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WIRKSWORTH Parish Records 1600-1900

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Lawrence Beesley taken about 1911
Lawrence Beesley, schoolmaster.
Lawrence Beesley's book

Lawrence Beesley & the Titanic

Lawrence Beesley is best known for surviving the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, and writing one of the first books on the tragedy, called "Loss of the SS Titanic, Its Story and Its Lessons"
He was born in 1877, taught Science at Anthony Gell School, Wirksworth 1902-1904, and died in 1967.
Stuart Flint sent the following information about his connections with Lawrence Beesley, thanks Stuart.
A great deal can be found about Lawrence Beesley by searching Google on the following keywords: "Lawrence Beesley", Titanic, Wirksworth.

From: STUART FLINT
Subject: Beesley
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2006 11:14:16 +0100 (BST)
To:

Hello

You may be interested in the following information

Lawrence Beesley who was a survivor of the Titanic disaster April 1912 was son of Henry Beesley of Heysham Lancs (born 1845) who at age 12 years lived with his Uncle and Aunt Samuel and Anne Flint nee Taylor.. at Steeplegrange near Wirksworth

Henry by age 18 was a Solicitors Clerk along with Andrew Macbeth and John James.. at either Hodgkinsons or Hubbersty's Solicitors at the office now Andrew Macbeth Cash & Co recently taken over by Potter & Co Matlock.. but, by his marriage to Anne Marie James sister of the aforesaid John James, they the children of Thomas James Glassware Dealer St John Street originally from Pembroke South Wales.. Henry was a Bank Clerk at Capital & Counties Bank Bank Terrace (The Causeway, now Lloyds T.S.B. rebuilt after Arkwright & Toplis days in 1861 then owned by Maltby & Robinson also known as Nottingham Banking Co.. by my Grt Grandfather Joseph Walker & Sons who also built Compton & Evans, now NatWest Market Place Wirksworth and many of the shops on St John Street plus The Baptist Church Coldwell Street and Mount Zion Methodist Church Middleton plus Railway Contracts) ..

Henry by 1895 was Bank Manager at Capital & Counties Bank then removing to their larger Branch at Corporation Street Manchester.. his wife Anne Marie and children remaining at the Bank House Bank Terrace up to all removing to Manchester.

Henry Beesley was nephew to Samuel and Anne Flint nee Taylor of Steeplegrange. Samuel a Mining Agent son of Samuel and Hannah Flint nee Allen of Bolehill they my 4XUncle and Aunt.. Samuel senior Mining Agent at The Dovegange and Rantnatakers Lead Mines twixt Black Rocks and Middleton..his brother Joseph Mining Agent at The Bage and Ratchwood Lead Mines Bolehill and Rise End Middleton respectively

Lawrence Beesley married Gertrude Cecile Macbeth daughter of Thomas Alexander Macbeth of Manchester he son of Andrew Macbeth and Isobella nee Spencer she daughter of Anthony and Ellen Spencer of Gorsey Bank Wirksworth ..Spencer's both my wife and my own family.. Andrew Macbeths brother Isaac was father to Andrew Macbeth who founded the solicitors at Wirksworth.. Isaac and Andrew seniors Grand fore bare was Isaac Hoades my 5XGrandfather who married Anne Shaw 1st wife and my true Grt Grandmother.. Anne of the Shaw family who opened up Middle Peak Quarry(eventually known as Bowne & Shaw) and other workings on Colehills and at Matlock Dale.. When Anne died Isaac married Elizabeth Peach they Grand fore bares to Isaac and Andrew Macbeth seniors Isaac a Baker on St Mary's Gate Wirksworth followed on as bakers by Baggaleys who married into Shaws then Halls (Luke of Bolehill) of my allied kin and then Addy (Adam) Killer of my kinship.. still owned today by a distant kinsman of my wife and my Slack family re Taylors of Middleton / Bolehill

Lawrence Beesley born 1877 as you will know was, for a time, a school teacher (Science) at Anthony Gell School 1902 - 1904 then a lecturer at Dulwich College..Gertrude died by 1911 after having one son Alec and so Lawrence booked a 2nd class ticket on the new ship Titanic to visit Canada to see his brother Frank Meredith Beelsey then in his mid 20s ... The rest is well recorded history so I will not bore you with the detail..

