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mikegunnill · 2 years ago

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111 years since the Titanic sank.

There are many stories about the sinking of the Titanic and the people who sailed on her. This my story; originally published in Bygone Kent magazine issue:37 Number 2, over 8 pages.

The Titanic sank on the 15th April 1912. Of the 2,223 onboard, 1517 were lost.

Many were searching for a new life in the United States. One of these was 36-year-old Kate Buss 1873-1972 from Sittingbourne, Kent. She was making the journey alone to marry her Kent-born fiancé, Samuel Willis in San Diego in California. Kate survived and they married three weeks after the disaster.

Picture: Kate Buss before leaving Kent.

Samuel Willis ran a tailor’s shop in Sittingbourne, first in the High Street and then later at 110 East Street. Kate Buss was born at 37 Shakespeare Road, Sittingbourne. In 1901 her father James Buss was listed as a grocer-postmaster at 68 Shortlands Road, Sittingbourne.

Picture: Kate Buss, birth home in Sittingbourne, Kent.

Samuel Willis sailed to America in 1908 and settled in San Diego and then opened his own grocery store. Saving enough, to send money back to Kent to pay for his wife-to-be voyage. Kate sailed on a second-class ticket for E-Deck, number 27849, which cost £13.

At 11.40pm on the 14th April she heard a crash and went on deck. Meeting a friend, she returned to her cabin and put more clothes on, then returned on deck. Along with a female friend they were escorted to lifeboat Number 9. Kate later wrote to a friend, Elsie Sparkes in Halling, Kent: “ I’d just my nightdress, my dressing gown and a long coat. It was terribly cold by the iceberg.”

“ I’ve lost everything to remind me of home, all my photographs, my letters, everything except my rings and watch.”

Lifeboat Number 9 was lowered at 1.30am and it was picked up by the Carpathia at 6.15am. The ship picked up 712 people from 13 lifeboats. The rescue ship arrived at Pier 54 in New York at 9.25pm on the 18th April.

Picture: The lifeboat arriving off the rescue ship; Carpathia.

Staying in the east side of New York at the home of; Reverend William Dalziel 1855-1935 and his wife, Emma 1856-1921, formally of Greenstreet near Faversham. Kate wrote to her mother in Sittingbourne.

“ I do hope you don’t believe most of the newspaper stories. I am well and want you to know this. I have been preserved from reporters, who have been trying to find me.”

She later left New York and started the journey to San Diego, where she was reunited with Samuel Willis. Kate wrote several letters to friends in Halling, near Rochester. “ They had to haul me up the last few steps of the rescue ladder and then someone wrapped me in a rug. I had hot brandy and water in the saloon.”

The memory of the terrifying climb, she said would stay with her for the rest of her life.

Kate married Samuel Willis as planned on Saturday, 11th May 1912.

Picture: Kate Buss and Samuel Willis.

Kate Willis never spoke in public about the tragedy but did so in private, when she became emotional. She successfully avoided the press and didn’t testify to either, to the American or the British boards of inquiry.

In one of the few public statements she made, Kate said: “ I willingly would have waited, if I had known how few lifeboats there were.”

On the 12th July 1972, Kate Buss Willis died in Independence, Oregon. On her gravestone her daughter added a, “ Titanic survivor.”

Picture: Kate Buss Willis in 1950.

Passengers from Kent who died during the Titanic disaster were:

William Thomas Bevan,19 of 95 Richmond Road, Gillingham.

Harry Bristow, 39 of Station Parade, Shortlands, Bromley.

Richard Henry Rouse, 50, of 30 New Road, Sittingbourne.

Thomas Leonard Theobald, 34, 8 Cromer Street, Strood.

Alfred Rush,16, a friend of the Theobald family.

Bernard John Boughton, 25, of 12 Hardinge Road, Ashford.

Percival Thorneycroft, 36 of Bearsted.

Frank Goldsmith, 33 of 22 Hone Street, Strood.

A more complete version was published in Bygone Kent magazine. http://bygonekent.org.uk/

Relations of the Buss and Willis families, helped with details used in this article.

#Kate Buss #Kate Buss Willis #Titanic #Sittingbourne #San Diego #Willis #bygonekent #mikegunnill

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mikegunnill · 3 years ago

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Mrs Heather Iandolo.

It has been announced that Mrs Heather Iandolo of Railway Street, Gillingham Kent has died, aged 93.

She dedicated her life answering and making amends for her father’s actions. Her father was William Joyce, better known as “Lord Haw Haw” who broadcast from Germany during World War Two and, was the second last man to be hanged for treason.

Born on the 30th July 1928 as Heather Brooke Joyce, as the first child of William Joyce and Hazel, nee Barr from Canterbury, Kent. Heather married Vincenzo Iandolo, a Gillingham hairdresser in 1955 and settled in the area. They had four children but later separated when her husband became, “ uncomfortable “ with the Iandolo surname been publicised, at the reburial of William Joyce. Heather Iandolo became a devout Catholic after spending time in France and a regular at; Our Lady of Gillingham Church in Ingram Road, where she also sang in the choir.

She became a teacher and taught locally mainly French and history. At one point she worked in Walderslade and cycled from her Gillingham home, to and from the school, every day. She also taught at Chapter School, Strood.

After her retirement she provided private tutorials, sometimes for free for pupils preparing for exams. For many years she attended the Jewish Synagogue in Rochester in what she said, was atonement for her father’s beliefs. She also visited Israel several times.

Speaking in 2011 at her Railway Street, Gillingham home, she said she remembered her father, “fondly and with affection.”

“ He was my father and I loved him.”

Until her late 80’s, every two years she visited her father’s grave in Bohermore New Cemetery, Galway. The journey, normally included taking cleaning materials to scrub the gravestone. Joyce’s body had been interred at Wandsworth prison after his hanging but in 1976, she obtained permission from the British government after a 10 year battle, to have his remains returned to Ireland. Joyce had grown up in the Galway area, although he was born in America. Originally, Mrs Iandolo tried to have her father’s remains, reburied in the Medway Towns.

Mrs Joyce Iandolo was born, 30th July 1928 and died in Gillingham, Kent on the 8th of July 2022. It is thought her family delayed the announcement of her death until her funeral arrangements had been completed.

The pictures used here are copyright.

#Iandolo #Gillingham #Kent #William Joyce #Lord Haw Haw #Jewish Synagogue #Rochester #Bohermore Cemetery #Galway #Vincenzo Iandolo

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