Mr Alfonzo Meo-Martino was born in Potenza, Lucania, Italy on 25 January 1864. He was the son of Rocco and Francesca Meo and he had at least one sibling, his twin brother Antonio (1864-1933).

Both gifted musicians, Alfonzo and Antonio moved to London in the early 1880s, appearing on the 1881 census living at 8 Fleet Row, Trinity.

He was married in London in 1884 to Emily Jane Innes (b. 1846 in London) and they had a son, Luigi Alfonzo Rocco Innes (1886-1967). They appeared on the 1891 census living in Warwick Road and on the 1901 census at 42 Hogarth Road, both in Kensington.

Alfonzo later co-habited - whilst still married to his wife Emily - with a much younger woman, Katharine (b. 1883 in Benenden, Kent) and the two had a daughter, Anita Enrichetta on 15 July 1907. He was listed with them both on the 1911 census at 120 Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth. His wife Emily and his son were listed elsewhere as lodgers at 4 Glycena Road, Lavender Hill, Battersea.

Alfonzo boarded the Titanic in Southampton as a third class passenger (ticket number 11206 which cost £8, 1s). He was travelling from 95 Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth (his brother's address) to Washington, DC.

Meo lost his life in the disaster. His body was later recovered by the MacKay Bennett (#201). He was buried at Fairview Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia on 10 May 1912 .

© Bob Knuckle, Canada

His estate, worth £34, was administered to his widow Emily on 30 April 1913. Emily never remarried and died in London in 1922. Their son Luigi was later married to Yvonne Doris Gwynne (1896-1980) but is thought to have remained childless. He died in Surrey in 1967.

What became of his "wife" Katharine in Bournemouth is unknown. Their daughter Anita was married in Luton in 1935 to Bernard Lawrence Edwards (1878-1957) and she died in Canterbury, Kent in 1983.