Monty Fitzgerald & Henry Higgins

Monty and Henry in 1912. Art by Vairiart

Monty in 1912

## Overview

Montague “Monty” Fitzgerald and Henry Higgins were fictional passengers in Titanic Voyage 2021 played by Slimane and Almaviva respectively. While Monty was a Titanic survivor, Henry was a Carpathia passenger. They later became lovers and spent the rest of their lives together. Monty and Henry also appeared in a number of other roleplay games on Discord and have a dedicated page on Tumblr.

## Before the Titanic

### Monty

Monty Fitzgerald was born on October 15, 1884. to a wealthy and rather large New York family. While he could never complain about his childhood, he thought it was rather dull and welcomed the freedom of school, college and later university. From his teen years, Monty has been very adventurous in many senses of this word, including the matters of love, and for ten years, he’s been living from one party and affair (often questionable) to another. At the same time, he, like his father and grandfather before him, worked as a lawyer prior to the fateful events of April 1912. However, he was an idle fellow who preferred the life of leisure. For that reason, whenever he could, Monty used to pawn off his work on his partners and, being a gay fellow he was, go to have fun elsewhere. Receiving an invitation to an exclusive party or finding a kind of company for the night was often more important to him than winning a court case. Despite this, he was a kind man, albeit rather careless and without any purpose in life.

Being the oldest son, Monty was expected to have a wife, but he himself wasn’t interested in it at all, just because he wasn’t interested in women. His Aunt, however, an old spinster who considered herself an expert in marriage, took matters into her own hands and took Monty to Europe. The official reason for that was to have him meet his relatives in France and England, but the real reason was to find a wife for him. Alas, the Aunt failed. First, Monty, yet again, preferred fun and leisure above anything else, and second, the Aunt, rather graciously, died in one of the mansions they were visiting.

After a short period of mourning, Monty spent a few months in Paris, getting to know different places there, and then finally decided upon returning to New York with a baggage of new experiences. Of course, he chose the most grand ship he could find, and that was the Titanic…

### Henry

Born on November 18, 1871, Henry Higgins was the only son of Henry Higgins Sr., a medical doctor turned compulsive gambler, and Agatha Higgins (née Barstow). From an early age, he developed an interest in accents and dialects and made it a full-time career when he went up to study for a degree in linguistics at the University of Durham and later obtaining his doctorate at Cambridge. His first book, *The Accents and Dialects of the British Isles,* took him ten years of journeying and research across the isles of his homeland, talking to the people and sojourning in anything from a bed and breakfast to a tent in the Highlands. His book attracted the attention of Columbia University in New York which invited him to teach on the academic staff while offering him a chance to work on his next research project, the accents and dialects of New York. In early 1909, he moved to New York, nervous but hopeful at the new adventure which lay ahead.

While his professional life was flourishing, his personal life was not. A closeted man and horrified by the trial of Oscar Wilde which took place while he was at university, Henry was resigned to the prospect of remaining a bachelor for life until his fateful journey aboard the Carpathia in April 1912.

## On board the Titanic and Carpathia

Being an easy-going man, Monty spent the days on board the ship attending different parties and functions and quickly made new acquaintances, although he had also met several passengers prior to boarding, in Paris. Namely, the Sinclair family. Through Sophronie Sinclair, he met her brother Sterling, or Scotty, and got interested in him. Despite being careful enough and spending a little time with Scotty, Monty grew quite fond of him.

Unfortunately, Scotty didn’t get into any of the lifeboats and died in the ocean. Monty, however, managed to get into one of the last collapsible boats and safely made it to the Carpathia. He was devastated to find out that Scotty died, but he promised to keep in touch with the man’s family, including his wife who found enough strength to forgive her late husband’s lover.

In this state, lost and shaken, Monty met Henry Higgins. Henry had been on his way from New York to Fiume to meet his mother, but instead met the love of his life, Monty Fitzgerald, who he first set eyes on in the Carpathia’s 1st Class Dining Saloon. A friendly acquaintance followed and being a kind-hearted, generous man, Henry initially had nothing but the earnest desire to be of support to the devastated young man. But the spark of attraction had taken hold, unbeknownst to him or otherwise, and their paths were to cross often.

