Dr Arthur Dominick Jackson Brewe ¹ was born in Woodford, a village in Co Galway, Ireland on 18 August 1866.

He was the son of Henry Joseph Brew(e) (b. 1839), a sub-Inspector of the RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary), and Frances Alicia Jackson (b. 1835) who had married in Galway City in 1863. His mother was originally from Co Kerry, possibly Ballybunion. The family were Roman Catholic and Arthur had one known sibling, Benjamin Thomas (b. 1867).

His father died on 28 June 1869 in Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare; his mother was a resident of 2 Palmyra Crescent, Galway at the time. She was remarried in Co Kerry in 1875 to Joseph Stapleton Butler (2), a medical practitioner from Turloughmore, Co Galway. He was the widower of her sister Alice Maude, née Jackson and brought six children from that relationship.

Arthur Brewe and his extended family lived at Winterfield House in Drumgriffin, Co Galway and his mother and step-father gave him two half-sisters: Mary Joseph (b. 1877) and Frances Mary (b. 1878).

Joseph Stapleton Butler died on 16 March 1887. His widow Frances never remarried and spent the remainder of her life living at Winterfield. She and her daughter Frances were shown on the 1901 census living in Tonagarraun, Liscananaun, Co Galway and she was described as a farmer and land proprietor.

His half-sister, Mary Joseph Glynn, lived in Ballybrone, Deerpark, Co Galway with her husband Patrick Dixon Glynn (3), a physician, and her three children (4) by the time of the 1911 census. His brother Benjamin had settled in Illinois in the 1890s but later died in Denver, Colorado on 12 May 1899. What became of his half-sister Frances is not certain; she was alive at the time of the 1901 census but her eventual whereabouts are unknown and no mention was made of her in contemporary 1912 news reports.

Brewe was educated in Glencoe followed by Clongowes School in Clane, Co Kildare, from where he entered Trinity College, Dublin. Shortly after his graduation he left for America in 1888, arriving in June that year aboard the Umbria. He had no stated profession at the time and initially lived in New York before relocating to Philadelphia. He was soon to be joined by other family, including his brother and several step-siblings; step-brother Ansley Butler had lived in Massachusetts since 1894.

He was working as a journalist when he travelled to the United States aboard the S.S. Service from Liverpool, arriving in New York City of 7 February 1893. He was also listed as a journalist when he made another voyage, arriving in New York aboard the Furnessia on 30 November 1893.  He travelled again to the United States, arriving in Philadelphia on 25 May 1897 as a second class passenger aboard the Pennland and was described at the time as a clerk; the emigration inspector noted he had been to the USA “12 times.” Brewe became a naturalized citizen of the United States on 28 July 1898 and at the time he was living at 501 Franklin Street in Philadelphia.

He was married in Philadelphia on 7 January 1898 to Annie Constance Gregory (b. 1861), a native of London, the daughter of an Essex-born commercial traveller father and a Scottish mother. She had first come to the USA around 1895.

In 1901 Arthur worked as a conductor while living at 2215 N. Sydenham in Philadelphia. In 1905, he was working as a masseuse while living at 1327 Airdrie in Philadelphia.

Arthur took a “special course in Jefferson Medical College in Neurology…. Dr Brewe was a member of the American Medical Association, the Francis S. Dercum Neurology Society and the National Geographical Society.” He had graduated from the Jefferson Medical College in 1905.

Arthur sailed on the Carmania from Liverpool on 28 March 1906 and arrived in New York on 5 April 1906. Arthur was a member of the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania in 1907. In 1908, he and his wife lived at 2133 South 58th Street, Philadelphia and by the following year they had moved to 1812 South 58th Street.

On 15 April 1910, Arthur and Annie rented a home at 1812 58th Street in Philadelphia. He was listed as being a physician. Arthur sailed from Liverpool aboard the Caronia on 20 September 1910, arriving in New York City of 28 September 1910. The couple continued living at this address in 1911.

Brewe went abroad for an extended tour to Africa, Egypt, Rome, Naples, Florence, and Paris. 

He boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg, travelling as a first class passenger (ticket number 112379, £39 12s). He may have been serving as doctor to Emma Eliza Bucknell, a rich Philadelphian, and was acquainted with Margaret Brown, all three visiting the Sphinx in March 1912.

Dr Brewe died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.

His widow Annie was reported to be in a serious condition after learning her husband was not rescued. The Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce asked the United States Congress to require adequate safety equipment and memorialised the nine male passengers from the community who had perished.

His mother perhaps never got over the death of her eldest son and died on 1 December 1912, still a resident of Winterfield House at the time.

Brewe's widow Annie did not remain for long in Philadelphia and left America just over a year later, arriving in Liverpool aboard the Merion on 9 May 1913. She spent her last days living in Romford, Essex and died on 9 November 1939.