William Brailey was one of the musicians on the Titanic.
Background[]
The world saw the first of William Theodore Ronald Brailey on 25 October 1887, when he appeared in Walthamstow, Greater London, part of Essex back in the day. William Ronald Brailey was the name of his father, an ex-Baptist minister and a well-known figure in the world of spiritualism, which became his obsession later. He was characterised as being psychic. In 1886, the man had wed Amy Jane Greenwood in London. She was a Middlesex woman, whereas William senior had grown up in Plymouth. William junior was the one that made them into parents. Two daughters saw the light in the later: Mabel Violet in 1890 and Lily Sunshine in 1893.
The family shuffled around various places in the next decades. Before Lily, in 1891 they had their stay in Upton, Slough, Buckinghamshire. In 1901, they could be found in Leyton, Essex and much later, in London.
At a young age, William and his sisters were encouraged to play the piano and took music lessons from a woman named Miriam Geary from Devon, Devonshire and attended classes at her home. Theo displayed musical talent, not only on the piano, but also with the cello and flute.‘Willie’, as he was affectionately called, or ‘Theo’, was soon passionate about music. Brailey studied piano at school, and one of his first jobs was performing in a local hotel. He played with the Southport Pier Pavilion Orchestra for several years. When he was almost 15 years old on October 9, 1902, he left to join the Royal Lancahire Fusiliers where he studied cello. He was stationed in Barbados, which had just experience riots, assassinations, and near-economic collapse, but left the army prematurely in on February 22, 1907. He returned to England and since then, lived in Ladbroke Grove, London.
Next to music, he showed an interest in flying. He made friends with aeronautical pioneer Cecil Compton Paterson who flew from the Freshfield aerodome, 4 miles from Southport and on the road to Liverpool. It was built on a sandy beach. Theo composed at least two instrumental pieces: Ballet of the Roses and A Little Scherzo.
In 1909, a late sister was brought into the world. She was named Daphne Olive Vera Eileen.
In 1911, William was living with his parents, who now resided in Kensington, London. He was an accomplished musician and also a music teacher. William enlisted aboard a ship, playing first on the Saxonia, prior to joining the Cunard steamer RMS Carpathia in 1912, where he met the French cellist Roger Bricoux and also John Woodward.
William dated and became engaged to a woman named Teresa "Terry" Steinhilber, daughter of a naturalised German watchmaker named August Steinhilber and his wife Catherine.
Titanic[]
In April, William joined the White Star Line and was recruited by Liverpool music agency C.W. & F.N. Black to serve on the Titanic. Father William proved his powers of foresight by warning his son not to go. William had thrown this advice in the wind, as he still boarded the Titanic on Wednesday 10 April in Southampton. Along with him were Bricoux and Woodward, as well as 5 other musicians. The group would be led by Wallace Hartley. Brailey’s ticket number was 250654, the ticket for all the members of Hartley's orchestra. Their cabin was in the Second Class quarters. Brailey was 24 when he and his colleagues said their goodbyes to Southampton.
On April 14, late at night, there was no moon shining over the seas and no light or waves reflecting of the icebergs. They were hidden from view and thus the lookouts were caught out when, according to lookout Frederick Fleet, a black mass suddenly made itself visible. They connected the dots and didn’t wait. This was an iceberg and they were approaching it fast. With 22,5 knots they steamed right at it and the Officers on the bridge had to be informed. Once they learned of the impeding danger and saw the iceberg themselves, they made a turn and slowed down. The 1911 helmorders meant that the ship had to get to port around it via the order hard-a-starboard, the position that the rudder had to change to. There was no time for Titanic to complete her move and she made contact on her starboard bow. The damage trail continued for a good few seconds and stopped somewhere aft of the bridge. The collision opened up small seams. Water cascaded into the forepeak, Boiler Rooms and other holds. The watertight doors were closed.
A damage report was made on the 15th of April, midnight. Thomas Andrews, the designer of Titanic, made the Captain aware of her true condition. Both had seen the inflow of the water down below, but Andrews knew like no other what the consequences were. He informed Smith that the incoming water was too much for Titanic to withstand. Smith then gave the orders for the crew to muster the lifeboats for the passengers, as they needed to get off the ship.
Fifteen minutes past twelve, the commanding crew had utilized Titanic's orchestra to calm the passengers. Hartley gathered everyone, as they normally played in two different groups, a trio and a quintet. This would be the first time they would play together. Some of them had seen the band in the First Class Lounge where they were playing Alexander’s Ragtime Band. Later on, they had gone to the Boat Deck, but William would certainly not have dragged his piano all the way to the deck. As a virtuoso, he could also play violen and chello. As the Titanic sank, Theo and his bandmates continued to play music to soothe the spirits of those around them, which gave him and his partners a illustrious status later.
They played on as long as they could. The eye-witnesses that saw or heard them play had different views on how long they stuck with playing, but they kept going for a long time, probably until the sea had come awash with the Boat Deck. At that point, there would be a rapid increase in Titanic’s angle and sinking process.
There was also no concencus on what their last piece was. Many had ‘Nearer My God To Thee’ in mind and is the generally accpeted song to have been played just before her final plunge, but there were others who named especially ‘Song D’Automne’ as a candidate. Also mentioned were ‘Ah Sweet Mystery Of Life’ and ‘Lead, Kindly Light’. With the sloping decks tilting further and the sea flowing over the highest deck, they could not longer do their job so must have stopped at least then.
Titanic’s head went further down till it pulled the stern up. Many passengers had a view on Titanic from the lifeboats and saw it ripping itself apart. Titanic was then claimed by the sea and would be shrouded in darkness for many decades.
The Atlantic Ocean became William’s final resting place. Three of his colleagues, leader Hartley, Jock Hume and John Clarke were close together when one of the ships chartered by White Star Line discovered them.
After his death[]
The band of Titanic was heralded as selfless heroes and lauded for their deed of braveness. They had their critics as well. Some feel that their music made people too passive and too much at ease, thinking that not much was going to go wrong, which would have led to more deaths.
Their families were supported by volunteer actions from the public. One example was the memorial concert for the Bandsmen of the Titanic that was held at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday 24 May to raise funds to support the families. There was luckily also the Titanic Relief Fund that could help out.
The families of the Orchestra were treated very poorly by both the Agency and the White Star Line, not receiving any penny, with the Agency even having the audacity to sent bills to them because of copper buttons on the uniforms. Because they were freelance, they could not count on support from other officials.
Mirriam passed away in 1928 in West Ham, Essex, England.