Former home of Titanic officer Harold Lowe

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Former home of RMS Titanic officer Harold Lowe, Marine Crescent, Deganwy

Harold Lowe was Fifth Officer of the RMS Titanic when the liner sank on 15 April 1912, during its maiden voyage. He was widely praised afterwards for his courage in returning with a lifeboat to the area where the ship had sunk, where he pulled four men from the water. He then steered the lifeboat to two of the Titanic’s collapsible lifeboats, saving further lives. He has been portrayed as a hero in fictional accounts of the disaster including the 1997 film Titanic, in which his part was played by Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd.

Portrait of Harold LoweHarold Godfrey Lowe was born in Bryn Lupus, Deganwy, in 1892. He spent most of his childhood in Harlech and Barmouth. The first record of him on a ship is as an ordinary seaman in 1900. He joined the White Star Line in 1911 and was appointed Fifth Officer of the new RMS Titanic the following year. In 1913 he married and settled in Colwyn Bay. He served with the Royal Naval Reserve during the First World War and rejoined White Star Line in 1919.

He retired from seafaring in 1931 and moved into 1 Marine Crescent, Deganwy. He pursued his hobbies of boating, fishing and shooting, and after the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 became an Air Raid Precautions warden. He suffered a stroke in 1942 and died in 1944. His death certificate cited hypertension and “cerebral haemorrhage malaria (chronic)”. He had probably become infected by malaria as a young man sailing around Africa.

His grave is featured in our mini tour of St Trillo's Churchyard, Llandrillo-yn-Rhos.

With thanks to John Lowe

Postcode: LL31 9DA    View Location Map

Other SHIPWRECK HiPoints in this region:
Flying Foam wreck 1936 – remains still visible at low tide
German ship rescue, Penmaenmawr – a shy local woman was hauled off by the coastguard

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FOOTNOTES: Harold Lowe chronology

1882 Born in Bryn Lupus. Father George Edward and Mother Emma Harriett Quick
1883 Family moved to Harlech
1893 Family moved to Barmouth. Siblings: George, Ada, Annie May, HGL, Edgar, Arthur and Edward
1895 Eldest brother George drowned in a boating accident
1896 Harold survived an accident in which a boat capsized
1897 Transferred from Barmouth Board School to Barmouth Intermediate School
1900 First record of him on a ship, an ordinary seaman on the William Keith
1904 Joined the Royal Naval Reserve as a rating
1911 Joined White Star Line. Worked on SS Tropic, then SS Belgic
1912 Appointed RMS Titanic’s Fifth Officer. Survived the liner’s sinking in April
1913 Recalled to the RNR for training and promoted to sub lieutenant. Married Ellen Marian Whitehouse and went to live in her family home in Colwyn Bay. Chlidren: daughter Joise and son Harold
1916-19 Served on HMS Donegal and, in the Far East, HMS Suffolk
1919 Rejoined White Star Line
1923 Promoted to RNR lieutenant commander
1924 Returned to White Star Line
1927 Released by the RNR with the rank of commodore
1931 Retired from seafaring and moved to Marine Crescent, Deganwy
1930s Served two terms as a councillor on Conway Borough Council, and was a churchwarden at All Saints Church, Deganwy
1939 Became an Air Raid Precautions warden in Deganwy
1942 Suffered stroke, which confined him to a bath chair
1944 Died