Sir Walter Jack Howell (16 August 1851''London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812'' – 29 January 1913) was a British civil servant. He was Assistant Secretary to the Marine Department of the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

. Howell was born in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...

,''1881 England Census'' the eldest surviving son of Valentine Frederick Howell (1825–1882) and his wife, Hannah Probert (1825–1893), daughter of Isaac Probert of

Yockleton Yockleton is a village in Shropshire, England. Yockleton is west of the county town of Shrewsbury, on the B4386 road to Montgomery and near the River Severn. The population as taken at the 2011 census can be found under Westbury. Yockleton ...

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. Walter Howell was educated at

Loughborough Grammar School , religion = Christian , head_label = Headmaster , head = Dr Daniel Koch , r_head_label = Chaplain , r_head = Revd E J York , chair_label = Chairman ...

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, and in France. Howell was made a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

(CB) in the November

1902 Birthday Honours The 1902 Birthday Honours were announced on 10 November 1902, to celebrate the birthday of Edward VII the previous day. The list included appointments to various orders and honours of the United Kingdom and the British Empire. The list was publi ...

list, and promoted to

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(KCB) in 1907. He was also a Knight Commander of the

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and a Fellow of the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

(FSS). His offices were in Number 7 Whitehall Gardens (

Pembroke House Pembroke House, located on Whitehall, was the London residence of the earls of Pembroke. History It was built by the architect earl Henry Herbert in 1723–24 (under Colen Campbell and latterly his assistant Roger Morris), on ground leased by ...

), with his home at Redlynch,

Streatham Common Streatham Common is a large open space on the southern edge of Streatham in the London Borough of Lambeth. The shallow sloping lower (western) half of the common is mostly mowed grass, and the upper (eastern) half is mostly woodland with some s ...

. Howell was a witness at the ''Titanic'' inquiry after it sank on its maiden voyage in 1912 with huge loss of life. A portrait of Howell is held by the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

His obituary was published in ''The Times''.

References

External links

Testimony of Sir Walter J. Howell (Day 21)
(Titanic Inquiry Project)
Testimony of Sir Walter J. Howell, recalled (Day 22)
(Titanic Inquiry Project)
Testimony of Sir Walter J. Howell, recalled (Day 23)
(Titanic Inquiry Project) {{DEFAULTSORT:Howell, Walter Jack 1851 births 1913 deaths People educated at Loughborough Grammar School Alumni of King's College London Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath