Lawrence Beesley
Lawrence Beesley (31 December 1877 – 14 February 1967) was an English science teacher, journalist and author who was a survivor of the sinking of RMS Titanic.
Lawrence Beesley | |
---|---|
![]() Lawrence Beesley (back) in the Gymnastics Room of Titanic | |
Born | Wirksworth, Derbyshire, England | 31 December 1877
Died | 14 February 1967 89) Lincoln, England | (aged
Occupation | teacher, journalist, author |
Education
Beesley was educated at Derby School, where he was a scholar, and afterwards at Caius College, Cambridge, again as a scholar. He took a First Class degree in the Natural Science tripos in 1903.[1]
Career
Beginning as a schoolmaster at Wirksworth Grammar School, he moved to Dulwich College, where he was a science master. In 1957 he was still teaching as Principal of the Northwood School of Coaching, Northwood, Middlesex.
RMS Titanic
One of the survivors of the sinking of Titanic in April 1912, Beesley wrote a successful book about his experience, The Loss of the SS Titanic (June 1912), published just nine weeks after the disaster. He saw two second class women who tried to get on a lifeboat being instructed to go back to their own deck, and that their lifeboats were waiting there.
As Lifeboat No. 13 was being launched on the Boat Deck, no women or children were in immediate sight, but it seemed there was room for more. As a result, Beesley was instructed to jump into the lifeboat just before it launched. He managed to survive a subsequent incident where Lifeboat No. 15 nearly landed on top of No. 13. The leading stoker of boiler room No.6, Fred Barrett, managed to cut the ropes connecting the boat to the falls at the last minute, and those in both boats emerged unharmed. Beesley and the rest of the survivors were picked up by RMS Carpathia in the early morning of 15 April.
During the filming of A Night to Remember in 1958, Beesley famously gatecrashed the set during the sinking scene, hoping to 'go down with the ship'. But he was spotted by the director, Roy Ward Baker, who vetoed this unscheduled appearance due to actors' union rules. These events are parodied in Julian Barnes' novel A History of the World in 10.5 Chapters, where Beesley makes a brief appearance as a fictional character.
Beesley was portrayed by actor David Warner (who later played fictional character Spicer Lovejoy in James Cameron's 1997 Titanic film) in the 1979 dramatisation of the voyage and sinking, S.O.S. Titanic. He is the grandfather of New York Times science editor Nicholas Wade. Beesley was also portrayed by Lawrence Bennett in 1999 musical stage adaptation Titanic.
Publication
- The Loss of The SS Titanic: Its Story and Its Lessons, by One of the Survivors (June, 1912)
- The Loss of The SS Titanic (new edition, Mariner Books, 2000) ISBN 0-618-05531-2
References
- "Beesley, Lawrence (BSLY900L)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
External links
- Works by Lawrence Beesley at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Lawrence Beesley at Internet Archive
- Works by Lawrence Beesley at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- The Loss of the S.S. Titanic
- The Loss of the S.S. Titanic in mobipocket format with images – bottom of page
- Lawrence Beesley Death Certificate on Titanic-Titanic.com
- Lawrence Beesley: Celebrated Titanic Survivor by Peter Seddon