Charles Lydiatt

Mr Charles Lydiatt was born in Huyton, Lancashire, England in early 1867 and he was baptised in that parish on 21 April that year.

He was the son of Joseph Lydiatt (1830-1919), a labourer, and Jane Fryer (1833-1911), natives of Northwich, Cheshire and Huyton, Lancashire respectively who had married in Huyton in 1858, and he had ten known siblings: William (b. 1859), Joseph (b. 1860), Edith (b. 1862), George (b. 1863), Amos (b. 1864), James (b. 1869), Henry (b. 1870), Arthur (b. 1874), Thomas (b. 1873) and Mary (b. 1875).

On the 1881 census Charles and his family are living at Derby Road Cottage in Huyton. His father is described as a domestic gardener and Charles, aged 14, has already left school and is described as an errand boy. His family are listed at 6 Birch Road, Huyton on the 1891 and 1901 censuses but Charles is absent, likely at sea at this time.

Exactly when he joined the merchant service is not clear but the earliest known record for him is in 1897 when he was serving as third steward aboard Anubis, his ship prior to that being Graceful. He would make several voyages through to 1898, later rising to become second steward aboard the same ship but joined Cunard's Lucania and spent a portion of 1899 working as a waiter aboard that liner; his address during this two year period was 26 Oxton Street, Walton. By 1903 he was living in Birkenhead and working as a saloon steward aboard Panama.

Charles was married around 1903 (as per the 1911 census) to a woman named Lizzie ¹, a native of Hounslow, Middlesex who had been born around 1861. Their marriage does not appear to have been registered and it appears that they may have been a common-law couple; they would have no children and both appear on the 1911 census living at 12 Brunswick Square, Southampton, Hampshire and Charles is described as a ship's steward.

When he signed-on to the Titanic, on 6 April 1912, he gave his address as 12 Brunswick Square, (Southampton). His previous ship had been the Oceanic and as a saloon steward he received monthly wages of £3, 15s.

Charles Lydiatt died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified. What became of his wife Lizzie is not known.