Thomas Whitely
Thomas Arthur Whiteley was an 18-year-old from Manchester hired as a First Class Steward on the Titanic.
Early life[]
Thomas Whiteley was the middle child of Arthur Whiteley, an agent for a linotype company. His mother was an actress. Her name was Elizabeth Ross Thomas was born on April 3, 1894 in Didsbury, Manchester, England. His older sister was from his mother's previous marriage, Isabella Johnston Ross. He got one younger sister later, Violet Stuart. Thomas' mother would become widowed three times, as happened to her first marriage but she lost Arthur in 1911 as well, and found a new spouse in William Golding in 1916.
Thomas parents made sure that their boy received education and he attended Chatham House, a preparatory school in Ramsgate, followed by education at a school in Tonbridge in Sussex. He was also taught the art of theatre thanks to his mother's connections and played in a few child roles.
In 1901 the Whitely family was living at Cross Lane in Marple, Cheshire, and the household consisted of other members, namely Isabella and Margaret Ross, his maternal grandmother and his aunt. After being widowed, his mother was managing a theatre in 1911 and his older sister was acting. Thomas himself went on to see the wide world.
Titanic[]
He spent much of his time in Italy in those years. He intended to jump ship in New York, Rhode Island and go to work for his uncle and namesake, Thomas Whiteley. He had previously served on the Olympic, also being part of the victualling crew, and when the opportunity rose to work on Titanic, he took it with both hands and signed-on.
He worked as steward in the First Class Dining Saloon.
On April 14th, when Titanic hit an iceberg, it seems they had forgotten about Whiteley entirely. The ship started sinking after the damage had been done.
He was left onboard after the last lifeboats lowered and jumped off the ship, hurting his leg. After swimming for a while, he came across Collapsible B, which was upturned and washed off the ship. He saw several men. They were all standing up. Mr. Lightoller, the Second Officer, was one of them. It's 31 lives against yours" he said, "You can't come aboard. There's no room."
Thomas kept pleading in vain, and to his confession later, he prayed that somebody might die so he could take his place. It was human survival instinct. Someone did indeed die and he could come up on the boat.
After being rescued, Whiteley appeared to have swallowed so much water he had to have stomach surgery. He was in the Sint Vincent Hospital in New York like many other survivors. He later became a source of claims that the officers ignored many ice warnings.
Later life[]
On 27 May in 1912 he would 'perform' in a theather by telling his unique side of the story that the Titanic disaster encompassed. The 'Lowell Sun' would later praise him for providing new first hand information that the press had neglected.
He returned to England in 1914 had plans to file a lawsuit against the White Star Line, but they never came to fruitation as it never arrived at court.
Whiteley may have been part of the Royal Flying Corps in WWI where he was injured in the face and throat. The name “Tom Whitely” appears in some plays and musicals from the time, like Sky High (1925), The Merry World (1926) and The Nightingale (1927). A scandal seemed to have surrounded him in 1928 when he was accused of having a 17-year-old dancer gotten drunk while interviewing her and was sentenced to 3 months’ probation. After that he made appearances in movies in the early 1930s.
Whiteley returned to England in 1932 and married a woman named Isabel Florence Agnes Green, while he was working for a trading stamp company. They had two children together. In 1936-1940 he was a film director and he was travelling, first to Puerto Rica, and was linked to having been involved in filming the wreckage of another catastrophic ship disaster: The Lusitania, which sank off the Coast of Old Kinhead in Ireland on 7 May 1915, after an U-20 had torpedized her, was found in 1935.
Whether he was actually a part of this expedition, or whether that took place at all, remains a mystery.
Whiteley joined the RAF in WWII, flew in the invasion of Italy, as Royal Air Force Warrant Officer.
Whiteley died at the age of 50 on his duties, and was probably on his way to the hospital. His date of death seems to be Wednesday 11th October 1944, and it's presumed the cause was cardiac problems.