William Simon Catcott Simmons was a cook on the Titanic.
Background[]
William Simon Catcott Simmons was brought forth in June 1875, by Matthew Simmons and Martha Durbin,whose origins lay in Somerset, where they had also tied the knot in 1869 and parented their first son, in the town of Litton, East Harptree. They were given two daughters first, in 1870 and 1873, who were named Rosa Amy and Edna Louisa respectively. 1877 was the year of Mary Mabel Isabel, with Charles Maurice Frank coming after her in 1880, Alice Agnes Cecilia showed up, in 1882, while five years later, 1887, saw the birth of Ethel Emily Sarah.
Matthew was an ironmonger and lodge host of a public place called the ‘White Lion’, in Shepton Mallet. The large family also had a half-sibling from 1864: Bertha Jessie, who stemmed from Martha’s former partnership.
The family appear to have moved around quite a bit during William’s youth, leaving Somerset for Odstock, Wiltshire, then Colgate, Sussex between 1881 and 1891. By 1891, William paid rent to stay in Blandford, Dorset and wished to become a leather maker. as fresh as he was with 15 years of age.
By 1900, he had found a house for himself in Southampton. In the Fall, he and Laura Theresa Augusta Ereaut were inextricably linked. Laura’s father had a goods store and derived from French heritage. He gave Laura life in Saint Helier, Jersey, but their wife and mother was not longer among them when she was given away to Simmons. He had his homestead in St Mary’s, Southampton by then.
William eventually felt that leatherworking was not his calling and it was the bounding main that beckoned.
Posterity was brought into existance by the pair. The first to show up was Leslie Matthew in 1902 and his sister Cecilia Edna popped up in 1904. They were domiciled in Southampton. For his family unit’s bread-winning’s, William would earn paychecks in the kitchen of merchant ships. He was later available for the White Star Line.
Titanic[]
On April 4, in 1912, William was picked up in Southampton as he had left Olympic to join Titanic as a ‘Passage Cook’. This job would reward him a wage of £7 a month. Laura was carrying his third child at the time they set off on the 10th of April, away from Southampton.
The night of April 14 was calm. The seas was silent and the wind was at minimum. From the crow’s nest, two men were peering into the distance ahead, to see if nothing would get in Titanic’s way. But, it did, yet it was discovered too late. Fred Fleet, one of the lookouts, suddenly focused on an iceberg that was half a minute and half a mile away. Action had to be taken.
He apprised the bridge. First Officer Murdoch then made a direction change to port and relayed the engine settings to ‘full astern’. The Engineering Crew responded and the pace of the ship dwindled, but it was only a brief moment before the very tip of the bow inched away from the iceberg, while the starboard side of the ship was exposed to the danger, with her bodywork underneath the waterline taking a few hits on several places, as the iceberg had drawn its own signature on the Titanic, which scarred her deeply. There was salt in the wounds, as with the openings, ocean water flowed in.
At 12:05 A.M, on April 15, the ship’s designer had told the captain they could not float for much longer and had as little as two hours left. The lifeboats were then ordered to be swung out and lowered to deck level and needed to be loaded as soon as they could.
After 2:00 A.M, the ocean spilled into the ship at a higher rate. The Titanic started to gradually get pulled down ever more by the increasing weight at the front.When the water had reached the bridge, her last two boats were caught in the deluge of the water sloshing through the hatchway. Minutes later, her stern was high in the air. The bow then rippped loose and for a moment, the stern seemed to be at an even keel. This was not for long, as it was swallowed by the Atlantic 2 minutes later, at 2:20 A.M.
William’s last moments are a blank. Whatever happened to him, he lived his last day on the 15th of April. So many men fell victim to the sinking of this ship, with the ocean being so cold, causing the most deaths. There was nothing left of Simmons, not even when some vessels had gone to Titanic’s wreck site to pick up bodies. Nearly all cooks were at the end of the line.
After his death[]
Theresa Mary Gertrude was the daughter that William was supposed to greet on 7 October 1912, but she was only seen by the parent that bore her. Officially, Laura remained loyal to her deceased husband. She never contracted the love of another man in her further life. Laura and her off-spring were always inhabitants to Southampton. A single lady for close to 60 years, she came to the end of her time on earth at the high age of 90, on the 28th of August, 1970.
Southampton proved to be a small world. Laura’s son Leslie later got bound to Violet Irene Pegrum, the sister of Herbert Pegrum, who took the hand of Mabel Bennett, a woman that actually had made it off Titanic as a victualler. Leslie would become a generator wireman. Cecilia made it happen with Thomas Surtees, also in 1930. They dropped a couple of kids later.
Cecilia even extended her life further than her mother, being alive for the last time in 1999 and becoming 95.
Sources[]
Special thanks and credits to Marie Keates for allowing me to use a large part of this information on her blog:
https://iwalkalone.co.uk/titanic-tales-from-portswood-part-2/Titanic tales from Portswood part 2 – I Walk Alone