Gary Cooper
Member
Mike,
Happy to have been of service. Ah, now pictures of Helen Melville Smith. I have only ever seen two. One is the famous picture of Eleanor and the infant Mel, which was carried on the front page of a copy of the 'Daily Mirror' newspaper printed in the days immediately after the disaster and which was later reproduced in Sir Philip Gibb's 'Deathless Story of the Titanic'. The girl looks cherubic and if she grew up to look like her mother she would have been a handsome woman. The other photo is the one contained in my book showing Mel unveiling the statue of her father in Lichfield in 1914, but of course you can't see her face in that one, so it doesn't really serve. Eleanor Smith appears to have been a little camera shy - there are hints to that in a couple of the Mystic Seaport letters - so perhaps Mel was of a similar disposition.
As to Smith retiring after the Titanic voyage, it's a nice story, but I'm not entirely sure that was a cut and dried matter, his popularity with passengers already appears to have kept him at sea longer than he had intended. I have read an interesting article elsewhere on this site, in the section on the 'Olympic', that indicates that he had meant to retire at the end of 1911, but he had been kept on. Had the Titanic disaster not occurred, I could quite happily imagine Smith being kept on to skipper the 'Britannic' (or was it the 'Gigantic'?) a year or so later.
Unfortunately, I can't send you a scan of the birth certificate at the moment as my scanner has given up the ghost. My brother has offered me his scanner, so when it comes and if I get it up and running, I'll send on a copy. As Inger notes above, though, it doesn't tell you any more than I have already noted, no weights or lengths, really only the basics, name, when and where born, etc. As it's a criminal offence to put down false information on birth, marriage and death certificates, I think we can take it as read that she was born at 20 Alexandra Road, which was probably the family home at the time. Not sure if EJ would have been in on the birth, I think that's a more modern thing. If he wasn't at sea, he was probably in another room chain smoking cigars!
Randy and Inger,
Brookwood Cemetery sounds like a fun day out! Must remember to take a cattle prod and some body armour when I go. Your account reminds me of a scary visit I made to Lichfield Joint Record Office many years ago, the resident dragons of which seemed violently opposed to letting me see anything in their collection. Perhaps a secret handshake was required..?
Thanks for the directions Randy, I'll no doubt need them. I'd certainly appreciate your copy of the map, Brookwood's quite a large site I believe. Could I ask, do you have transcripts of the grave inscriptions at all? I might be down in London sometime next year and could take a trip out for the day, but the inscriptions might provide other areas I could look into in the meantime.
All the best,
Gary
Happy to have been of service. Ah, now pictures of Helen Melville Smith. I have only ever seen two. One is the famous picture of Eleanor and the infant Mel, which was carried on the front page of a copy of the 'Daily Mirror' newspaper printed in the days immediately after the disaster and which was later reproduced in Sir Philip Gibb's 'Deathless Story of the Titanic'. The girl looks cherubic and if she grew up to look like her mother she would have been a handsome woman. The other photo is the one contained in my book showing Mel unveiling the statue of her father in Lichfield in 1914, but of course you can't see her face in that one, so it doesn't really serve. Eleanor Smith appears to have been a little camera shy - there are hints to that in a couple of the Mystic Seaport letters - so perhaps Mel was of a similar disposition.
As to Smith retiring after the Titanic voyage, it's a nice story, but I'm not entirely sure that was a cut and dried matter, his popularity with passengers already appears to have kept him at sea longer than he had intended. I have read an interesting article elsewhere on this site, in the section on the 'Olympic', that indicates that he had meant to retire at the end of 1911, but he had been kept on. Had the Titanic disaster not occurred, I could quite happily imagine Smith being kept on to skipper the 'Britannic' (or was it the 'Gigantic'?) a year or so later.
Unfortunately, I can't send you a scan of the birth certificate at the moment as my scanner has given up the ghost. My brother has offered me his scanner, so when it comes and if I get it up and running, I'll send on a copy. As Inger notes above, though, it doesn't tell you any more than I have already noted, no weights or lengths, really only the basics, name, when and where born, etc. As it's a criminal offence to put down false information on birth, marriage and death certificates, I think we can take it as read that she was born at 20 Alexandra Road, which was probably the family home at the time. Not sure if EJ would have been in on the birth, I think that's a more modern thing. If he wasn't at sea, he was probably in another room chain smoking cigars!
Randy and Inger,
Brookwood Cemetery sounds like a fun day out! Must remember to take a cattle prod and some body armour when I go. Your account reminds me of a scary visit I made to Lichfield Joint Record Office many years ago, the resident dragons of which seemed violently opposed to letting me see anything in their collection. Perhaps a secret handshake was required..?
Thanks for the directions Randy, I'll no doubt need them. I'd certainly appreciate your copy of the map, Brookwood's quite a large site I believe. Could I ask, do you have transcripts of the grave inscriptions at all? I might be down in London sometime next year and could take a trip out for the day, but the inscriptions might provide other areas I could look into in the meantime.
All the best,
Gary
