Hubbry Logo
Frank GoldsmithFrank GoldsmithMain
Open search
Frank Goldsmith
Community hub
Frank Goldsmith
logo
7 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Frank Goldsmith
Frank Goldsmith
Frank Goldsmith
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Francis Benedict Hyam Goldsmith (22 November 1878 – 14 February 1967)[1] was a British Conservative Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1910 to 1918. He served in World War I. In 1918, he moved to France, where he entered the hotel business, building a large portfolio of hotels.

Key Information

Life and career

[edit]

He was born Franck Adolphe Benedict Goldschmidt in 1878 in Frankfurt into the German Jewish Goldschmidt family. He was the son of multi-millionaire Adolphe Benedict Hayum Goldschmidt, who permanently moved to London in 1895,[2] and Alice Emma Moses Merton (1835–1898), daughter of Joseph Benjamin Moses aka Moses Merton. His grandfather was banker Benedict Hayum Salomon Goldschmidt, founder of the B.H. Goldschmidt [de] Bank and consul to the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Frank grew up on his family's 2,500-acre (10 km2) country estate in Cavenham, Suffolk. Educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, he gained an honours degree in law and was called to Bar by the Inner Temple in 1902. He was gazetted a lieutenant in the Suffolk Yeomanry in 1908.[3]

In 1903, he was elected to Westminster City Council, remaining a member for four years. In 1904, he was elected a member of London County Council representing St Pancras South with W. H. H. Gastrell as Municipal Reformers, having defeated both George Bernard Shaw and Sir William Geary, who were standing as Progressives. From 1904 to 1910, Goldsmith was active on many committees showing great interest in education and special schooling, becoming whip of the Municipal Reform Party. He was also involved in many Jewish charities, assisting in the organisations involved in the emigration of Jews from the Russian Empire and became a member of the emigration committee of the Jewish Board of Guardians.

At the January 1910 general election, Goldsmith was elected as Conservative MP for the Stowmarket division of Suffolk,[4] close to his family home of Cavenham Park. Although remaining an MP until 1918, his political career was ended by anti-German hysteria during World War I.[5] During the war he served in Gallipoli and Palestine with the Suffolk Yeomanry, a part of the 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division.[6][7]

After the war Goldsmith moved to France, where he set up a hotel business. He married Marcelle Moullier in June 1929. Goldsmith eventually built up a portfolio of 48 hotels, including the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo, the Carlton in Cannes and the Lotti in Paris. He was director of the Savoy Hotel company for many years and one of the founders of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. He was Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur.

The Carlton, Cannes

He died in Paris on 14 February 1967, leaving a widow and two sons, Edward Goldsmith, an environmentalist and eco-philosopher, and James Goldsmith, businessman and founder of the Euro-sceptic Referendum Party. His grandson, Zac Goldsmith, was a Conservative MP.

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Frank Goldsmith

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Frank John William Goldsmith (19 December 1902 – 27 January 1982) was an English-American survivor of the RMS Titanic disaster, recognized as one of the youngest third-class passengers aboard the ship at nine years of age. Traveling from , , with his parents en route to a new life in the United States, Goldsmith boarded the Titanic on 10 April 1912 under ticket number 363291. His father perished in the sinking on 15 April, but Goldsmith and his mother escaped in lifeboat C and were rescued by the *, arriving in New York on 18 April. The family subsequently settled in Detroit, where Goldsmith worked as a salesman before marrying Victoria Agnes Lawrence in 1926 and fathering three sons. He later operated a photographic supplies store in Mansfield, Ohio, authored technical manuals on aerial photography, and retired in 1973, moving to Orlando, Florida, in 1979. In his later years, Goldsmith contributed firsthand accounts of the Titanic sinking to the Titanic Historical Society, culminating in his posthumously published memoir Echoes in the Night: Memories of a Titanic Survivor (1991), which details his experiences and the enduring psychological impact of the event. He died in Orlando and had his ashes scattered at sea on 15 April 1982, the seventieth anniversary of the disaster.

