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| Titanic Departing Southampton (by F. G. O. Stuart) |
Irish photographer of the first half of the Twentieth
Century” had the good fortune (or Divine assistance)
to disembark from the Titanic at its last stop before
hitting the iceberg.
His name was Francis “Frank” Browne (or Father
Browne, as his parishioners later called him). When
Browne was just a child, his mother died – and when
Browne was a teen, his father died also. His uncle -
Robert Browne, Bishop of Cloyne - took Frank and
Frank’s siblings under his wing. Titanicphotographs.
com tells us that Frank plus three of his siblings later
entered “religious life.”
While still a secondary-education student, Frank already knew that he wanted to become a Jesuit. Before actually entering the Order, Frank received these two significant gifts from Bishop Browne: a Grand Tour of Europe, and a camera to take with him. This combination
inspired a lifelong love of travel-based photography.
One later gift from Bishop Browne insured Frank’s place in history: “a first-class ticket for the Maiden Voyage of the Titanic to bring him as far as Cobh” (an Irish port that was the Titanic’s last stop before heading across the North Atlantic to New York City).
Frank Browne took one picture after another during his port-to-port sojourn. These photos became a detailed visual record of “life aboard the Titanic.” Neither
they nor he might have survived had he accepted an American couple’s invitation to continue on with them to New York. Browne was so serious about remaining on board that he had wired for permission to do so. Fortunately, such permission was not granted. Browne was told, in no uncertain terms, to “Get Off That Ship------Provincial!”
Browne was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest on July 31, 1915. He
went on to valiantly serve as a chaplain in the Irish Guard, and later preached “at missions and religious retreats all over Ireland.”
Resources
http://www.titanicphotographs.com/
http://fatherbrowne.com/
http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/Titanic-Route-Map-A1514
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Browne
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