Mr Edgar Maurice Rowe was born in Bale, Norfolk, England on 12 December 1880, and he was baptised on 5 June 1881.

His mother, Elder Martha Rowe, was also born in Bale in 1852, the daughter of Thomas and Sarah Anne Rowe, a family with an agricultural background. She would have a known total of five children but whether they shared a common father is not known; she was never married and therefore the identity of Edgar's father is unknown.

Edgar's siblings were: Albert Repps (1871-1939), Mabel (b. 1873), Ethel May (b. 1875) and Berthold (b. 1887). The 1871 census shows Elder still living with her family, aged 18 and unmarried at the Lower Common, Bale. Also present is her first child Albert.

Edgar Maurice Rowe first appears on the 1881 census as a three-month-old and he and his family are still resident at the Lower Common, Bale, now seemingly headed by his uncle Walter and his mother was described as a seamstress. The 1891 census records Edgar, his brother Albert and Berthold and their mother Elder living at Dalling Road, Bale with Edgar still a schoolboy. His mother passed away in the summer of 1893 aged 41 and is buried in Bale.

Edgar was apparently taken in by his sister Ethel May and her husband James Johnson, a police constable, and shows up on the 1901 census living at 9 Eleanor Road, Klondyke, Lancashire and he was described as a footman. He apparently went to sea later that year and was shown throughout the rest of 1901 and 1902 serving aboard Majestic. By the latter half of 1902 he was giving his address as Aintree Police Station.

By the time Rowe appears on the 1911 census he was described as an unmarried sea steward for the White Star Line and boarding at 56 Bridge Road, Southampton; also listed at this address was his colleague Fred Benham, another future Titanic crewman.

Edgar was on board the Titanic for her delivery trip from Belfast to Southampton. When he signed-on again in Southampton on 4 April 1912, he gave his address as 56 Bridge Road, (Southampton). As a first class saloon steward he received monthly wages of £3, 15s. His previous ship had been the Olympic.

Edgar Maurice Rowe died in the sinking. His body, if recovered, was never identified.