Early Life

Family and Upbringing

was born on 19 December 1902 in , , , the eldest son of Frank John Goldsmith (born 27 January 1879 in Hadlow, Kent) and Emily Alice Goldsmith (née Brown, born 26 August 1880 in , Kent). His father worked as a machinist, specializing in engineering tasks at firms like Aveling & Porter in nearby Rochester, reflecting the family's reliance on skilled manual trades common in Kent's industrial areas during the . The Goldsmiths resided in modest working-class housing in , a riverside town with a mix of agricultural and light manufacturing economies, where such families navigated periodic employment instability amid Britain's pre-war industrial shifts. Initially an , Goldsmith gained a younger brother, Albert John "Bertie" Goldsmith, born in early 1905, who tragically died of in late 1911 at age six. This loss, compounded by the father's challenges in securing consistent work in Kent's competitive labor market, prompted the family to pursue for improved prospects. Emily's parents and several siblings had relocated to , , around 1910, establishing a familial foothold in America that influenced the Goldsmiths' decision to follow suit, prioritizing relatives' established networks over uncertain local conditions. The choice of third-class passage underscored their pragmatic approach to affordability, as working-class emigrants typically selected the most economical transatlantic options to minimize costs amid financial pressures.

Childhood in England

Frank John William Goldsmith was born on 19 December 1902 in , , , the eldest child of Frank John Goldsmith, an engineer's turner, and Emily Alice Goldsmith (née Brown), who had married in late 1901. The family lived at 22 Hone Street in Strood, within the densely populated area encompassing Rochester and Frindsbury, where local industries including , railways, and provided employment opportunities amid the economic shifts of Edwardian . Goldsmith's childhood followed the pattern common to working-class boys in industrial , marked by limited formal focused on basic and . He attended a local elementary , such as Gordon Children's Academy in , where routines emphasized and preparation for manual trades rather than extended academic pursuits. Daily life blended attendance with unstructured play in the urban environs, household chores, and occasional support for family needs, all under the constraints of modest means in a region grappling with competition from larger manufacturing centers. In early 1905, a , Albert John, was born, but the family endured profound loss when Albert succumbed to in late 1911 at age six, an event reflecting the era's high rates from infectious diseases before widespread and improvements. Goldsmith later offered scant details on these formative years in his recollections, which were dominated by subsequent experiences, highlighting the disaster's enduring psychological imprint on his narrative of personal history.

RMS Titanic Experience

Boarding and Voyage

The Goldsmith family departed from on April 10, 1912, aboard the RMS Titanic as third-class passengers, holding ticket number 363291 at a cost of £20 10s 6d, indicative of their working-class status seeking to America. Nine-year-old traveled with his father, Frank John Goldsmith, a fitter, and his mother, Emily Alice Goldsmith, accompanied by family friend Alfred John Goldsmith, a 15-year-old who shared the ticket and later died in the sinking. The group boarded amid the excitement of the ship's maiden voyage, reflecting the era's widespread trust in advanced shipbuilding practices that rendered ocean liners like the Titanic presumed impervious to catastrophe. Assigned to cabins on E Deck, standard for third-class , the Goldsmiths occupied modest quarters designed for efficiency, featuring bunk beds, washbasins, and limited privacy shared among families or groups, which underscored the utilitarian focus of accommodations for lower-fare emigrants. Frank Sr. reportedly opted to delay initial boarding to secure improved cabin placement within third class, allowing the family a slightly more comfortable setup amid the vessel's vast lower-deck layout. These spaces, while spartan compared to upper classes, provided shelter from the Atlantic crossing and access to communal areas, aligning with the practical expectations of passengers from modest backgrounds. Onboard, the early days of the voyage unfolded routinely for third-class passengers, with Frank Jr. recalling in later accounts the thrill of ship exploration, including ventures into open promenades and interactions with the vessel's scale, which captivated a accustomed to land-bound in , . He engaged in informal games with peers, such as and tag among English-speaking boys in , fostering a sense of adventure during the uneventful outbound leg from via and Queenstown. Meals were served communally in the third-class dining saloons on D Deck, featuring hearty fare like , bread, soups, and stews suited to emigrants' tastes and the ship's provisioning for over 700 travelers, consumed without incident or luxury. The family's experience embodied the pre-collision optimism prevalent among passengers, grounded in the Titanic's touted safety features—including watertight compartments and double-bottom hull—that engineers and promoted as foolproof against routine hazards, fostering unreserved enthusiasm for the transatlantic passage among those without specialized maritime knowledge. No premonitions of peril surfaced in Frank Jr.'s reminiscences, highlighting the causal disconnect between the ship's hyped invulnerability and latent design trade-offs in an age prioritizing speed and capacity over exhaustive risk modeling.

