Lawrence Beesley (31 December 1877 – 14 February 1967) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

science teacher, journalist and author who was a survivor of the sinking of .

Education

Beesley was educated at

Derby School Derby School was a school in Derby in the English Midlands from 1160 to 1989. It had an almost continuous history of education of over eight centuries. For most of that time it was a grammar school for boys. The school became co-educational an ...

, where he was a scholar, and afterwards at

Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

, again as a scholar. He took a First Class degree in the

Natural Science tripos The Natural Sciences Tripos (NST) is the framework within which most of the science at the University of Cambridge is taught. The tripos includes a wide range of Natural Sciences from physics, astronomy, and geoscience, to chemistry and biology, w ...

in 1903.

Career

Beginning as a schoolmaster at Wirksworth Grammar School, he moved to

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

, where he was a science master. In 1957 he was still teaching as Principal of the Northwood School of Coaching, Northwood, Middlesex.

RMS ''Titanic''

One of the survivors of the sinking of 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. Lifeboat No.13 was being launched on the Boat Deck, no women or children were in immediate sight, but it seemed there was room for more. As a result, Beesley was instructed to jump into the lifeboat just before it launched. He managed to survive a subsequent incident where Lifeboat No.15 nearly landed on top of No.13. The leading stoker of boiler room No.6, Fred Barrett, managed to cut the ropes connecting the boat to the falls at the last minute, and those in both boats emerged unharmed. Beesley and the rest of the survivors were picked up by in the early morning of 15 April.

Later life and legacy

During the filming of '' A Night to Remember'' in 1958, Beesley famously gatecrashed the set during the sinking scene, hoping to 'go down with the ship'. However, he was spotted by the director,

Roy Ward Baker Roy Ward Baker (born Roy Horace Baker; 19 December 1916 – 5 October 2010) was an English film director. His best known film is ''A Night to Remember (1958 film), A Night to Remember'' (1958) which won a Golden Globe for Golden Globe Award for ...

, who vetoed this unscheduled appearance due to actors' union rules. These events are parodied in

Julian Barnes Julian Patrick Barnes (born 19 January 1946) is an English writer. He won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 with ''The Sense of an Ending'', having been shortlisted three times previously with '' Flaubert's Parrot'', ''England, England'', and '' Art ...

' novel ''A History of the World in 10.5 Chapters'', where Beesley makes a brief appearance as a fictional character. Beesley was portrayed by actor

David Warner David or Dave Warner may refer to: Sports * Dave Warner (strongman) (born 1969), Northern Ireland strongman competitor * David Bruce Warner (born 1970), South African alpine skier * David Warner (cricketer) (born 1986), Australian cricketer Oth ...

(who later played fictional character Spicer Lovejoy in

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability w ...

's 1997 ''Titanic'' film) in the 1979 dramatisation of the voyage and sinking, ''

S.O.S. Titanic ''S.O.S. Titanic'' is a British-American 1979 drama disaster television movie that depicts the doomed 1912 maiden voyage from the perspective of three distinct groups of passengers in First, Second, and Third Class. The script was written by Jam ...

''. Beesley was also portrayed by Lawrence Bennett in 1999 musical stage adaptation ''Titanic''. His son Alec married the author

Dodie Smith Dorothy Gladys "Dodie" Smith (3 May 1896 – 24 November 1990) was an English novelist and playwright. She is best known for writing ''I Capture the Castle'' (1948) and the children's novel ''The Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (1956). Other works i ...

, and he is the grandfather of ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' science editor

Nicholas Wade Nicholas Michael Landon Wade (born 17 May 1942) is a British author and journalist. He is the author of numerous books, and has served as staff writer and editor for ''Nature'', ''Science'', and the science section of ''The New York Times''. ...

Publication

* ''The Loss of The SS Titanic: Its Story and Its Lessons, by One of the Survivors'' (June 1912) * ''The Loss of The SS Titanic'' (new edition, Mariner Books, 2000)

References

Lawrence Beesley at encyclopaedia-titanica.org

Luck for Some - Titanic's Lifeboat 13 and its Passengers, pp 40-48, Lawrence Beesley.

External links

* * *
''The Loss of the S.S. Titanic''

''The Loss of the S.S. Titanic'' in mobipocket format with images – bottom of page

Lawrence Beesley Death Certificate on Titanic-Titanic.com

''Lawrence Beesley: Celebrated Titanic Survivor by Peter Seddon''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beesley, Lawrence 1877 births 1967 deaths Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge People educated at Derby School People from Wirksworth RMS Titanic survivors Science teachers