Updated date:

Nov 16, 2021

Titanic Deaths of Third Class Passengers of a Family of 8

Author:

L.M.Reid is an Irish writer who has published many history articles online and in magazines.

The Titanic at Southampton in April 1912. The Goodwin Family were on board the ship and all died.
Titanic Historical Society

The Goodwin Family Died on the Titanic

On 10^th April 1912 Frederick and Augusta Goodwin and their six children all boarded the new ship the Titanic at Southampton in England. They were third class passengers on its maiden voyage to New York. The Goodwin children who died were: Lillian 16, Charles 14, William 11, Jessie 10, Harold 9 and baby Sidney 19 months old.

Frederick and Augusta Goodwin

Frederick Goodwin had lived all his life in England. But his brother Thomas and sister had emigrated to New York years earlier. Thomas Goodwin had recently visited Frederick and told the family about his life in America and the opportunities there for Frederick and his growing children.

Emigrating to America

So when a job opportunity came up in New York for Frederick at a power station the family decided to take a chance and emigrate to America. They did not have a lot of money to spare so booked third class tickets on a small steamer ship bound for America. This cost forty six pounds and eighteen shillings for the family.

Frederick’s brother Thomas Goodwin and his widowed sister in America lent the family money and they had found a house and furnished it for the whole family ready for when they arrived in New York.

The Coal Strike

There was a coal strike in England that month in 1912. The sailing on the steamer that the Goodwin family was booked on had to be cancelled. They had their tickets transferred to the new luxury liner the Titanic.

Mr and Mrs Goodwin and their 6 children died when the Titanic sank in 1912
Titanic Historical Society

Accommodation on Board

The Titanic was a new luxury passenger ship that the White Star Line had built. It was the biggest passenger ship in the world at the time in 1912. There was a lot of publicity around the maiden voyage of the Titanic.

Many high society and rich passengers booked first class tickets for the voyage from England to America. They were not travelling on the Titanic to emigrate but to enjoy the historical event of the first trip of the new Titanic Luxury Liner. Others in first class and second class used the ship as a means of travelling home to America from business trips, long holidays and as honeymoons for those who were just married.

The Goodman family had lived first in Fulham in London England. Then the family had moved to Watson's Court, High Street Melksham in Wiltshire England. This is where they were living when they decided to immigrate to America in 1912. Frederick was an Electrical Engineer. His older brother Thomas had already immigrated to Niagara Falls in New York.

A map shows where the Titanic sank
Titanic Historical Society

First Class Accommodation

First class passengers enjoyed large cabins on the upper decks with bedrooms and their own sitting rooms. Some first class passengers had servants with them. It was usually those servants that looked after the children that were accommodated in first class cabins.

First class passengers also had private decks to enjoy the journey from. Their own dining rooms, reading and games rooms and smoking rooms.

Second Class Accommodation

Second class passengers also had very comfortable cabins. These passengers too had their own designated area for dining and recreation.

Third Class Accommodation

Third class passengers too had their own designated area on the ship that they could use. They were excluded from both first class and second class areas in the ship. Their cabins were basic but comfortable. Their areas for dining and recreation were a lot smaller but the third class passengers still had better accommodation than other ships that sailed from Europe to America in 1912.

Class Barriers

All three classes of accommodation on the Titanic were segregated by doors and barriers. These were in place on the ship as a physical barrier. But in 1912 class distinction was accepted as normal by everyone. The passengers would not enter in an area that was not of their class.

Third Class Passengers

All single male and female passengers were separated in to different cabins. Young single men who were emigrating to America had to share a cabin. The same was true for single female passengers.

Last photo taken of the Titanic Leaving Queenstown
Titanic Historical Society

The Titanic Hits the Iceberg

So it was then that the night of Sunday 14^th April at 11.40 pm when the Titanic hit the iceberg that Frederick Goodwin and his family were probably in their cabin in the stern of the ship. Also sleeping with his mother was baby Sidney Goodwin.

A Minor Collision

When the ship hit the iceberg all the passengers on board were told it was only a minor incident. Anyone who had left their cabins to see what was happening was told to go back there as it would soon be sorted out.

Most of the passengers including first and second class believed the crew and went back to their cabins or whatever they were doing in the communal areas at the time. A large amount of ice was seen on the deck of the ship.

Playing with the Ice

The passengers were in a jovial mood and welcomed the excitement. Those who were still up and enjoying the many activities on board got into the high spirits on board by either watching others having fun or playing around with the ice on deck themselves.

When the Captain was told that the unsinkable ship the Titanic was about to sink he ordered all lifeboats to be prepared. Then the crew woke up those passengers who were asleep and told everyone not to worry but that they needed to go on deck with their life jackets on.

First and Second Class Passengers Only

Third class passengers were told to get their life jackets ready but to stay in their cabins until it was time for them to go on deck.

When the water started to become visible on the floors of the 3^rd class landings and then in their cabins the passengers were still down in third class areas. Some of them had tried to get up on deck but they were stopped by the crew. They were told there was plenty of time and plenty of lifeboats and they had to wait until it was their turn.

Titanic Survivors on a Lifeboat
Titanic Historical Society

Lifeboats

The Titanic had more lifeboats on board than was legally required for the trip. This unfortunately was not enough to get everyone off the Titanic safely. It was women and children first in to the lifeboats when the first and second class passengers were on deck. A lot of them refused to go at first because they still could not believe the Titanic was about to sink.

The small boats that were hanging on the side of the enormous ship looked dangerous and many thought it was unnecessary to take the risk of boarding these boats and spending the night on the freezing cold open sea. But once the situation became clear to the passengers that the Titanic was indeed sinking the mood changed and women and children got into the lifeboats.

Fear and Panic

Crew members were also in the boats to sail them and take charge of the passengers. There had been no lifeboat drill on the Titanic after she sailed. So there was chaos and confusion from both crew and passengers. Lots of the too few lifeboats on board left the Titanic with many empty places. Some of the men tried to get on the boats too but were held back by the crew.

While this was going on a lot of the third class passengers were still trying to reach the decks where the lifeboats were. When they did get there a lot of them were gone. Of the 329 First Class Passengers on Board 199 Survived. There were 285 second class passengers on board and 119 survived. There were 899 crew on the Titanic but only 214 survived. But there were 710 third class passengers and only 174 survived. Of the 2,223 men women and children who sailed on the Titanic on her maiden voyage on 10^th April only 706 survived after it sank on 15^th April 1912.

The Unknown Child

One of the ships that was sent out from Canada to recover the bodies of those who died when the Titanic sank was the Mackay-Bennett. On 17^th April 1912 the fourth body that the crew pulled out of the water was that of the toddler Sidney Goodwin. The only body that was recovered from the Goodwin family was Sidney who was 19 months old when he died.

Funeral of Sidney Goodwin

When no one came to identify or claim the body of the Sidney the sailors on board the Mackay-Bennett arranged for his burial. So on 4^th May 1912 the body of Sidney was buried at Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax Nova Scotia Canada. The sailors were so affected by the death of the young child that they escorted the tiny white coffin to the funeral.

Our Babe

They had earlier bought a copper pendent with the words Our Babe inscribed on it. A large headstone was also purchased by the sailors. On this headstone is inscribed the words The Unknown Child. The body in the grave of the Unknown child was positively identified through DNA testing to be that of Sidney Goodwin in July 2007.