Mr John Cosgrove was born at 74 Paris Street in Belfast, Ireland on 6 January 1893. Hailing from a Presbyterian family and one of six children, he was the son of William Cosgrove, a labourer, and Mary McCarthy. 

John appears on the 1911 census living with his parents and siblings at 68 Carman Street off Belfast’s Shankill Road and he was described as an unmarried shipyard labourer. 

Cosgrove’s ship prior to Titanic had been the Olympic. He joined Titanic at Belfast for the delivery trip to Southampton where he then disembarked. His elder brother William was also aboard the delivery trip.