Mr Frederick Charles Marsh was born in Millbrook, Hampshire, England on 6 June 1872.

He was the son of George Marsh (b. 1834 in Nursling, Hampshire) and Ellen Foyle (b. 1835 in Salisbury, Wiltshire); his father worked as a labourer at different times on the docks and in the agricultural sector.

Frederick had six known siblings: James (b. 1857), Emily (b. 1860), Annie (b. 1863), Robert (b. 1867), Caroline (b. 1869) and Ernest (b. 1880).

Frederick first appears on the 1881 census, by which time he and his family were living at 2 Millbrook Cottages, Millbrook Road, Millbrook, Hampshire. They are living at 13 Sir George's Road, Freemantle by the time of the 1891 census and Frederick is now described as a baker and aged 19. His days as a baker at an end, he was still listed with his now widowed mother on the 1901 census as a ship's fireman. They were, at the time, living at 5 Back of Walls, All Saints, Southampton and he would live on this street for the rest of his life.

Frederick was married in Southampton in 1902 to Alice Ada West (b. 1870 in Woolston, Hampshire, daughter of Henry West and Harriet Jane Spencer) but the couple would have no children. By the time of the 1911 census Alice was listed alone at 5 Upper Back of Walls, All Saints whilst Frederick was listed elsewhere as a fireman on board the RMS Danube, then docked at Southampton.

When he signed on to the Titanic, in Southampton on 6 April 1912, Marsh gave his address as 5 Back of Walls, Southampton. His previous ship had been the Oruba and as a fireman he could expect monthly wages of £6.

Marsh was lost in the sinking. His body was recovered by the Mackay-Bennett and was buried at Fairview Cemetary, Halifax, Nova Scotia on 8 May 1912.

© Bob Knuckle, Canada.

His widow Alice never remarried and remained in Southampton where she died in 1943.