Alec Beesley son of Lawrence, married, after a long and rather tedious courtship, to Dodie Smith they both struggling actors at Manchester (The Athenian owned by Dodies Uncle)

Alec was a Pacifist and just before the 2nd war broke out to avoid call up he and Dodie emigrated to America where Dodie began to make a name for herself as an author, who wrote books ie 101 Dalmatians and other works which have been made into films (101 Dalmatians presently being produced at The Theatre Royal Nottingham with all star castings). Dodie Smith died at Manchester in 1990 in her 90s. Lawrence married again to "Mollie" Greenwood..and had children Laurien Hugh and Waveney.. I am presently gaining contact to Nicholas Wade the son of Laurien Beesley (married Michael Wade) by Mr Pat Cook who I have contacted giving more information re Beesley's Mr Cook a co writer re Encylopaedia Titanica..and Phillip Beesley of Toronto Canada heir of Frank Meredith Beesley brother to Lawrence..the brother Lawrence was intending to visit via his Titanic journey

Lawrence Beesley obt 1967 London

Regards Stuart G Flint 

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Book for sale on Ebay

THE LOSS OF THE TITANIC, ITS STORY AND ITS LESSONS
By Lawrence Beesley

Earliest Survivor Account WHITE STAR LINE Olympic

FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING
Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1912. Published, June, 1912.

8vo / Hardcover / 301 pp. / Illustrated / Frontis / Gilt titles / Wear, spots to boards / Owner's plate, "Library of Jerome Rowley George no. 598" / Foxing to frontis, tissue / Slightly shaky at front /

S C A R C E - the earliest published book by a survivor about the SS Titanic disaster. MUST HAVE for any Titanic enthusiast.

Contents: Construction and Preparations for the First Voyage, From Southampton to the Night of the Collision, The Collision and Embarkation in Lifeboats, The Rescue, The Sinking of the Titanic seen from her deck; The Carpathia's Return to New York; The Lessons Taught by the Loss of the Titanic, Some Impressions.

Lawrence Beesley (December 31, 1877 – February 14, 1967) was an English teacher, journalist and author who was a survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. He was born in Wirksworth, Derbyshire.

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.

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.

One of the survivors of the sinking of the 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, who were told to go back to their own deck, that their lifeboats were waiting there.

During the filming of A Night to Remember (1958), Beesley famously gatecrashed the set during the sinking scene, hoping to ‘go down with the ship’ a second time. But he was spotted by the director, Roy Ward Baker, who vetoed this unscheduled appearance, due to actors' union rules.

The RMS Titanic was an Olympic-class passenger liner owned by British shipping company White Star Line and built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland. At the time of her construction, she was the largest passenger steamship in the world.

Shortly before midnight on 14 April 1912, four days into the ship's maiden voyage, Titanic hit an iceberg and sank two hours and forty minutes later, early on 15 April 1912. The sinking resulted in the deaths of 1,517 of the 2,223 people on board, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. The high casualty rate was due in part to the fact that, although complying with the regulations of the time, the ship did not carry enough lifeboats for everyone aboard. The ship had a total lifeboat capacity of 1,178 people, although her maximum capacity was 3,547. A disproportionate number of men died due to the women-and-children-first protocol that was followed.

The Titanic was designed by some of the most experienced engineers, and used some of the most advanced technology available at the time. It was popularly believed to have been unsinkable. It was a great shock to many that, despite the extensive safety features, the Titanic sank. The frenzy on the part of the media about Titanic's famous victims, the legends about the sinking, the resulting changes to maritime law, and the discovery of the wreck have contributed to the continuing interest in, and notoriety of, the Titanic.

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