Date of birth: 4th November 1857 Place of birth: Weymouth, Nova Scotia Marital status: Married Age: 54 (in 1912) Spouse: Laleah Abigail Haines Children: Thomas Wayland (1880–1963), William Judson (1885–1948), Lilly Gladys(1887–1959), David Arnold (1889–1954), Hazel Olive (1893–1894), Margherita (1894–1973), Edgar William (1897–1976), Albert Ernest (1902–1984) Crew position: Chief Officer (Carpathia, 1912) Date of death: 21 April 1936 (age 78)
In 1839, Samuel Cunard was awarded the first British transatlantic steamship mail contract, and the next year formed the British and North American Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company in Glasgow with shipowner Sir George Burns together with Robert Napier, the famous Scottish steamship engine designer and builder, to operate the line's four pioneer paddle steamers on the Liverpool–Halifax–Boston route. For most of the next 30 years, Cunard held the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic voyage. However, in the 1870s Cunard fell behind its rivals, the White Star Line and the Inman Line. To meet this competition, in 1879 the firm was reorganised as the Cunard Steamship Company Ltd, to raise capital. In 1919, Cunard relocated its British homeport from Liverpool to Southampton, to better cater for travellers from London.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Chief Officer Thomas Hankinson - Novia Scotia
Freeport on Nova Scotia, Canada, as marked with a red pin (Credit: Google Maps).
Thomas William Hankinson was born on Wednesday the 4th of November 1857 in Freeport, Digby, Nova Scotia, Canada, according to his RNR records (some sources state his place of birth was Weymouth, also in Digby County, Nova Scotia, but part of the mainland ). Freeport is a small working fishing village located in Digby Country on Long Island in the Bay of Fundy, and accessible via a ferry service (freeportnovascotia.ca). The population of Freeport was over 700 according to the 1901 census.Thomas was born to parents David Shook Hankinson (1822–1860) and Mary Hannah (1825–1893, née Clements) and the great grandson of Reuben Hankinson who was an United Empire Loyalist from New Jersey, MA (Encyclopedia Titanica).
His father died when he was only two years old, on the 29th of June 1860, after which his mother remarried in 1863 to George Thurber also of Freeport. There is no record of any siblings from either marriage. But ultimately Hankinson grew up in Freeport where he both learned the sail trade and eventually met his wife Laleah Abigail Haines (1858 - 1944). Perhaps unsurprisingly she was the granddaughter of Bartholomew Haines, another United Empire Loyalist (Encyclopedia Titanica). They were married on the 18th of September 1879 in Freeport, when he was 21 and his wife was 20 years old.
Main Street in Freeport in 1909. (Credit: "Nova Scotia - Memories of Days Gone By" Facebook Group/Gary Merrick).
The Freeport Census of 1881 reveals the birth of his son Thomas Wayland Hankinson, with the family living in Freeport with the 1 one year old child, the members listed as Baptist. The father Thomas is described as a seaman by profession. Their son Thomas Wayland (1880–1963, born 7 Feb 1880) was the first of eight children, the first three of which were all born in Freeport. He was followed by William Judson (born 4 May 1885, 1885–1948) and daughter Lilly Gladys Hankinson(1887–1959) born 22 Sep 1887.
According to the Encyclopedia Titanica entry contributed to by Julian Hankinson, "Thomas William Hankinson commenced his seafaring career in sailing ships belonging to Nova Scotia firms… He frequently sailed up the River Plate and as he was the Captain, often took his wife with him. The 'Squeeze Box' which she played on these trips now belongs to Josephine (Hankinson) Hearne, his granddaughter."
