open ocean. Reynolds hadn’t forgotten about his previous occupation.His aim would be to get to Toronto, Canada in order to work with a fellow baker who had previously migrated to this city. Titanic, via, France and Itally, would leave from England to ultimately get to New York. From there on, Harold could fulfill his two goals, meeting up with his sister and getting a great job.
Fated to be involved in a large disaster, Titanic never got to America. As she had done a couple thousand miles on the 14th of April, everything seemed peachy for Titanic, which proved to be a sound and solid ship, very comfortable and steady. Her easy crossing came to an end when an iceberg had been floating into her path, even though her captain had tried to rather avoid ice with a slightly adjusted route. This wasn’t enough. With a formidable 22,5 knots, she crossed an icefield and the lookouts had suddenly vision of a large iceberg in front of them, which had escaped their attention somehow until it was too late to get safely past. The weather had someone thrown a spanner as it was too clear and too calm to spot any of these icebergs at larger distance.
Titanic coursed straight for it until the bridge intervened when the lookouts had informed an Officer. The First Officer had to signal the Engine Room that all steam had to be ceased while the rudder was thrown to hard-a-starboard. With too short a distance to make the ship get out of her colllision course, they only missed the iceberg with her front, but the starboard side of her bow made contact over a great length, which punctured some shallow holes, large enough to guide water through.
At 12:05 A.M, twenty-five minutes after the impact, Captain Smith had ordered his officers to uncover the boats and to muster the passengers and crew to their lifeboat stations. He had assested the situation with shipbuilder Thomas Andrews and had compiled a damage report. Even with the pumps, this ship could not keep afloat, is what the two men concluded, with Andrews using his knowledge and mathematics to establish that there was not much time left. People had to be evacuated.
Everything changed when the bridge went under. The last two lifeboats, not ready for the davits, were shoved off by a wave. The sinking process would now speed up, until moments later, it was clear that she wouldn’t last. Like a long lever, the ship’s balance shifted towards her forward which dropped like a stone until only half of the ship was above the water. The propellors were lifted clear out of the water until she reached an angle of 45 degrees or more.
There were now insane forces at play. A huge tear had formed between funnels 3 and 4, after which the ship’s aft part dislodged itself from the rest. Within seconds, everything further forward had gone down. The Titanic’s aft decks erected themselves once more to swiftly when she stood vertical and calmly trickled down to the place where she can be found till this day, the 3,8 kilometres down to the seabed. It was 2:20 A.M. when the world had seen the last of Titanic, hidden from view for over many decades.
Details are missing on Harold Reynolds’ last hours, but he was not in a lifeboat. He must have not gotten to one somehow or at least in one. His life ended on this night, together with over 1500 souls, of which most were lost to the seas, which claimed most of those lives with her bitter parky temperatures.
After his death[]
On the 10th of May, the CGS Montmagny, which was chartered by the Titanic's company, White Star Line, to search for bodies in the aftermath of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, had taken 4 corpses on board. One of them was Harold Reynolds. He received the tag of #327. His remains were brought to Halifax, NS and buried in Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on May 22, 1912.
Harold's mother had already been gone to the city hall of Lewisham demanding information on where her son could possibly hang out.