Mr John McCartney (delivery crew) was born in Belfast, Ireland around 1860. Hailing from a Church of Ireland family, he was the son of John McCartney, a mariner.

McCartney was married in St Anne’s Church, Belfast on 14 October 1884 to Ann “Annie” Kerr (b. circa 1859) and the couple had nine children. The family appears on both the 1901 and 1911 census records as residents of 46 Bentham Street in the Donegal Road area of Belfast. 

McCartney, who was illiterate, worked predominantly aboard Belfast and Dublin-based ships as an able seaman. He was engaged as an able seaman for Titanic’s delivery trip from Belfast to Southampton where he later disembarked.