Of the 2,223 passengers and crew, only 712 were saved when the Titanic crashed into an iceberg on its maiden voyage in the early hours of April 15, 1912.
The Titanic was a British registered ship but it also had an Irish dimension to it. Irish Weather Online has put together a comprehensive list of the Irish souls who lost their lives in the construction of the ship and its tragic sinking.
The massive ship, designed by County Down man Thomas Andrews, was built at Harland and Wolff Shipyards in Belfast. Andrews went down with his ship.
Andrews' mammoth ship was 882 feet long and had a gross tonnage of 45,000 tons. After hitting the iceberg it took just two hours and 40 minutes to sink.
Irish Weather Online's research shows that 110 Irish lost their lives on the Titanic while 54 survived. Another five men died during the construction of the ship at the Belfast shipyard of Harland and Wolff.
Of the victims, 11 men and women were from the town of Addergoole, County Mayo. They were part of a party of 14 who had boarded the ship at Cobh, County Cork. Many of the other passengers were from Ballydesmond and Ballydehob in County Cork as well as Belfast.
Johanna O'Brien Godfrey and her husband Thomas O'Brien, farmers from Pallasgreen, County Limerick, also boarded at Cobh. Sadly, the "Women and Children," first directive with regard to the occupation of lifeboats, meant that Johanna survived while her husband remained on board and died.
Neal McNamee from Donegal and his British wife Eileen had only been married for three months when they lost their lives.
Six members of the Rice family from Athlone, County Westmeath all perished. Margaret and her five children were returning to Spokane, Washington. Her husband had been killed in a railway accident in Washington in 1909 which had prompted Margaret to go home. They were traveling to Washington to start their new life.
One of the luckiest passengers on the Titanic was Father Francis M. Browne. He disembarked at Cobh having captured priceless photos of the maiden voyage. There is also a story about a young engine room worker, John Coffey, who deserted at Cobh.
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Eugene Daly, from Athlone, claimed for months afterward that he had survived the sinking of the Titanic by leaping overboard and clinging to a raft. He claimed it was the thickness of his overcoat that kept him alive in the icy waters.
These are just a few of the stories from the 110 people who lost their lives on board the Titanic. Below find a full list of the Irish who died on that fateful night.
LIST OF THE IRISH WHO LOST THEIR LIVES
Andrews, Thomas Jr. – Comber, Co Down
Barry, Julia – Farranfore, Co Kerry
Beattie, Joseph – 3 Isthmus Street, Belfast
Bittle, Robert – Co Armagh
Blaney, J. – Ballycastle, Co Antrim
Bourke, Catherine – Carrowskehine, Castlehill, Ballina, Co Mayo
Bourke, John – Carrowskehine, Castlehill, Ballina, Co Mayo
Bourke, Mary – Addergoole, Co Mayo
Buckley, Katherine – Ovens, Co Cork
Burke, Jeremiah – Ballinoe, Upper Glanmire, White’s Cross, County Cork
Burns, Mary Delia – Kilmacowan, Knocknahur, Ballysadare, County Sligo
Calderwood, Hugh - 6 Cargill Street, Belfast, Co Antrim
Campbell, William – Belfast, Co Antrim
Canavan Mary – Tonacrick, Co Mayo
Canavan, Patrick – Tonacrick, Co Mayo
Carr, Jane – Castlerock, Aclare, Tobbercurry, County Sligo
Charters, David – Balinalee, Co Longford
Chisholm, Roderick – Belfast, Co Antrim
Colbert, Patrick – Kilconlea, Abeyfeale, Co Limerick
Colley, Edward Pomery (1st Class passenger, died on his 37th birthday) – Co Kildare
Conlon, Thomas Henry – Arvagh, Co Cavan
Connaghton, Michael – Ballymahon, Co Longford.