The Sinking

At approximately 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic collided with an along its starboard side after maintaining a speed of about 21 knots through an , despite receiving at least six warnings of ice hazards earlier that evening. Nine-year-old Frank Goldsmith, traveling in third class with his parents, was asleep in his cabin and felt little of the impact, later recalling being awakened by his father who had assessed the situation. Initial crew responses minimized the danger, with some stewards instructing passengers to return to their berths, contributing to delayed evacuations among third-class travelers unfamiliar with the ship's layout. As alarms spread and water began flooding lower decks, chaos ensued among third-class passengers, who encountered physical barriers such as locked gates and steward-directed corridors that funneled them through service areas rather than directly to the boat deck, exacerbating delays compared to first- and second-class access. The Goldsmith family, accompanied by family friends Thomas Theobald and Alfred Rush, navigated upward to the starboard side amid mounting panic, with Goldsmith briefly separated from his mother in the crowd before reuniting. Crew enforced a "women and children first" protocol at lifeboat stations, though implementation varied, and the ship's 20 lifeboats provided capacity for only about 1,178 people against more than 2,200 aboard, a shortfall rooted in regulatory standards that exempted vessels over 10,000 tons from carrying boats for full complement. Goldsmith observed the ship's lights remaining illuminated and the band playing tunes on deck to maintain calm as the bow dipped and passengers rushed for positions, underscoring design overconfidence in watertight compartments that failed to contain flooding from the 300-foot gash. At a gate near the promenade deck, stewards halted the group, applying the priority rule; Goldsmith's father insisted his wife and son proceed for safety, embracing them before urging compliance amid the disorder, while and Rush also deferred places. This class-based and navigational hurdles left many third-class families fragmented, with verifiable accounts confirming disproportionate third-class fatalities tied to these access impediments rather than deliberate confinement.

Survival and Rescue

Goldsmith and his mother reached the starboard boat deck amid the evacuation and were loaded into Collapsible lifeboat C around 2:00 a.m. on April 15, 1912, shortly before the Titanic's final plunge, with his father remaining behind and perishing in the disaster. The collapsible, carrying about 43 people including chairman , was among the last vessels to depart, avoiding any reported transfers due to overcrowding in other boats. Survivors in Collapsible C endured several hours of exposure to sub-zero temperatures and rough seas in the North Atlantic, with Goldsmith, then aged nine, experiencing the cold but emerging without documented major physical injuries. The boat was rescued by the in the early morning hours of April 15, after the liner reached the distress area around 4:00 a.m., providing immediate shelter, food, and blankets to the hypothermic passengers. The Carpathia docked in New York on April 18, 1912, where Goldsmith and his disembarked following routine inspections for survivors, though no quarantine was imposed to the absence of infectious disease risks. Amid press inquiries into the sinking, the pair prioritized reunion with in , emphasizing the confirmed loss of Goldsmith's father over public recounting. Goldsmith displayed immediate psychological reticence, seldom referencing the ordeal in youth and not sharing details publicly until 1966, diverging from more forthcoming survivor testimonies often amplified in contemporary media.

