Mr Thomas Joseph Everett 1 was born in Bedminster, Bristol, Gloucestershire, England in the closing months of 1874 2.
He was the son of Thomas Everett (1846-1931), a mariner, and Sarah Margrate (b. 1854). Both his parents hailed from Westbury-on-Severn, Gloucestershire and had married in early 1874. He is not known to have had any siblings and his mother is believed to have passed away in 1879, his father remarrying two years later to Maria Vickery (1843-1924), a native of Bristol.
Thomas first appears on the 1881 census when he was living at Flat House, Gloucester Road in Westbury-on-Severn, Gloucestershire with his grandmother, Elizabeth Everett, née Bozworth (1819-1911; born in Arlingham, Gloucestershire). His grandfather Joseph Everett (1824-1889; born in Westbury, Gloucestershire) was a barge master and commanded several of his sons as mates or cabin boys, Thomas' father included. By the age of 16 when Thomas appeared on the 1891 census he was under the command of his father Thomas and described as an ordinary seaman, docked in Bathurst Basin, Bristol in an unidentified vessel. He would later work as a dock labourer.
Thomas was married on 3 April 1899 in St Agnes' Church, Bristol to Fanny Louisa Chandler (b. 1879), a native of Westbury-on-Trym, Gloucestershire and the daughter of a mason. The couple had a son, Harry Albert Charles (b. 7 March 1901) but would lose another child during infancy.
The family appeared on the 1901 census living at 39 James Street, Bristol and on the 1911 census at 38 Magdalene Place, Lower Ashley Road, Bristol. By 1912 he was reportedly living at 7 Treefield Place, Mina Road, Bristol.
Everett boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger (joint ticket number C. A. 6212 which cost £15, 2s) with his friend Frederick Blainey Shellard, also of Bristol whom he was going to work for in America. They had been due to travel on Philadelphia but had their booking changed due to the coal strikes. Their destination was Troy, New York and he gave his occupation as a craneman.
Thomas Everett and his friend Frederick Shellard were lost in the sinking. Thomas' body was subsequently recovered from the sea on 23 April 1912 by the cable-laying vessel Mackay-Bennett and taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia where he was interred in Fairview Cemetery on 10 May 1912.
NO. 187. - MALE. - ESTIMATED AGE, 40. BROWN - HAIR.
CLOTHING - Black suit; red and white cholera belt.
NO MARKS.
EFFECTS - Tobacco box; knife; scissors; pencil; purse with 4 shillings; bill case, $23.00.
THIRD CLASS, No. 6212.
NAME - THOS. J. EVERETT.
Thomas' widow Fanny was remarried in 1919 to Albert Joseph Collings (1875-1952), a ship's stoker, but had no further children. She died in Bristol in 1930.
His son Harry was married in Bristol in 1926 to Florence Emily Hatcher (1902-1963) and raised a family. He died in 1970.
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I copied some pages from the St Werburghs Church (in Bristol) bell ringers minutes - they included this entry for 1912 "this year we have been called upon several times under very sad circumstances....once again for a parishioner who was one of the ill-fated passengers in the terrible "Titanic" tragedy..." I think this is likely to be Thomas Everett, who lived nearby.
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