Connolly, Katherine “Kate” (35) –Bank Place, Tipperary, Co Tipperary
Connors, Patrick - Boherbue, Co Cork
Cunningham, Alfred Fleming – Belfast, Co Antrim
Donohue, Bridget – Cum, Lahardane, Co Mayo
Dooley, Patrick – Patrickswell. Co Limerick
Doyle, Elizabeth - New Ross, Co Wexford
Dwan, Frank – Fourmilewater, County Waterford
Ervine, Albert George – Belfast, Co Antrim
Farrell, James ‘Jim’ – Aghnacliffe, County Longford
Fitzpatrick, Hugh J. – Born in Liverpool but lived at 171 Nelson Street, Belfast, Co Antrim
Fleming, Honora ‘Nora’ – Addergoole, Co Mayo
Flynn, John – Carrowhakin, Clonbur, County Galway
Flynn, James – Cuilkillew, Co Mayo
Foley, Joseph – Mountplummer, Broadford, Co Limerick
Foley, William – Cummen, Donoughmore, County Cork
Fox, Patrick – Mullingar, Co Westmeath
Frost, Anthony Wood – Beflast, Co Antrim
Gallagher, Martin - Currafarry, Co. Galway
Godfrey, Johanna “Hannah” – Pallasgreen, Co Limerick
Graham, Thomas G. – Downpatrick Street, Belfast, Antrim
Hargadon, Catherine “Kate” – Carnamadda, Carraroe, Ballysadare, County Sligo
Hart, Henry - Ballisodare, Co Sligo
Harvey, Herbert Gifford – Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh
Hegarty, Nora - Killavallig, Carrignever, Whitechurch, County Cork
Henry, Delia – Clonown, Athlone, Co Westmeath
Haslin, James – Jonesborough, County Armagh
Horgan, John – Co Cork
Keane, Andrew ‘Andy’ – Ballydehob, Co Cork
Keane, Daniel – Cratloe, Co Clare
Kerney, William – Co Armagh
Kelly, James – Mill Lane, Leixlip, County Kildare
Kiernan, John – Aghnacliffe, Co Longford
Kiernan, Philip – Co Longford
Kilgannon, Thomas – Currafarry, County Galway
Knight, Robert – Belfast, Antrim
Lamb, John Joseph - Woodvicis Cottage, Glenerea, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow
Lane, Patrick – Limerick City, Co Limerick
Lennon, Dennis – Ballymahon, Co Longford
Lennon, Mary – Ballymahon, Co Longford
Leonard, Matthew – Born in USA, reared in Belfast, Co Antrim
Linehan, Michael - Freeholds, Boherboy, Co Cork
Linnane, John – Kildorrery, County Cork
Mahon, Delia – Derrymartin, Co Mayo
Mahon, John – Currowhunane, Curry, Co Sligo
Mangan, Mary – Carrowkehine, Co Mayo
McEvoy (McElroy), Michael – Dublin
McGowan, Katherine – Terry, Massbrook, Co Mayo
McGrady, James – Crossgar, Co Down
McMahon, Martin – Craigbrien, Co Clare
McNamee, Neal – Ruskey, County Donegal
McNeill (often listed as ‘O’Neill’), Bridget – Trien, Co Roscommon
McQuillan, William – 79 Sea View Street, Belfast, Co Antrim
McReynolds, William – Belfast, Co Antrim
Mernagh, Robert - Ballyleigh, Ballywilliam, Co Wexford
Millar, Thomas – Carrickfergus, County Antrim
Moran, Daniel James – Askeaton, Co Limerick
Morrow, Thomas Rowan – Drumlough, Rathfriland, County Down
Myles, Thomas Francis – Brook Lodge, Fermoy, Co Cork
Naughton, Hannah – Donoughmore, Co Cork
O’Brien, Thomas - Pallasgreen, Co Limerick
O’Brien, Timothy [sometimes listed as ‘Denis O’Brien’] – 196 Blarney St, Cork, Co Cork
O’Connor, Maurice - Boherbue, Co Cork
O’Connell, Patrick Denis – Ballydesmond, Co Cork
O’Connor, Patrick – Ballydesmond (Kingwilliamstown), Co Cork
O’Loughlin, Dr William Francis Norman – Tralee, Co Kerry
Parkes, Francis – Belfast, Co Antrim
Peters, Katie – Ballydrehid, Cahir, Co Tipperary
Rice, Margaret – Athlone, Co Westmeath
Rice, Albert – Athlone, Co Westmeath
Rice, Arthur – Athlone, Co Westmeath
Rice, Eric – Athlone, Co Westmeath
Rice, Eugene – Athlone, Co Westmeath
Rice, George Hugh – Athlone, Co Westmeath
Ryan, Patrick – Askeaton, Co Limerick
Sadlier, Matthew – Mohill, Co Leitrim
Scanlan, James – Rathkeale, Co Limerick
Scott, Archibald – 262 Conway Street, Belfast, Co Antrim
Shaughnessy, Patrick – Caltra, Co Galway
Simpson, Dr John Edward – Belfast, Co Antrim
Smyth, Thomas – Caltra, Co Galway
Stevenson, John – Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh
Swann, W – Belfast, Co Antrim
Tobin, Roger – Cahir, Co Tipperary
Turley, Richard – 12 Lettuce Hill, Divis Street, Belfast, Co Antrim
Watson, Ennis Hastings – Belfast, Co Antrim
Williamson, James Bertram – Botanic Road, Dublin
Victims List
KILLED DURING CONSTRUCTION OF TITANIC AT HARLAND AND WOLFF SHIPYARD
(All from Belfast)
Samuel J. Scott, Catch-Boy, 15 years old.
John Kelly, Heater-boy, 19 years old.
William Clarke, Driller, 27 years old.
James Dobbin, Shipwright
Robert James Murphy, Rivet counter
*Originally published in 2011. Updated in April 2024.
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