Mr John Magill was born at 108 Greenmount Street in Belfast, Ireland on 12 June 1874. Hailing from a Church of Ireland family, he was the son of James Magill, a sawyer, and Amelia Girvan.

On 16 December 1905 in Belfast’s Trinity Church, Magill was married to Elizabeth Fitzpatrick (b. circa 1880), a Roman Catholic. Their first child, a son named John, had been born in July 1901 and another son followed in early 1905, James. Two daughters would follow, Martha in 1907 and Sarah in 1910. Only James and Martha were still alive by the time of the 1911 census when the family were living at 16 Little York Street, Belfast and John was described as a boiler scaler (trimmer). 

Magill’s ship prior to Titanic had been the Inisholm Head. He joined Titanic at Belfast for the delivery trip to Southampton where he then disembarked.