A Victim of the Titanic Disaster – 1912
Published in Windlesora 26 (2010)
© WLHG
Owen George Allum was born in 1895 in F almouth, Cornwall the son of William Allum (born Bray, Berkshire) and Clara Egleton (born Jersey, Channel Islands). It is not known exactly when Owen had come to Windsor but by 1912 he was living at 7 Gerald Villas, Vansittart Road Windsor. He worked as a telegraph boy in Windsor Post Office in the High Street.
Part of the row of houses known as Gerald Villas. Photographed in 2009
In April 1912 Owen Allum purchased a third class ticket (no. 1223) for the Titanic’s maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. The purpose of the trip was to visit his father who had separated from his mother. Owen was to become one of 1489 victims of the sinking of the Titanic on 14 April 1912. He was one of 529 third class passengers who were unable to be rescued from the sinking ship.
His body, one of the very few which were recovered from the Atlantic Ocean, was picked up by the cable steamer the Mackay-Bennett and then taken to Boston on 4 May 1912. At the time of his death Owen was wearing his best grey tweed suit and was carrying his most valued possessions which included a gun metal watch and chain, hairbrush, two knives, cigarette case and a wallet. Instead of greeting him in life in New York, his father waited for his body to arrive and accompanied it back to England.
Owen was brought back to England from Boston aboard another ship called the Arabic on 17 May 1912 and was subsequently interred in Clewer Parish Churchyard on the 22 May 1912. The Windsor Express reported the interment with great sentiment.
The grave of Owen Allum’s sister in Clewer Churchyard.
The inscription to the Titanic victim is simply added at the back.
‘The old churchyard of Clewer has witnessed many strange and touching scenes during the long roll of centuries that it has borne the designation of “God’s Acre”, still perhaps never one so unusual or so pathetic as that which occurred on Wednesday afternoon, when the ocean-based remains of a Clewer laddie, rescued from the surging billows of the Atlantic was laid to rest in the quiet and peaceful and well kept burial ground. Owen G Allum, aged 18 was a Clewer St Stephens old boy, who had spent some time in the British Postal service as a telegraph messenger, and was on his way to join his father in New York on the Titanic, when that vessel foundered in the Atlantic. His was one of the bodies afterwards recovered by the Bennet McKay (sic) and taken ashore, where the father, who had awaited a living son, could only identify and claim his dead body. The steamship company offered to convey the remains back to England, Mr Allum therefore decided to leave his position in the States and accompany his son’s body back to Clewer, so that it might rest beside that of a little sister. It was a long pilgrimage of parental affection, and not only did it enable the brother and sister to ever rest together, but brought some consolation to the lad’s mother and other members of the family.’
Apart from his parents the funeral was attended by his brother and sister and other relatives. Also were in attendance were Mr A Denyer (Telegraph Department) and Mr J Allen (Inspector of Postmen) who represented the Post Office officials. Many of the telegraph messengers were also present.
The coffin was brought to the graveside covered with a beautiful collection of wreaths, contributed by rich and poor.
His gravestone which still survives today gives a lasting tribute both to Owen Allum and also acts as a cenotaph to all those who perished in the terrible disaster of the sinking of the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic who still lie within the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
Here Rest In Christ
Owen George Allum
Shipwrecked on the Titanic and Drowned At Sea
April 14th, 1912, Aged 17 years.
Nearer My God To Thee
Windsor Local History Group 