Hello, I don't know much I'm afraid. The yacht was mentioned within the family but that's all. It was in a museum at some stage. Another neice of his worked in the foreign office for many years, her name was Vera. We lived in Hampstead village with his other neice Kathleen. Kathleen died in 1998 at the age of 93. We spoke about Charles often but to be honest all the gossip about the Titanic annoyed this extremely private family hence nobody really knows much about their family. Also you may find it interesting that it was Kathleen and Vera's Mother who was a Lightholler by birth. It's such a personal thing for me to talk about and I knew the family rather than what's known by the general public. Kathleen was for a short time an opera singer. Kathleen was the only educated person that I've ever met, she was educated to the hilt by a governess and was naturally intellectual. We travelled to Africa, the South of France, Tenerife and other countries with Kathleen so I have many memories of that time. I never met Roger or his other son. I'm not sure if they were around at that time. Kathleen did mention the name of the yacht and we talked about the name. Interestingly Sylvia was never mentioned. I have no idea why not. Kathleen was very fond of Charles, that I do know. In my house today we speak about the family all the time in passing. We miss Kathleen very much, she was a Grandmother figure to me and a great grandmother to my son. Kathleen was the first person with my Mum to meet my newborn son. It's more the personality traits that I know about along with their family background as opposed to the yacht or Sylvia's letters. I hope this has helped a little. Kind regards from Susan
Roger Lightoller was killed in France not long before the end of the war.
Actually, that's not really surprising.
Hello, yes that makes sense. Vera also worked in 11 Downing Street in the Foreign Office for years and never talked about the work that she did, it was considered top secret. Kathleen spoke exactly like the Queen as did Mavis and Julia. I would describe the family as educated, colonial and aristocratic. It's not something that is acceptable to some these days but I've never met a kinder, more generous, loving and concerned family in my life. My Mum became the daughter Kathleen never had. My Mum had a middle class background in that she was privately educated and was from a successful family in terms of business. Mum had been living in the Channel Islands before living with Kathleen. I was a young girl at that time. It's quite difficult to discuss the Lightholler family because we were so close to them. We all still love Kathleen and always will. Her birthday is on Burns night and we celebrate every year. It was a beautiful summers day in Hampstead when we spoke about the yacht, I remember it so clearly. We were all having lunch in the garden when we started to speak about Charles as we regularly did! Not much was said however I remember thinking about the journeys that Charles and Sylvia took on the yacht. Charles loved the sea! Just out of interest Kathleen was not happy about the film The Titanic in the nineties!
That's very interesting Susan. And lovely to read that the Lightoller family were a decent bunch.
I haven't heard of the people you mention unfortunately. I was a young lady so I may not remember if they were spoken about or not. Oh a lovely family absolutely! If you Google Kathleen Beryl Sleigh you will see that she set up charitable trusts. Actually it's Berry on her birth certificate and everyone called her Beryl? I don't think anyone realised. Every time I hear terrible things about the colonial I don't understand? I had a great great Uncle who was a deer stalker for the Royal Family in the wilds of Inverness and was given a house for life by a Lord. This was written about in the Oban Times and his name was James Henderson. Without connections to the wealthy I don't believe he would have had a home, nice clothes for hunting and good food! Charles has indeed been presented as a Northern working class orphan however his family history tells a completely different story although there's some truth in the story. Charles was a wonderful man and yes he had a Northern accent but his family had cotton fields and factories in Lancashire hence his accent. In these days of hating the wealthy I only have wonderful things to say about meeting those that I did. Also Kathleen lost both of her eyes in the war and was totally blind since the age of thirty six. I believe profoundly that had she had her sight she would still be charitable, kind, generous, sincere, honest and lovely! I'm delighted that you enjoy hearing about the Lightholler family, generally I don't speak about such things just because people really don't want to know about the priveliged! My Grandmother was a very successful baker and was able to educate my Mother. In those days they worked so hard to give their offspring benefits! Many thanks again for listening to my family history. I appreciate it very much.
You may be right not enough ships for all captains to go around. But reading his comments in his book: Titanic and Other ships, after 20 years loyal service. Oh, you are leaving us, are you? Well, Good-bye! If to say they couldn't care a toss for his long term service with the company. A heartless bunch indeed.
For all we know, Lightoller himself may not have wanted to stay in the path of highly talented younger men in the company. "Going ashore" would also mean he could devote more time to his large family.
Hello, I'm too young to have met Doreen. His neice was the same age as my Grandmother. Vera his neice also worked in the Foreign Office for many years. Vera lived in Hampstead with her sister and Vera died many years before Kathleen. The family had enormous wealth and owned cotton fields and factories. Charles would have treated everyone equally in terms of race just as Kathleen however everything would be dependent on good behaviour no matter what race people were. There's no question that everyone would have been treated with the up most respect. Colonialism simply means wealth made in the past from cotton, oil, coal ect. Kathleen had servants growing up and was educated at home by a governess. I hope this helps answer your question and thanks for your kindly interest. We lived with Charles neice for over ten years until she died. Kathleen was cremated and her gravestone is in Golders Green. Many thanks for listening to my story.
thank you very much for kindly responding. I am really happy to find out that Charles really seemed to be a pleasant fella.
Thank you very much. I'm happy that you now know about Charles a little in terms of his nature. He also did travel widely as all of his family did. We travelled with Kathleen often around the globe! Charles also travelled extensively in his yacht. I want to mention that Charles and Kathleen shared their wealth with people who struggled and also for charity. I have met Lady Louise Patten at Kathleen's funeral. Many kind regards and thanks for your interest.
Hello Susan,