Post-Titanic Life in America

Immigration and Settlement

Following rescue by the on April 18, 1912, Emily Goldsmith and her nine-year-old son Frank arrived in , where they received initial assistance from , including temporary housing and support for their onward journey as penniless immigrants. With Frank Sr. lost in the sinking, the family proceeded directly to , , to join Emily's relatives—maternal grandparents and several aunts and uncles—who had emigrated from around 1910 and established themselves there. This relocation capitalized on existing kinship networks in the industrial hub, bypassing prolonged uncertainty in New York amid the influx of over 700 Titanic survivors straining relief efforts. By 1913, the Goldsmiths had settled in a modest home near the newly constructed Navin Field (later Tiger Stadium), in Detroit's growing working-class neighborhoods, drawn by the city's booming automotive and manufacturing sectors that promised manual labor opportunities for skilled immigrants like the tinsmith-trained Frank Sr., whose unfulfilled plans to open a tool shop underscored their self-reliant ambitions. , a seamstress, managed household stability without evident reliance on extended public aid beyond initial survivor assistance, embodying the era's immigrant of familial resilience and to urban industrial life, where over 100,000 British-born workers integrated into Michigan's factories by the . Frank Jr., thrust into early responsibilities, contributed to family sustenance through odd jobs, reflecting practical rather than dependency on charitable funds, which some third-class survivors pursued more assertively through claims averaging £50–£100 per case but often yielding minimal net support after legal fees. This phase marked no prolonged welfare entanglement or entitlement narratives common among certain Titanic accounts, as the Goldsmiths prioritized integration into Detroit's labor force, with remarrying in to fellow Englishman Harry Illman, enabling further household consolidation amid economic pressures like the 1913–1914 recession that tested immigrant tenacity. Their trajectory highlights causal factors in early 20th-century settlement: pre-existing mitigating isolation, industrial demand absorbing low-skilled entrants, and avoidance of institutional dependency fostering long-term embedding in American society.

Career and Professional Achievements

Following his education in , Goldsmith began his working life at approximately age 17, around , as a stock chaser in an automobile factory, a role involving tracking and managing inventory in the burgeoning automotive sector. He subsequently transitioned to , working for many years as a salesman for a company, or , with records confirming this occupation in the 1940 census while residing at 13224 Wark Avenue in . After the 1940s, Goldsmith relocated from , eventually settling his family in , and establishing a photography supply business, Mansfield Photo Supply, in nearby around 1948. He operated the store, which catered to photographic equipment and arts supplies, reflecting a shift toward entrepreneurship in a niche technical field. In conjunction with this venture, Goldsmith authored several manuals on , drawing on specialized knowledge though without evidence of patented innovations or widespread acclaim. His career demonstrated consistent advancement through practical roles in manufacturing, sales, and ownership, culminating in in 1973 after over five decades of employment across essential industries like automotive production and food distribution during periods of economic expansion and wartime demands. During , his work in civilian sectors such as dairy sales contributed to domestic supply chains, prioritizing reliable output in support of national needs without direct combat involvement.

Family and Personal Relationships

Frank John William Goldsmith married Victoria Agnes Lawrence on September 11, 1926, in , . The couple established a in the United States following their , raising three sons: James, Charles, and a third son whose details are less documented in survivor accounts but confirmed in family records. By the time of Goldsmith's death in 1982, the family had expanded to include 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, indicating a multi-generational lineage that maintained connections across states like and . Goldsmith's personal dynamics with his immediate family emphasized restraint regarding his Titanic experiences, particularly in early years; he shared accounts incrementally, avoiding full recounting of traumatic elements such as his father's death to shield loved ones from distress. This approach, rooted in survivor's guilt—he initially refused to accept his father Frank Sr.'s perishing—fostered a oriented toward forward-looking stability rather than revisiting loss, contrasting potential post-trauma narratives of dysfunction with evidence of enduring familial bonds. Descendants, including grandsons like Thomas Goldsmith, later preserved and disseminated these stories through public talks, underscoring intergenerational transmission without evident familial discord. No records indicate scandals, separations, or interpersonal conflicts in Goldsmith's adult relationships, aligning with a pattern of continuity amid broader 20th-century social changes; his marriage endured until his death, supporting claims of resilience over victimhood in private life.

