William Loch Coutts

William Loch Coutts

William Loch Couts was a 9-year old boy who travelled on the Titanic with his mother and brother.

He was born 16 October 1902 in Chatham, Kent, England. William was the son of William Coutts (Gold & Silver engraver and former solider from Haddingtonshire, Scotland) and Minnie Trainor from Ireland. His parents married in 1902 and he had a younger brother, Neville, born in 1908.

In early 1912 William emigrated to the US and raised enough funds to book Second Class passage for his family to join him. Minnie booked Third Class berths on Titanic to save money. At the time of the voyage, he was 9 years old and his brother was 5 or 6.

The family could find no way to gain access to the Boat Deck and were on the verge of giving up hope when a crewman spotted them and said: "Hurry now, all women and children to the lifeboats!" and he led the family to the Boat Deck. William escaped with his brother and mother on lifeboat 2 and they were reunited with William senior in Brooklyn. It was a good thing that their father hadn't been with them, because it is very likely he wouldn't have made it, only 75 male Third Class Passengers survived, as it was the rule that women and children should go first, especially on port side, where boat 2 was. Third Class Passengers had it tough anyway, plenty of steerage women and children sadly died that night. So the 3 were fortunate.

In later life, William worked as a professional musician and also as a credit manager for Rubber Products. Co. of Pittsburgh. An amazing fact about him is that he was held at gunpoint six times over the course of his lifetime.