Titanic sank 111 years ago this month but did you know that a Lancaster man was a crew member onboard? 1st Class Chief Steward, Andrew Latimer was sadly lost along with over 600 other crew members in the 1912 sinking .

Andrew was born at Castle Cottage on Castle Hill (presumably part of the group of cottages that originally fronted the castle, demolished in the 1870s) on 31/1/1857 and was baptised soon after at St Mary’s (the Priory) by his parents Robert and Margaret. As a railway porter, the nearby Castle railway station must have been handy for his father. They didn’t stay long though and less than two years later had moved to Orton near Tebay.

Moving to Manchester as a victualler and later working for shipping lines, Andrew moved up the ranks. After working on numerous ships and having a large family of his own, he worked on White Star Line vessels such as Olympic and Teutonic before his final voyage on Titanic. As chief steward for the first class passengers, Andrew’s role was to oversee all the other stewards, particularly within the dining saloons.