My second book about the RMS Titanic and her passengers and crew along with some movie talk. Same rules apply, no drama, trolls, and disrespecting the people on this ship
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June 8th, 1887 - 1941
He is a Gemini.
Sidney Clarence Stuart Collett was born in Hampstead, London, England to Mawbey Ernst Collett (1851 - 1922), a coach ironmonger, and Ann Pinfold, née Casely (1849 - 1939), natives of Clerkenwell and Essex, respectively. His father had first been married in 1876 to Elizabeth Alice Stare (May of 1854) from Southampton and through this marriage Sidney had 6 half-siblings: Alice Mawbey (1876 - 1878), Ernest Henry (1878 - 1945), Herbert Victor (1879 - 1896), William Melville (1881 - 1908), Harold John (born 1883), and Percy Alexander (1884 - 1950).
Following his first wife's death in December of 1884, not long after the birth of Percy, Mawbey remarried in 1885 to Ann, the young widow of Frederick Pinfold (1852 - 1879). Sidney was the 2nd of their 5 children and his siblings were: Thomas Alfred Fletcher (1886 - 1964), Violet Amelia (1888 - 1959), Daisy Ann (1891 - 1952), and Lily Elizabeth (1892 - 1974). Sidney first appears on the 1891 census living with his family at Estelle Road, Kentish Town, London. He first attended Fleet Road School and on October 5th, 1896 he became a pupil at Yerbery Road School in Upper Holloway. By the time of the 1901 census the family home was St John's, Upper Holloway.
A pious young man, the 1911 census described Sidney as an un-denominational Evangelist and as a visitor to an address in East Hall, Rainham, Essex, the home of farmer James Vellcott and his father. Sidney's parents had migrated and settled in Port Byron, New York around 1910 where his father became a pastor for the First Baptist Church; other siblings had made the move ahead of him and Thomas was a student at Syracuse University; it became Sidney's intention of joining them there.
Aboard Titanic/April 14th-15th, 1912: Sidney had originally intended to book passage on the St Louis but was too late in booking to secure a berth. He then attempted to sail on the Philadelphia but the voyage was cancelled due to the coal strike and his passage was then moved to the Titanic. He travelled by train from Waterloo with his uncle Sidney Collett and boarded the RMS Titanic at Southampton on April 10th, 1912 as a 2nd class passenger. He brought with him the family possessions that hadn't previously been brought to America by other members of the family; including a valuable library, family documents, and a considerable amount of money.
The day before sailing Sidney had mailed a letter to his mother from London containing a second sealed envelope that was self-addressed. The family letter instructed his parents that should anything unforeseen happen to him during his journey to them they should open the 2nd envelope. Sidney was seen off at Southampton by his uncle and an aunt. Just before departure, Sidney would later explain, his aunt instructed him to look after Marion Wright, a young lady who was traveling to join her fiancé. According to him, "...since I became new protector, she playfully suggested that in order that I might not make love to her she get another friend as our companion." This companion was Kate Buss and he took both ladies into his charge.
"Just as we were aboard and after it was impossible for me to go ashore again I saw my aunt beckoning rigorously to me and turned in the direction she indicated. I saw a young lady looking at me and I looked at her. It was Miss Wright and she was coming to New York to meet her lover and in this manner she was as it were, put into my charge. Then we sped on our way and there was more trouble. The suction of our boat drew the stern of the New York toward us and her stern and our stern were rushing together when a tug caught the New York and towed her to her moorings. We passed Cherbourg and Queenstown and on Thursday afternoon I took my last look and bade farewell to the old country. Everything was going finely. On Sunday morning we had our first service, an Episcopalian service and the chaplain read from the 13th Corinthians, I believe." - The Auburn Citizen, April 23rd, 1912
He recalled the hymn services aboard the ship:
"Miss Wright ... sang There Are Green Hills Far Away, and For Those in Peril At Sea. At the request of Mr. Carter we also sang Now the Day Is Over and in closing sang: Stand Up For Jesus. I remember that because we had no music so I led the singing. 'Now give us five minutes of the Gospel,' I said to Rev. Carter and so the meeting closed, and I am sure that everybody enjoyed it." - The Auburn Citizen, April 23rd, 1912
Before going to bed on April 14th, 1912 Sidney had enjoyed supper with an unidentified young man from Guernsey. He has been in bed only 10 minutes when the collision occurred, describing the impact as "two heavy throbs". Up on deck, possibly A-deck, Sidney again encountered his friend from Guernsey but the man crossed to the other side of the ship and he never saw him again. He later entered lifeboat 9:
"There were no more women to go and I asked the officer if there was any objection to my going in that boat. He said 'No, get in' and I was the last one in. I think it was the third from the last to go on that side. It was No. 9 and we had to get away fast. Besides other boats going down there was danger from the sinking boat. I cannot describe the sinking in any other way than to say that it was like the noise from a football field, not loud like a shout of victory, but hushed as though there was canvas over it... There were two loud noises as she went down. It was like as if all the cargo went from one side of the ship to the other all at once. It may have been bursting of the boilers or the vessel breaking itself in two. I don't know. It seemed to me that we all should go down. As she sank I saw her looming up more clearly just as on a lantern slide when they are bringing a picture into focus." - The Auburn Citizen, April 23rd, 1912
After The Sinking/Later Life/Death: Sidney later attended Denison University in Hrainville, Ohio with intentions of entering the Rochester Theological Seminary upon completion of his course. Being a lone Briton and slightly older then his peers he kept very much to himself; in June of 1913 his timid demeanor led to him being hazed by 6 fellow students, all masked, who branded his forehead with silver nitrate in a cross shape, disfiguring him for life. The ringleader was later expelled from the university. At the time of his 1917 US draft Sidney was living at West 57th Street, New York, described as a student and of medium height, slender in frame and with blue eyes and brown hair.
Still at home with his parents by the time of the 1920 census, their address then being Gareon Avenue, Rochester, Sidney was described as a film examiner in the Kodak factory. Further details about Sidney's later life aren't entirety certain. Whilst some sources have said he was married and had a family there appears to have been a confusion between he and another man named Sidney Collett. When the correct Sidney Collett appeared on the 1939 UK register he was described as an unmarried salesman, lodging at an address in Southed-on-Sea, Essex.
Sidney died in Islington, London to the first quarter of 1941. He is buried in Hendon Cemetery and Crematorium, London Borough of Barnet in an unmarked grave. There was a headstone but it was removed in 1975. Why the headstone was removed is unknown. His last surviving sibling was his younger sister Lily who died in Rochester on October 23rd, 1974.
