Algernon Henry Barkworth

Algernon Henry Barkworth

Algernon Henry Barkworth (4 June 1864 – 7 January 1945) was a RMS Titanic passenger and survivor.[1]

Early life

Algernon Henry Barkworth was born in Tranby House in Hessle, Sculcoates, Yorkshire, England on 4 June 1864, the son of Henry Barkworth (1822-1898) and Catherine Hester Smith (1838-1915). His father was a timber merchant, farmer and landowner. The family was wealthy and Algernon grew up surrounded by an entourage of servants and was raised by his governess Amelia Selina Coxhead (1844-1920).

In the 1900s for a short time Barkworth lived in Puddletrenthide, a village in Dorset, next door to his brother Edmund, who was a farmer and landowner. Around 1911 Barkworth went back living with his widowed mother and unmarried sister Evelyn at Tranby House. At the time he was a Justice of the Peace for the East Riding of Yorkshire, a position he had held since 1903.[2]

RMS Titanic

Barkworth boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a first class passenger and he occupied cabin A23. This was Barkworth's first trip to the USA where he intended to spend a month. On the night of the sinking Barkworth stepped into the waters and made his way to the overturned collapsible B.[3] Following the sinking, Barkworth spent time at the home of a Mrs Richard F. Wood in Concord, Massachusetts, but he soon returned to England.[3][4]

Later life

Barkworth lived in Tranby House for the rest of his life and never married, his own relatives indicating that he was not of that persuasion.[2] It has been suggested that he was one of the LGBT passengers aboard the Titanic.[1]

He was a member of the East Riding Bench for 33-years, elected one month after the Titanic's sinking,[3] until just one year before his death and was at one point a member of the East Riding County Council.[2]

A reported eccentric with a love of animals, he was also an avid collector of curios.

His mother died some months after the Titanic tragedy, and he continued to live with his sister Evelyn until her death in 1933. Barkworth, plagued with chronic respiratory problems, died on 7 January 1945. Alderman E. C. S. Stow said: "He is a gentleman if ever there was one - a type which is fast dying out".[2]

He was buried with his sister Evelyn in Mill Lane Cemetery, Kirk Ella, Yorkshire.

Hessle High School

Hessle High School originally centred on Tranby House, which was built in 1807 by John Barkworth, a merchant, who made his fortune in the shipping industry. The house was inherited and lived in by successive generations of Barkworths until his great-grandnephew, Algernon Henry Barkworth.[5][2] After Algernon Barkworth's death in 1945, the house was bequeathed to the local education authority to become a school, which it did in 1947 as Tranby High School.[6] In 1967, Tranby House became a Grade II listed building to ensure its history and architecture are protected.[6][7]

References

  1. 1 2 "Mr Algernon Henry Barkworth". encyclopedia titanica. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Death of Mr. Algernon Barkworth". Hull Times. 1945. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 "Mr Barkworth's Return". Daily Mail. 1912. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  4. ↑ "Algernon H. Barkworth". Concord Enterprise. 1912. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  5. ↑ "Tranby House, Algernon Barkworth's Country Home". Algernon Barkworth. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  6. 1 2 "The History of Tranby House". The Hessle Academy. Archived from the original on 2017-01-03. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  7. ↑ "Tranby House, Hessle". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
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