The bridegroom who died on the Titanic - 11 days after marrying his true love

Charles Sedgwick is one of the saddest of countless stories to emerge from the disaster in which more than 1,500 people died on April 15, 1912.

‘A man of great promise’

Mr Sedgwick’s story can be told thanks to the painstaking research of Sunderland historian Derek Holcroft.

He discovered that Charles Sedgwick, the son of a Blackpool chemist, was an electrical engineer and was sailing to a new job at an oil refinery in Mexico.

Despite only being relatively young, newspapers had described him as a ‘man of great promise’ and who had been working as one of the charge engineers at the Hylton Road Power Station in Sunderland.

Just 11 days before his death, he had married the love of his life, Miss Adelaide Carrington Aigburth who was from Liverpool.

‘The greatest sympathy is felt for the young widow in her sad bereavement’

They wed in Adelaide’s home town on April 4, before Charles sailed on Titanic within days.

His wife Adelaide was due to sail from Liverpool weeks later to join him in their new life in Mexico.

But disaster struck just four days into the maiden voyage of Titanic which was the largest ocean liner in service at the time. She struck at iceberg at 11.40pm on April 14 and sank more than two hours later.

After the sinking of the Titanic, Mr Sedgwick was reported in newspapers as ‘unaccounted for’.

The Sunderland Daily Echo’s own story of his death read: “The greatest sympathy is felt for the young widow in her sad bereavement.”

‘His wife was to follow him in a month or two from Liverpool’

It added: “The many local friends of Mr C. W. Sedgwick will regret to hear that it is reported he was among the passengers who lost their lives on the Titanic.

“He left the town on April 3rd for Liverpool, where was married the next day. Sedgwick had been appointed electrical engineer for Messrs F. Pearson an oil refinery in Mexico, and was proceeding there on the Titanic.

“His wife was to follow him in a month or two from Liverpool, where, she now is.”

Our thanks to Derek for his contributions. He has provided us with many stories of Sunderland’s past, including;

The Sunderland man who saved Queen Victoria from an assassination attempt.

The Bletchey Park codebreaker.

The Sunderland man who won honours for helping to develop radar.

Tell us if your family had links to the Titanic by emailing [email protected]