Alfred Rowe as a 47 year old bridegroom (c.1900)
(Pauline D. and R. L. Robertson 1981)

Mr Alfred G. Rowe ¹ was born in Lima, Peru on 24 February 1853.

He was the son of John James Rowe (1817-1875), a merchant, and Agnes Graham (b. 1817). His father was born in Manchester, Jamaica to British parents whilst his mother was born in Glasgow, Scotland; the couple were married in Liverpool in 1845 and settled in Peru where their first five children were born.

Alfred had seven siblings: John James (b. 1849), Charles Graham (b. 1851), Herbert William (b. 1852), his twin sister Agnes Graham (b. 1853), Henry Vincent (b. 1857), Bernard Douglas (b. 1858) and Lydia Margaret (b. 1859).

The family returned to England around 1856 and settled in Crabwall, Great Broughton, Cheshire, appearing there on the 1861 census living at Crabwall Hall. They later moved to Dinglefield in Toxteth, Liverpool, appearing there on the 1871 census and his father died here on 13 October 1875. His mother later moved to Bournemouth, Hampshire where she died on 20 December 1888.

Alfred reportedly left Britain before the close of the 1870s and settled in Clarendon, Donley, Texas where he operated a ranch and is listed there on the 1880 and 1900 censuses and is believed to have made frequent trips back to Britain. He was married in London in late 1901 to Constance Ethel Kingsley (b. 1865), a native of Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire.

Constance was the daughter of Irish-born physician, magistrate and town mayor (1867-1869) Henry Kingsley and his English wife Mary Ann Bromfield. She and Alfred would have four children, losing one in infancy: Charles Alfred Kingsley (b. 1904), Herbert Henry Kingsley (b. 1905) and Ethel Margaret Kingsley (b. 1910). The family were permanently settled in England by 1910--with Alfred continuing to make trips to Texas to oversee his ranch--and the 1911 census shows them residing at 6 Petersham Terrace, Gloucester Road, Kensington, London. 

Alfred boarded the Titanic at Southampton on 10 April 1912 as a first class passenger (ticket number 113790, £26 11s) and he was making his usual trip to Texas. He was lost in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.

Accounts at the time suggested that after the sinking he swam to an piece of ice where he was later found frozen to death. However the body was simply picked up, like so many others, by the Cable Ship Mackay-Bennett.

It was forwarded from Halifax on 4 May 1912 to Liverpool on the Empress of Britain. On Tuesday 14 May 1912 Rowe was buried at Toxteth Park Cemetery, Smithdown Road, Liverpool.

His eldest brother Charles Graham Rowe (of Graham Rowe & Co., Mersey Chambers, Old Church Yard, Liverpool) received his effects on 30 May 1912 which consisted of one gold signet ring, a card case containing two photos, cards and certificate of posting of a registered postal packet. Three Bank of England £5 notes, Newspaper cuttings and memos in pencil. His estate, valued at £7973, 16s, 2d, was administered on 9 August 1912 to his brothers Charles and Henry and his widow.

His widow Constance had been pregnant at the time of the sinking and gave birth to a son named Alfred Kingsley before the close of the year. She never remarried and in later years settled in Wales at Glandwr Hall in Barmouth, Merionethshire. She died on 24 February 1946.

His two elder sons later served during WWII, Charles serving as Lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Navy and Herbert as Lieutenant-Colonel in British Army. Charles died in Hampshire in 1970 and Herbert in Dorset in 1996. His daughter Ethel was married in the 1950s, becoming Mrs Albert Gough, and she lived in Exeter, Devon where she died in 1988. His posthumously born son Alfred later lived in Glandwr Hall and he died there in 1953.

The Rowe family grave at Toxteth Park Cemetery, Smithdown Road, Liverpool
Courtesy of Stephen Quinn, UK