Henry Tingle Wilde

Henry Tingle Wilde Jr.
Born	21 September 1872 Walton, Liverpool, England
Died	15 April 1912 (aged 39) RMS Titanic (sunk), Atlantic Ocean
Cause of death	Unconfirmed; body never recovered
Occupation	Ship's Chief Officer
Spouse(s)	Mary Catherine Jones (1898-1910) (her death)
Children	6
Parent(s)	Henry Tingle Wilde Elizabeth Tingle of Loxley, Bradfield

Henry Tingle Wilde (21 September 1872 in Walton, Liverpool, England – 15 April 1912) was the chief officer of the RMS Titanic.

Early life

Henry Wilde was christened at the Loxley Congregational Chapel in Bradfield, Sheffield on 24 October 1872. He was the son of Henry Wilde, an insurance surveyor from Ecclesfield, South Yorkshire. His mother was Elizabeth Tingle of Loxley, Bradfield. Henry went to sea in his teens. He apprenticed with Messrs. James Chambers & Co., Liverpool. His apprenticeship began on 23 October 1889, on board the 1835-ton Greystoke Castle, and concluded four years later on 22 October 1893. From there, he served as third mate aboard the Greystoke Castle, and then moved on to third mate of the 1374-ton Hornsby Castle. His first steamship posting was aboard the S.S. Brunswick in 1895, where he served initially as third mate, then as second mate. In 1896, he transferred to the S.S. Europa and served aboard her as second mate. In July 1897, he joined the White Star Line.

Starting as a junior officer, Wilde rose steadily through the ranks while serving on several White Star ships. These included the Covic, Cufic, Tauric, and Delphic.^[1] Tragedy struck in December 1910 when Wilde's wife and twin sons Archie and Richard died. In August 1911, Wilde became Chief Officer of Titanic's sister, the RMS Olympic, where he served under Titanic's future captain, Edward J. Smith.

Wilde was an officer of the Royal Naval Reserve, where he was commissioned a sub-lieutenant on 26 June 1902.^[2]

Titanic

Wilde was scheduled to leave Southampton on Olympic on 3 April 1912 but was ordered by White Star to remain behind and await orders. It seems likely that Wilde was slated for his own command on a smaller ship, but was assigned as Titanic's Chief Officer at the last minute, possibly at the request of Capt. Smith. This eleventh hour assignment caused the so-called "officer reshuffle", whereby William Murdoch and Charles Lightoller were bumped down a rank to First and Second Officer, respectively, and Second Officer David Blair was removed from the ship entirely. On Titanic's sailing day, 10 April 1912, Wilde reported for duty at 6.00 AM. Around the time of departure, he was assisting Lightoller in the casting-off of mooring ropes and securing of tug lines. After putting to sea, Wilde worked the 2–6 watches.

While on the Titanic, Wilde wrote a letter to his sister in which he mentioned that he had "a queer feeling about the ship."

At 11.40 PM on 14 April, the ship had its encounter with an iceberg. Because Wilde was off-duty at the time, and because he did not survive the night, his movements during the sinking are largely unknown. Immediately after the collision, Wilde moved forward to inspect the forepeak and see the flooding for himself. He then came back to the bridge to make a report just before the carpenter arrived. These two reports seem to have convinced Smith that Titanic was sinking. While Murdoch was in charge of the evacuation of the starboard boats, and Lightoller ,the port side, it appears that Wilde supervised the overall process. He delayed launching the lifeboats, he allowed himself twice to be over-ridden by Lightoller going to Captain Smith, he took charge of filling and lowering the even-numbered lifeboats on the port side and also gave firearms to both Lightoller and First Officer Murdoch. By 1.40 AM, most of the port lifeboats had been lowered, and Wilde moved to the starboard side.

Lightoller in the article he wrote for the Christian Science Journal (Vol. XXX, 10/1912, No. 7), said that “[I] was on my way back on deck again when I heard Wilde say, ‘I am going to put on my life-belt.”

There are conflicting accounts of where Wilde was last seen and what he was doing, one survivor said Wilde was trying to free the collapsible lifeboats A and B from the roof of the Officers' Quarters. Another said that Wilde was smoking a cigarette on the bridge. This account does tie in with an account in the Cornish Post of 2 May 1912 in which reference is made to “Chief Officer H.T. Wilde, who was last seen on the bridge smoking a cigarette.” It further claims that he “waved good-bye to Second Officer Charles Lightoller as the Titanic's bows went under.”

There is evidence to suggest that Wilde swam over to collapsible B before dying from hypothermia. Jack Thayer, a first class passenger who survived aboard collapsible B, reported that “questions and answers were called around — who was on board, and who was lost, or what they had been seen doing? One call that came around was, “Is the chief aboard? ” Whether they meant Mr. Wilde, the chief officer, or the chief engineer, or Capt. Smith, I do not know. I do know that one of the circular life rings from the bridge was there when we got off in the morning. It may be that Capt. Smith was on board with us for a while. Nobody knew where the “Chief ” was”.^[3][4]

Wilde's body was never recovered.

His name is recorded on a family tombstone at Kirkdale Cemetery in Liverpool, marked by an obelisk and gravestone. The inscription simply reads “Also Captain [sic] Henry T. Wilde, RNR Acting Chief Officer Who Met His Death in the SS Titanic Disaster 15th April 1912 aged 38 years. ‘One of Britain’s Heroes’”.

In popular culture

In the 1997 film Titanic, Henry Wilde was portrayed by Mark Lindsay Chapman.

In the 1979 television film S.O.S. Titanic, he was portrayed by Tony Caunter of EastEnders fame.

See also

• Encyclopedia Titanica

References

• Henry Wilde on Titanic-Titanic.com
• Encyclopedia Titanica article on Henry Tingle Wilde

Footnotes

1. Application for Examination for Ex-Masters Certificate, 14 July 1900
2. The London Gazette: no. 27451. p. 4293. 4 July 1902.
3. 17 Year-Old Titanic Survivor’s Story
4. Chief Officer Wilde