Francis Browne Francis Mary Hegarty Browne MC with Bar French and Belgian " Croix de Guerre " SJ ( 3 January 1880 – 7 July 1960 ) was a distinguished Irish Jesuit and a prolific photographer . His best known photographs are those of the RMS " Titanic " and its passengers and crew taken shortly before its sinking in 1912 . Early life . Francis Browne was born in 1880 in Cork , Ireland , the youngest of the eight children of James Browne and Brigid Browne ( née Hegarty ) . His mother , the daughter of Lord Mayor of Cork James Hegarty , died of puerperal fever eight days after Francis ' s birth . After the death of his father in a swimming accident at Crosshaven on 2 September 1889 , Browne was raised and supported by his uncle , Robert Browne , Bishop of Cloyne , who bought him his first camera shortly before the younger man embarked on a tour of Europe in 1897 . Education . He spent his formative years at Bower Convent , Athlone ( 1888 – 1891 ) , Belvedere College ( 1891 – 1892 ) , Christian Brothers College , Cork ( 1892 – 1893 ) , St . Vincent ' s Castleknock College ( 1893 – 1897 ) where he graduated in 1897 . He then went on the aforementioned tour of Europe , taking the first of his 42 , 000 photographs en voyage . Upon his return to Ireland , Browne joined the Jesuits and spent two years in the novitiate at St Stanislaus College , Tullabeg , County Offaly . He then attended Royal University in Dublin where he was a classmate of James Joyce , who featured him as " Mr Browne the Jesuit " in Finnegans Wake . He then studied theology at the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy in Dublin from 1911 to 1916 . Aboard the " Titanic " . In April 1912 he received a present from his uncle : a ticket for the maiden voyage of RMS " Titanic " from Southampton , England to Queenstown , Ireland , via Cherbourg , France . Browne travelled to Southampton via Liverpool and London , boarding the Titanic on the afternoon of 10 April 1912 . He was booked in cabin no . A37 on the Promenade Deck . Browne took dozens of photographs of life aboard " Titanic " on that day and the next morning ; he shot pictures of the gymnasium , the Marconi room , the first - class dining saloon , his own cabin , and of passengers enjoying walks on the Promenade and Boat decks . He also captured the last known images of many crew and passengers , including Captain Edward J . Smith , gymnasium manager T . W . McCawley , engineer William Parr , Major Archibald Butt , and numerous third - class passengers whose names are unknown . During his voyage on the " Titanic " , Browne was befriended by an American millionaire couple who were seated at his table in the liner ' s first - class dining saloon . They offered to pay his way to New York and back in return for Browne spending the voyage to New York in their company . Browne telegraphed his superior requesting permission , but the reply was an unambiguous " GET OFF THAT SHIP – PROVINCIAL " . By a quirk of fate , the denial probably saved his life as few men in first class survived the sinking . Browne left the " Titanic " when she docked in Queenstown , Ireland and returned to Dublin to continue his theological studies . When the news of the ship ' s sinking reached him , he realised that his photos would be of great interest , and he negotiated their sale to various newspapers and news cartels . They appeared in publications around the world . Browne retained the negatives . His most famous album has been described as the " Titanic Album of Father Browne " . Although many books about the photographs have been published in many languages which describe Browne as a priest , Browne had not yet been ordained at the time he photographed the " Titanic " ; technically , he was still a Jesuit " Scholastic " . Later life . After his ordination as a Roman Catholic priest on 31 July 1915 , he completed his theological studies . In 1916 , the 36 - year - old Browne was sent to Europe to join the Irish Guards as a chaplain . He served with the Guards until the spring of 1920 , including service at the Battle of the Somme and at Locre , Wytschaete , Messines Ridge , Paschendaele , Ypres , Amiens and Arras in Flanders . He was wounded five times during the war , once severely in a gas attack , and was awarded the Military Cross and Bar for his valour in combat . Browne took many photographs during his time in Europe ; one , which he called " Watch on the Rhine " , is considered a classic image of World War I . He assembled a collection of his war photographs in an album named after his most famous photograph and distributed copies to his colleagues in the Guards . After the war Father Browne returned to Ireland . In 1922 he was appointed superior of Gardiner Street Church in Dublin . Ill health dogged him , however , and in 1924 it was thought that he would recover more quickly in warmer climes . He was sent on an extended visit to Australia . He took his camera along , photographing life aboard ship and in Cape Town , South Africa , where he broke his voyage . Browne ' s photographs from Australia covered a cross - section of life in the continent ; he took pictures of farms , ranches , industries , new immigrants , and members of Irish religious orders who lived in Australia . On his way back to Ireland he visited Ceylon , Aden , Suez , Saloniki , Naples , Toulon , Gibraltar , Algeciras , and Lisbon , taking photographs of local life and events at every stop . It is estimated that Browne took over 42 , 000 photographs during his life . Father Browne resumed office as the Superior of St . Xavier ' s Church in Dublin upon his return . In 1929 he was appointed to the Retreats and Mission staff of the Irish Jesuits . His work entailed preaching at missions and religious retreats all over Ireland ; as most of this work was necessarily performed on evenings and Sundays , he had considerable time to indulge in his hobby during the daytime . He took photographs of nearly every parish and town in Ireland , and also photographed much of London and East Anglia during his Church - related travels in England . Francis Browne died in Dublin in 1960 and was buried in the Jesuit plot in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin . His negatives lay forgotten for 25 years after his death ; they were found by chance in 1986 when Father Edward E . O ' Donnell , SJ , discovered them in a large metal trunk , once belonging to Browne , in the Irish Jesuit archives . O ' Donnell brought the negatives to the attention of several publishers : 23 volumes of the photographs have now been published . The features editor of The Sunday Times of London called this " the photographic equivalent to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls " . Many of these books have become best - sellers , the latest being the Centenary Edition of Father Browne ' s Titanic Album , a product of Messenger Publications , Dublin , Ireland . The Irish province of the Society of Jesus , the owner of the negatives pursuant to Father Browne ' s will , engaged photographic restoration specialists David and Edwin Davison to preserve and catalogue the fragile and unstable negatives . The Davisons made copies of every negative and are in the process of transferring every usable image to a digital format for future generations . Father Browne has now become even better known with his appearance ( April , 2012 ) on the commonest Irish postage stamp ( 55 cents ) to mark the centenary of the ill - starred liner , Titanic . This may be viewed on the Irish postal service ' s website , An Post . The twenty - fourth book of his photographs , " Father Browne ' s Kerry " , was produced in Dublin by Messenger Publications in October 2012 .