Titanic hero who kept the lights on as doomed line sank

He was given the ominous task of keeping the lights on and the lifeboats working as the doomed Titanic began to sink.

Wigan electrician William Parr bravely kept working in the engine room even as the liner broke in two in April 1912, after it had hit an iceberg.

The 29-year-old new father died alongside more than 1,500 victims as the supposed unsinkable ship sank in the icy Atlantic Ocean.

Parr’s little-known story can now be told after Titanic enthusiast Caroline Heaven uncovered details of his last moments alive.

Mrs Heaven, a retired nurse, found a letter by an engine room worker who told the electrician’s family that he was seen still working below deck to keep the generators working moments before the Titanic sank.

The retired nurse, from the same Hindley Green area of Wigan where Mr Parr was born, has also just bought a cablegram – a message sent via a submarine telegraph cable – for £3,800 at auction where his employers praised his actions.

She said: “He died a hero and saved many lives.”

The RMS Titanic was travelling from Southampton to New York on her maiden voyage when it hit an iceberg about 370 miles (230km) off the coast of Newfoundland on 14 April.

The cruise ship sank in the early hours of the next day, and more than 1,500 people lost their lives.

Parr, who moved to Horwich in Bolton when he was eight, had been employed by the Titanic shipbuilders Harland and Wolff for several years in Belfast.

The new father, whose daughter Dorothea was born just three months before the tragedy, was part of the Titanic’s Guarantee Group.

It was an elite group of trouble-shooting workers who helped build the ship, and worked directly for managing director Thomas Andrews.

Mrs Heaven, 67, said: “He knew the electrics better than anyone on the ship.

“They all travelled as a first-class passenger and that is why his story has not been told.

“The iceberg hit the ship and Thomas Andrews called all the members of the Guarantee Group to his cabin and gave them tasks.

“William was given the task of going down to the engine room to keep the lights on and the lifeboat davits [used to lower them] working, which meant that they could still launch them.

“It was absolutely vital to keep the lights on as the passengers would not have been able to find their way in the dark corridors.

“But he was told: ‘Don’t stay too long’ as it would be a death sentence.”

Her investigations uncovered a letter written by young engine greaser Alfred White, who worked in the engine room, to Parr’s brother-in-law in June 1912.

Mrs Heaven said: “He told Alfred to go up and see what was happening as he knew if Alfred stayed down there, he would die.”

In the letter, which is in London’s Maritime Museum, White told of the terrifying sight that greeted him as he got to the deck.

He wrote: “The sight I saw I can hardly realise it.

“The second funnel was under water and all the boats had left the ship. I could not get back as the boat was sinking fast.

“We did not know they were all at boat stations.”

“I am sure that was where Mr Parr was, and so would I have been if they had not sent me up.”

Mr White had to climb up one of the funnels to try and escape.

Mrs Heaven added: “Alfred knew it would have been a suicide mission to go back down as the ship had broken in two.

“Alfred jumped into the water and survived, but was really poorly with frostbite from the ship and suffered concussion.

“White wrote that Parr was still in the engine room working at 1.40am – which was very close to the sinking time.

“He died as an absolute hero keeping the power on so people could escape in the lifeboats or be rescued.”

Mrs Heaven is convinced Parr’s story was “buried” as it portrayed the Titanic in a bad light.

The mother-of-three said: “Harland and Wolfe did not want it to get out that the ship had broken in two, as it would have been a stain on their reputation.

“Some officers lied about it and were believed.

“Parr really should get the recognition he deserves – it’s sad his story has been forgotten. It certainly wasn’t shown in the Titanic film with Leonardo DiCaprio.”

Mrs Heaven has just bought a cablegram for £3,800 at a Titanic sale at Henry Aldridge and Son Auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire.

The cablegram, thought to have been sent from Titanic’s owners The White Star Line’s offices in New York nine days after the disaster, singled out Mr Parr and other workers “who were below doing their duty”.

As for Mr Parr, his body was never recovered. His wife Gertrude and their three-month-old baby moved from Belfast to her family home in Northwich, Cheshire.