Rev.
HERBERT LINFORD GWYER, Second Cabin Passenger
[No Picture Provided]
Reverend Herbert Gwyer, 32, was born in 1883 to John Edward Gwyer. Herbert
was then educated at Magdalene College at the University of Cambridge where
he graduated in 1905. The following year he was ordained by the Church
of England to the curacy of Kirkburton.
In 1911 Gwyer went to Canada as a missionary as part of the Railway mission.
On April 15, 1915 he married Margaret Cairns. They lived in Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan, Canada.
On the Lusitania, Archibald Donald mentioned
becoming friends with Gwyer who he said stood tall at 6'4. Donald said
that he and Gwyer used to play bridge with Thornton Jackson and John Wilson
most of the morning and all evening. On the last day, Herbert, Margaret,
Archie, and Lorna Pavey were in the dining room when the ship was struck.
Herbert's own words of the sinking were were:
"We were at dinner when the torpedo struck; there was remarkably little
panic. The boat was listing badly to starboard. I shall never get the crash
of all the crockery from the tables."
Everyone in the dining room knew what had happened and got up from their
seats. Soon afterwards the lights went out. Minor screams and
people stumbling in the darkness ensued. Reverend Gwyer put his hand
on Donald's shoulder and suggested in a calm voice, "Let us quieten the
people."
The two men moved to the door of the dining saloon and yelled at the
top of their voices that everything was going to be all right and there
was no need for panic. Donald and Gwyer didn't really believe what
they were saying, but the crowd calmed down and filed out of the room quickly
in an orderly fashion.
The Gwyers waited until the crowd thinned out before making their way up
the stairs. They had contemplated going to their cabin to get lifebelts
but were afraid of being trapped. Herbert escorted Margaret to a boat
and helped her in along with three women and a baby. In the melée,
he did not realize that as Margaret looked up, she thought the funnels were
going to fall on the lifeboat and climbed back on deck. Herbert, meanwhile,
jumped into the boat and began to row away. He claimed to have seen
the German submarine after the ship sank.
When the deck slipped beneath the water, Margaret began to swim away. She
didn't get very far before Margaret, Harold Taylor and Inspector William
Pierpont were sucked down one of the funnels; however within moments they
were blown out again. Margaret ended up near the boat commandeered by
Charles Lauriat and Leslie Morton
who had thought she was an African from all the soot that covered her and
helped her aboard.
When they were rescued by the Flying Fish, Margaret spied Herbert
who was sobbing over the "loss" of his wife. Another survivor described
the meeting and said that after Gwyer recognized his soot covered wife she
said, "Never mind, we've lost those awful wedding presents ".
To learn more about Gwyer's later career, read "Lusitania: A View
from the Stern" by Michael Poirier in Voyage #41, journal of Titanic
International, <http://www.titanicinternational.org>
Contributor:
Michael Poirier
Judith Tavares
Hildo Thiel
References:
Hickey, Des and Gus Smith. Seven Days to Disaster. G,
P. Putnam's Sons, 1981.
Hoehling, A. A. and Mary Hoehling. The Last Voyage of the Lusitania.
Madison Books, 1956.
The New York Times. Tuesday, 11 May 1915, page 3.
Preston, Diana. Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy. Berkley
Books, 2002.
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