# THE TITANIC – 100 YEARS ON

The last photograph of RMS Titanic, leaving the port of Queenstown in Ireland on her way to New York on April 11 1912, four days before she sank (Photo by Father Browne/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

Joseph Bell from Farlam uring the frantic hours between the about Joseph (josephbellengineer. children live in Farlam House, which was in RMS Titanic striking an iceberg and wordpress.com) and has been working to the Bell family from the 1800s and was home her sinking, the ship’s chief engineer draw attention to his bravery that night. to the young Joseph. Dand his team of men did their best There are memorials to Joseph and his Ann has researched Joseph’s family tree as to give the passengers a fighting chance of fellow engineers in Southampton and part of investigations into the history of her getting off the stricken ship safely. Liverpool but although there were reportedly home. She discovered that Joseph’s mother Out of It’s widely believed that the efforts of the plans, made in the wake of the disaster, for a died shortly after having her fourth child, men, who lost their own lives, prevented the fountain dedicated to him in Stanwix, when Joseph was only seven. death toll of more than 1,500 from rising Carlisle, where his family was then living, it’s Joseph himself was a married father-of- even higher as passengers and crew perished believed that nothing was done. four when he took charge of the Titanic’s in the freezing north Atlantic. Barrie says that it’s “shameful” that there’s engines for its maiden voyage. Ann wonders The man in charge of the heroic team was no Cumbrian memorial to Joseph, who acted if his first-hand experience of losing a parent Joseph Bell, who was born and grew up at so heroically. went through the engineer’s mind as the boat darkness Farlam, near Brampton. “He [Joseph] said: ‘Look chaps, you can was sinking. As the boat sank on April 15, 1912, either put your lifebelts on and go upstairs “He was brought up without a mother On April 15, the centenary of the sinking of the he and his men stayed at their posts in the and take your chances or you can stay with and he knew he was leaving his family; his engine room and kept the power going, which us and try to keep the lights on and the radio youngest was only born in 1908,” she says. Titanic will be commemorated across the world. meant that the lights stayed on, the lifeboats going’. More or less to a man they stayed “He would have known, if he had time to could be operated and the wireless continued there to keep things going until the boat think of it, his family was going to grow up Michaela Robinson-Tate finds out about a to work. eventually sank.” without a parent. You don’t know whether Barrie Hodgson, of Winsford in Cheshire, He added: “Without the functioning of that went through his mind. Cumbrian-born hero whose courage prevented whose middle name is Bell and who believes the wireless, pumps and particularly the “He did what he had to do; he did not he may be related to Joseph, has been lights, the death toll would have undoubtedly shirk his duty.” an even greater death toll and reveals other campaigning for a memorial in Cumbria to been even higher.” Ann’s research has also shown that when local links to the doomed vessel honour his ancestor. He’s set up a website Ann Freer, her husband, Brian and their he was growing up in north Cumbria, the ²

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The memorial headstone of Joseph Bell in Farlam; right: Thomas Henry Ismay Left: Alan Cook, archivist at the Cummersdale Design Collection, with the artwork and original sample of the 'Grapes and Scrolls' chintz chosen for the state rooms on the Titanic; above: the memorial headstone of Richard Charles Geddes in Stanwix Cemetery, Carlisle

Joseph Bell and, right, David Wilmot, who plays him in Saving the Titanic; left: the ship leaving Southampton

young Joseph would have had the The film, which had its world premiere in One of the key players in Titanic’s history, The pink and purple chintz design of opportunity to learn about boats. ‘You can take your chances or you can stay with us Dublin, will be shown on the History Thomas Henry Ismay, who was born in flowers and grapes, printed on cotton, would His well-off farming family owned land at Channel as Heroes of the Titanic some time Maryport in 1837, learned his trade watching have been used on chairs, sofas and possibly Talkin Tarn and his grandfather, also Joseph and try to keep the lights on and the radio going’ around April 13 and its makers say it may go the activity at the port before going on to own curtains in the ship’s state rooms. Artwork for Bell, built a boathouse on the tarn, which is out on the BBC. the White Star Line, the shipping company the design and some of the original fabric, all now the Bird Observatory. Ann says that Carlisle. Joseph left to work as an at Farlam. She never lived there but family which built and operated the Titanic. that is left, kept at the Cummersdale Design because the family was affluent, it’s apprentice engine fitter at Robert relatives ran the farm until the Sixties. oseph Bell wasn’t the only Cumbrian His son, Bruce Ismay, commissioned the Collection, which is owned by the John Lewis reasonable to assume that boats would have Stephenson’s and Co at Newcastle, A new film recounts how Joseph and his who was intimately involved in Titanic’s Titanic and was on board for her maiden Partnership. been kept there and that the young Joseph beginning the career that would culminate men attempted to save the stricken vessel. Jstory. voyage. He survived and was later criticised would have been able to take to the lake for in his time on the Titanic. Saving the Titanic, made by an Irish film Another victim of the disaster was a for his actions that night, although evidence I Patrick Stokes reveals more about the his first taste of sailing. Joseph married Maud Bates in 1893 company, tells the story of the disaster from steward, Richard Charles Geddes, who was has been produced since to restore his Ismays in Family History on page 31. Joseph was born at Farlam House in April and they had four children. He was also below deck and follows nine central 31 and also from the Stanwix area. He had reputation. I For more on Barrie Hodgson’s 1861. His mother, Margaret, died in 1868. chief engineer on the Olympic, the Titanic’s characters from the engineering crew as they worked on the Olympic before transferring to Biscuits made by Carr’s at Carlisle were on campaign for a memorial in Cumbria Following his wife’s death, Joseph’s father, sister ship. work among the huge, coal-fired furnaces her sister ship and is commemorated on the board the Titanic, as was fabric, produced by to Joseph Bell, see www.josephbellengineer. John, moved with the children to Stanwix in After his death, Maud inherited the farm heating the boiler and dynamos. family gravestone at Stanwix Cemetery. Stead McAlpin at Cummersdale, near Carlisle. wordpress.com ²

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