Harold Bride after the disaster

[Paul Lee]

Are there any records of Harold Bride talking about the disaster in his later life? I ask because a few years ago I attended a pretty poor talk at the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) in London, and Bride and Philips were brought up - the subject of the talk was about the wireless equipment on board the Titanic.
At the end, a member of the audience approached the speaker and told him that he had some connection with Bride- I think he went to a relative's school, and Bride would sometimes come in to give a talk on the subject. The lecture happened in 1998, so I am a bit hazy on the details, but I do recall that Bride wasn't the silent type as described in some books!

Cheers

Paul

 

[Inger Sheil]

G'day Paul -

That pretty much accords with what Jemma's contacts have told her about Bride. I don't know if she wants to go into detail here, but one man she spoke to - a family friend of the Brides in Scotland - remembers him bringing around material related to the disaster and talking about it.

 

[Brian J. Ticehurst]

Paul - I have just added some material to his site (see the Obit section) including the details of the Blue Plaque that has been affixed to his old house in Kent.
In 1989 there was an excellent article on his later life the details are:
(From THS Commutator Volume 13, Number 2 1989).
Article entitled Harold Sidney Bride, Titanic Wireless Operator.
I hope that helps
Cheers Brian

 

[Jemma Hyder]

Hi Paul,

As Ing mentioned, none of the reports I have of Bride in later life correspond to him keeping silent about the disaster. There is a new Bride bio ready to go up on our site if it's of interest.

Jemma

 

[Jason D. Tiller]

Hi Jemma,

Thanks for the heads up on that. I'll be sure to check it out.

Best regards,

Jason

 

[Michael H. Standart]

I'd certainly be interested, Jemma. It would be nice to see some of the gaps filled in the lives of a lot of these people. Especially those who seem to have vanished out of sight after the sinking.

 

[Inger Sheil]

Hrm...looks like we need to get those updates uploaded soon! Time to get onto the email and get some material scanned.

 

[Danielle Gastineau]

Jemma and Inger,

are you going to update that website soon? It would be nice to see the bios.

 

[Allison Lane]

Going through old threads for fun and ran across this--yes, Jemma and Inger, please get your new bio up somewhere for all to read?

 

[Rebecca Hoffman]

Can anyone supply me with the information as to how he died? I've looked around a fair bit and can't seem to find the information.

[Moderator's Note: This message, originally posted as a separate thread, has been moved to this pre-existing thread addressing Bride's post-Titanic life. MAB]

 

[nikita hawkins]

Harold Bride died of lung cancer on Sunday 29th April 1956.

 

[John Dempsey]

Harold spent his last days as a curator of a 16th century mansion house in Glasgow. He was employed by the national trust for Scotland.

 

[Julian Atkins]

Thank you John for your post, and I am sure we would all be very interested for your sources for this!

Quite new to me and I am sure many others interested in Bride.

Cheers,

Julian

 

[John Dempsey]

Hi Julian,



You’re very welcome. I must be honest my knowledge of the Titanic is minimal, one reason I love visiting this website so much. I have however volunteered at Provan Hall House, the 16th century mansion I referred to in my first post, for over 20 years and now chair the charity which looks after it.



Regarding sources, I suppose a starting point would be his death certificate which gives his usual residence as Provan Hall, Stepps, Glasgow. (NRS, Bride, Harold Sidney (Statutory Registers Deaths 644/4 619). This tells us that whilst he died in Stophill Hospital in Springburn he lived at Provan Hall with his wife Lucy Downie.



In the 1950s Provan Hall was owned an operated by the National Trust for Scotland who employed live in caretakers. They would live in the museum, carry out limited maintenance and provide guided tours and tea for visitors. I am in possession of 7 letters which confirm Harold performed this role, (NTS, Provan Hall, Box 1). Their contents include Harold and his wife attending training with their colleagues at Culzean Castle in Ayrshire, Harold informing the NTS he has had many visitors but let them in at a reduced rate as they didn’t have the funds and then ones covering his illness and one following his death between NTS and his wife Lucy.



I also had the absolute privilege of being in contact with Harold’s nephew up until 2013. He was able to confirm the Bride’s residences and provided me with some personal family photographs and more background details.



I hope you have found this interesting and I have answered the question of sources. Happy to receive any PM on the site and forward on anything I can.

All the Best
John

 

[Julian Atkins]

Hi John,

That is fascinating! Thank you very much for your post.

Any primary source documents relating to Harold Bride are important, and I wonder if you would be so kind as to share your 'box 1' that relates to Bride in your archive on here?

With best wishes,

Julian Atkins