William Nutbeam

William Nutbean was a Fireman aboard *Titanic*.

## Contents

* 1Early life
* 2Titanic
* 3Later life
* 4Sources

## Early life

William Nutbean was the son of William Lionel Nutbean and Georgina James, natives of Southampton. He was born in Sherborne, Dorset on September 16, 1881. A further four siblings would follow. Esmerelda, Lionel, Arthur and Amy Ethel.

William Lionel was abusive and mistreated his wife Georgina. Their marriage was not a happy one and they argued about him being away from home till late in the night. One day, when he went too far with hitting her, he was sentenced to jail for 4 months. They would still remain together and later had several incidents with other people, for which they had to go to court.

Their son William soon would lead a life of escalating crime, starting from the age of 8 and he served at least 10 periods in prison as well, mostly for stealing various items and sometimes for assault.

He became friends with another criminal, Anthony Marlow, probably in 1895, as Nutbean was with Marlow’s brother when they were charged for obstruction. William and Anthony continuously caused trouble, and in 1898 they joined the Hants and Isle of Wight Artillery Militia, but they were discharged again before 1901, for terrible behaviour, stealing and disertion, for which they served several short periods in prison.

After their time in the militia, Nutbean and Marlow continued to make the Southampton streets unsafe, and with a group of four, they robbed a man, attacking him with belts in December of 1900.

William married Emily Heard in 1908 but the couple were to remain childless. It seems that William was no longer participating in wrongdoings after his prison sentence following his crime in December 1900. In 1911 he still lived with his mother. What became of Emily Heard is unknown, but it seems she was no longer there at that point, the same could be said of William senior, who must have left his wife Georgina behind. William junior was now 30 years old and worked at the docks.

## *Titanic*

The story of his job on the *Titanic* was just as colourful as his previous exploits. He was 31 years old when he mustered to work on this ship in 1912, transferring from the *Parana* to the *Titanic* on April 6. He was employed as a Fireman, being 31 years old at the time.

On the morning of April 10, the day of *Titanic*’s departure, William was in Southampton drinking with his friend and fellow crew member John Podesta. He would also serve as a Fireman on *Titanic*. Years later, in 1968, Podesta said the pair went to the *Newcastle Hotel* on East Street and then stopped in *The Grapes* on Oxford Street, where they met up with three other crewmates, the Slade brothers; Bertram, Thomas and Alfred and their lodger Alfred Penney.

They left the pub with a few minutes to make the short walk to the ship gangway before departure but as they crossed the docks a train approached. The Slade brothers and their lodger opted to let the train pass while Nutbean and Podesta jumped in front of it. That delay possibly saved their lives. Second Class passenger Lawrence Beesley, who wrote extensively about the ship after the disaster,  recalled seeing a gang of stokers approaching the gangway with their kit bags over their shoulders. The officer at the gangway refused to let them board and despite their protests the ship sailed without them onboard. Those were the guys that didn’t jump in front of the train.

Nutbean and Podesta came off shift from the bowels of the ship on the evening of April 14, and made their way to the Mess to eat. After leaving, Podesta heard the crow's nest inform the bridge of ice ahead. The pair went foreward to look but saw nothing and then they returned to their bunkroom and talked for a while before turning in. After the collision the pair attempted to wake other crewmen before Boatswain Nichols arrived to order men to their boat stations.

On April 15, after midnight, it was clear that the ship was sinking due to her damage from the iceberg, and the captain ordered for evacuation and to prepare the boats.

A good while later, Nutbean assisted in lowering lifeboat 7. At the late stages of the sinking, he and other crewmen were ordered into a lifeboat by First Officer Murdoch, most likely Collapsible D, and were saved.

The *Carpathia* came to the rescuee and picked up *Titanic*'s survivors. Nutbean and Podesta did their best in helping the people on board. *Carpathia* took the survivors to New York. Both Nutbean and Podesta returned to England on the *SS Lapland*.

## Later life

Nutbean continued to work at sea and he would also be honoured for his service in the Merchant Navy during the Great War. He was a seafarer until at least 1931. In 1939 he was living as a lodger in College Street, Southampton and worked as a single general labourer. William passed away on 7 May 1947. He was 65 years old.

## Sources

* https://historicsouthampton.co.uk/nutbean/
* https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/william-nutbean.html