Mr Richard Cater Nosworthy 1 was born in March 1891 2 in Newton Abbot, Devon, England.
He was the son of George Henry Nosworthy (b. 1865), a tanner's labourer, and Lavinia Ann Rowe (b. 1866). His parents hailed from Devon and Cornwall respectively and had married in the latter months of 1889.
He had three siblings: George Henry (b. 1890), John Rowe (b. 1893) and Florence Annie (1898-1958, later Mrs Richard Henry Squires Lander), and a half-sibling belonging to his mother from a previous relationship, Albert (b. 1887).
Richard first appears on the 1891 census when he was just one month old, living at 7 Shapley's Court, Highweek, Newton Abbot, the place of his birth. The 1901 census shows the family living at Cottage Bradley (?), Newton Abbot and by the time of the 1911 census Richard was still living with his family, then at 21 Highweek Road, Newton Abbot and he was by then described as a farm labourer.
He booked passage on the Olympic but due to rail disruption his original journey to Southampton was halted at Exeter. He returned to Newton Abbot and transferred his passage to the Titanic which he boarded at Southampton as a third class passenger (ticket number 39886 which cost £7, 16s). Where he was travelling is not certain; one report (Totnes Times and Devon News, 20 April 1912) states that he was travelling to Buffalo, New York where he had an uncle.3 Another report (Western Morning News, 17 April 1912) suggests that he was headed for Canada where he had friends.
Nosworthy was lost in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.
Richard's parents later moved to 62 East Street (off Lemon Road) Newton Abbot and it was here that Richard's father died in 8 August 1936. Richard's mother then moved to 43 Highweek Road and she was to die there 8 February 1942. His sister Florence died in Newton Abbot in 1958.
Richard is remembered on the family gravestone in the graveyard at Highweek north of Newton Abbott, Devon.
 Courtesy Steve Coombes, UK |
Of George H.Norsworthy Died August 8th 1936 Aged 70 Also Richard C. Norsworthy Son Of The Above Who Lost His Life In The 'Titanic' Disaster April 15th 1912 Aged 21 'Nearer My God To Thee' And Of Lavinia Ann Wife of George Norsworthy Died Feb 8th 1942 Aged 77 'Peace Perfect Peace' |
Comment and discuss
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Hi! I am looking for anyone who might know something about passenger Richard Cater Norsworthy. Is he related to Richard Cater of Devon who emigrated to Bloody Point, New Hampshire around 1635? Richard Cater married Agnes Fugg in Devon before emigrating. Edward Cater, s/o Richard and Agnes Fugg, christened in 1635, Berry Pomeroy, died off the Isle of Shoals in Portmaouth, N.H. in 1670. He left a wife, Grace and 2 daughters in England. I know we have family connections in Northern New York but have not been able to make the connection to date. Any info would be greatly appreciated!!
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Hello and welcome to Encyclopedia Titanica, I did a search on this website and found out that Richard Cater Norsworthy was indeed a passenger on the Titanic. Travelling in 3rd class, he lost his life as did so many other lower-class men. It's very easy to find out information about him or any other passenger; simply type their name into the search box and you will be taken to a biography with much information on them. I do not know if he is related to this Richard Carter you speak of, but his biography says that the Richard Carter of the Titanic did indeed live in Devon (Newton Abbot, too be exact) and was the son of George Henry Nosworthy and Louisa Annie Nosworthy. His brothers and sister were Albert, George, John and Florence, and he had an uncle who emigrated to Buffalo, New York State sometime in the early 1900s, prompting him to follow. I hope this can be of some assistance. I know how interesting it can be to trace your family ancestry; I discovered that my...
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Thanks Holly! I found the biography very informative and now I need to find the connection to my family. My Richard Cater emigrated from Berry Pomeroy, Devon, England in 1635 to Bloody Point, New Hampshire. So I am wondering where Mr. Norsworthy might fit into our family tree. I am thinking it is on his mother's side, that perhaps she was a descendant of Richard Cater. I noticed that a Mr. Steve Coombes provided a good bit of the information and grave site picture, and hope that he reads this post. Do you know how I might track him down?
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I'm very glad that you found the biography helpful, and wish you luck on your further probing of your family tree, but I'm afraid I haven't the faintest idea of how to track down Steve Coombes. Unfortunately he doesn't seem to be a member of the E.T. boards here, and there isn't any way to contact him provided on the biography, so I'm sorry to say that I'm at a loss. Perhaps one of the other members of the thread will know how to contact Mr. Coombes? If that fails, then maybe you could try searching up your Richard Caters and other members of the family tree into a geneaology website or something? I'm afraid I don't know much about how to do so. Or perhaps some of your relatives know more about the family history? That's how I got most of my information on my heritage, from my grandparents and such. All in all, I hope you are able to continue the research and that it goes well for you. It would be amazing to trace your heritage as far back as 1635 (as for me, the trail grows...
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I ran a search on Ancestry.com. I wasn't able to find anything about Richard Cater-Norsworthy, but I did find: Edward Cater, b. Sep 27 1632 in Berry Pomeroy, Devon, England, to Richard Cater and Christian Anges Ann Fug. Apparently he married Joan Diamond before December 22nd 1691. Another Edward Cater, born 1632 in Madbury, Devon, Engalnd, is listed as having married Grace Hale in 1657. Hope this helps, Holly Alzbeta Peterson
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Many thanks Holly! I will have to check on the names of both Joan Diamond and Grace Hale. Thanks so much for looking up the info for me! Donna
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You're very welcome, Donna! While I was at it, I searched up some of the names of my own ancestors, and discovered their parents.
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Hi D Fiocca, We think that Richard may have been our grandfathers counsin. We are currently looking into this. When our grandfather was alive, he used to tell us a story that one of his cousins died on the titanic. We never took this seriously until we started to research our family tree. It has come to light that our great grandmother was called Susan Norsworthy possible spelt Nosworthy, who was from Highweek in Devon born 1862. It is possible that she could either have been Richard's father George's sister or he could have been her uncle. We are trying to look into this at the moment for connections. Reading the biography on here there are to many connnections, our Grandfather was called Albert and his Sister was called Florence is two brothers was called Henry and George. Hope this has been some help. Like we said we are trying to look into this further at the moment. Thanks Julia & Alison Lewis feel free to emails us at ...
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Hello, Julia--- If you click on D Fiocca's name, you'll see that she has not visited this board since last May, and therefore may not see this message. You may want to try sending her a PM instead.
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Thank you mark
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