Joseph Woosnam was born in Bootle, Lancashire, England on 17 August 1889. He was the son of Welsh parents, William Woosnam, a mariner, and the former Elizabeth Price. He had three elder brothers.

The 1901 census shows the Woosnam family living at 28 Holly Street in Bootle. 

Woosnam went to sea as a young man and between 1906 and 1907 he worked as a waiter aboard both Saxonia and Carmania. In April 1912 he was serving as a waiter aboard the eastward-bound voyage of the Carpathia when that ship rescued the survivors of the Titanic. 

Woosnam continued working at sea for both White Star and Cunard as a bedroom steward, later as chief steward; in 1915 he married Ada Rose Owen (b. 1890) and with her raised a family, having three sons, Sidney, William and Frank. 

Joseph Woosnam died in Prescot, Lancashire in 1969.