## Aftermath

Once the Carpathia docked at New York, Henry, with his command of languages, stayed longer at the pier to help third-class passengers and survivors through immigration in an unfamiliar country. Several of these passengers regularly continued to seek his help for some weeks after, finding him at Columbia University and then later at a local bar when his colleagues began to take notice. It was at this same bar that Henry and Monty found each other again and kindled their relationship which soon became a whirlwind romance. Within a month, they began to live together, eventually in a lovely, cosy house of their own at 416 West 20th Street which they called home for the rest of their lives. On the first day of moving there, they met a stray cat who they adopted and called 'Enery.

Monty and Henry in Maine, summer of 1912. Art by VairiartMonty and Henry drinking tea in Texas, summer of 1912. Art by patronjenuAffected by the disastrous events, Monty wanted to change something in his life. Henry helped him to find a new occupation, and after an eventful and exciting journey across the United States, he became a journalist. He was a columnist in the New York Herald newspaper, writing about a sophisticated cat (based on 'Enery, of course) under an alias Monteen Fitzgerald.

Every year, Monty and Henry would travel together, combining it with research for Henry's book. 1914 saw the publication of Henry’s second book, *The Accents and Dialects of New York*, which they celebrated with much joy and a romantic summer trip to Hawaii. During this voyage, the lovers met Monty's childhood friend Elaine Barclay who, having eloped from an unwanted marriage, was on her way to Australia. The two promised to visit her there one year. But 1914 also saw the outbreak of the Great War which convulsed the lives of so many of their friends and families as well as themselves. Their biggest loss was Elaine who died in June 1918 on board the hospital ship HMHS Llandovery Castle. Monty and Henry never got to visit her on her ranch in Australia, which saddened them to no end.

Exempt from conscription on account of his age and profession, Henry nevertheless asked for an extended leave from Columbia to sign up as an ambulance driver after Monty was sent to the front in 1917 as a result of America joining the war. It was the first time Monty had to part with Henry, which was incredibly difficult for both of them as they couldn't express their feelings openly even in letters and their meetings were scarce. While his partner survived the war unscathed (no doubt due to the legendary Fitzgerald luck), Henry was not as lucky, sustaining a shrapnel wound to his right eye during one of his rounds. Although now needing to wear an eyepatch, Henry treated the loss of his eye with his usual fortitude. *“I only thank whatever higher power that there is up there that it wasn’t you,”* he wrote to Monty during his convalescence. The two men were reunited and returned home to New York at the end of 1918. Ever since then, Monty would always walk on Henry's left to make sure his lover could see him.

After the war, all Monty and Henry wanted was peace and quiet. They'd embark on several journeys, attend cultural events or just stay at their cosy home and fill every day with excitement and something new – and, of course, love. Rejoining Columbia, Henry worked part-time on account of his eye, preferring to help his partner on his book about his experiences on the Titanic which had been postponed due to the outbreak of the war.

Monty and Henry at home. Art by KrokodilenaChristmas of 1912 in Fitz-Higgins household. Art by VairiartHearing word of his mother’s passing in June 1921, Henry travelled with Monty and their cat ‘Enery to London to arrange and attend her funeral. Thus concluded, he and Monty spent some weeks travelling across Europe, sad at the devastation that the war had wrought on the continent but relived some happy pre-war memories in Provence. Missing their house in New York, however, they decide to sail back to America on board the Aquitania.

For many years, Monty and Henry kept discovering new places and things together, meeting new people and their old friends. In the 1930s, knowing a few people in the cinema industry, Monty arranged a few excursions to film sets for Henry who was interested in the new sound technology – which is why they were one of the first to buy a radio for their home, although they still loved to listen to their collection of gramophone records. Some years later, they fulfilled their old dream and opened a little bar for people like them that was also a shelter for some less fortunate patrons.

Ever since beginning to live together, Monty and Henry could call each other husbands in every way possible and would continue to be spouses and trusty friends for the rest of their lives.

*You can follow their story on Tumblr.*

## Trivia

* The English actor and singer Julian Ovenden was used as a faceclaim for Monty.
* Henry's faceclaim is the Australian actor and singer Anthony Warlow.
* Monty and Henry loved giving each other different nicknames, like *fairy kings*, *little cheeky lawyer* (for Monty) or *the ever surprising professor* (for Henry).
* 'Enery, their cat, used to always accompany them in their travels and liked walking on the leash, attracting everyone's attention.
* While Monty was afraid of spiders Henry was afraid of bees. Actually, they were afraid of bees together.