Later Years and Legacy

Recollections and Writings

Goldsmith's principal documented account of the Titanic disaster is his Echoes in the Night: Memories of a Titanic Survivor, compiled from his personal papers and published posthumously in 1991 by the Titanic Historical Society. The 130-page work offers a firsthand narrative from the viewpoint of a nine-year-old third-class , detailing the voyage's early excitement, the collision's chaos on April 14, , and the evacuation's disorder, including delays in alerting lower decks and insufficient lifeboat drills. It challenges popularized depictions of stoic composure among passengers, recounting instead scenes of panic, inadequate crew coordination, and physical barriers that hindered third-class access to boats, such as locked gates and multilingual communication failures. In rare interviews during the and , Goldsmith reiterated these observations, stressing factual crew shortcomings—like the failure to fully load lifeboats or conduct timely musters—over broader ideological critiques, while noting class-based evacuation priorities that left many passengers underserved despite the ship's 2,208 occupants exceeding lifeboat capacity by over 1,000. As one of the last surviving British male passengers (predeceasing , the final survivor overall, by 27 years), his accounts underscored the disaster's root causes in navigational overconfidence amid known North Atlantic ice hazards, evidenced by ignored warnings from nearby vessels like the , rather than inherent technological flaws in the ship's design. Goldsmith further aided Titanic historiography by donating personal artifacts to the Titanic Historical Society, including unused third-class tickets, embarkation documents, and meal menus that corroborate his descriptions of onboard routines and provisions for 712 third-class passengers. These items, preserved since the April 10, 1912, Southampton departure, provide tangible evidence supporting his emphasis on procedural lapses, such as the underutilization of the ship's 20 lifeboats, which carried only 1,178 people despite ample time post-collision at 11:40 PM. His contributions prioritize empirical survivor testimony, avoiding unsubstantiated speculation and aligning with primary records from the 1912 U.S. and British inquiries.

Death and Memorials

Goldsmith retired from his career in the electrical industry in Detroit, Michigan, before relocating to Orlando, Florida, in 1979. He died at his home there on January 27, 1982, at the age of 79, from a cerebral vascular accident. Following his death, Goldsmith's ashes were scattered over the Atlantic Ocean near the site of the Titanic's wreck on April 15, 1982—the 70th anniversary of the sinking—from a U.S. Coast Guard reconnaissance plane. The ceremony included the release of a wreath in honor of the ship's victims, symbolically reuniting him with his father, who had perished in the disaster. This act served as a primary posthumous memorial, reflecting his enduring connection to the event. As the last surviving British passenger from the Titanic, Goldsmith outlived all other nationals from the who had boarded the vessel, with his death marking the close of direct eyewitness accounts from that cohort. His legacy persists through family-maintained artifacts and participation in commemorative events by descendants, preserving his role as a firsthand empirical source amid ongoing historical interest in the sinking. These elements underscore individual resilience in survivor narratives, distinct from broader interpretive debates.

References

  1. https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/frankie-goldsmith.html
  2. https://books.google.com/books/about/Echoes_in_the_Night.html?id=K1RcHAAACAAJ
  3. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/96C1-R6G/frank-john-william-goldsmith-1902-1982
  4. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Brown-76326
  5. https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/emily-goldsmith.html
  6. https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-victim/frank-goldsmith.html
  7. https://tsatrust.org.uk/news/gordon-childrens-academy-kicks-off-125-year-celebrations-with-popular-founders-day-event/
  8. https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/16/us/titanic-survivor-joins-a-lost-father.html
  9. https://titanic.fandom.com/wiki/Frank_John_William_Goldsmith
  10. https://www.titanicbelfast.com/history-of-titanic/titanic-stories/titanic-food-for-all-classes/
  11. https://chrissyhamlin.blogspot.com/2018/04/women-on-titanic-stories-from-steerage.html
  12. https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/the-titanic-break-up.html
  13. https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2010/04/28/grandson-s-purpose-is-titanic/23625409007/
  14. https://store.titanichistoricalsociety.org/product/titanic-eyewitness-my-story/
  15. https://historycollection.com/titanic-survivors-stories-are-as-dramatic-as-the-sinking/9/
  16. https://alanehunter.com/2025/10/22/immigration-baseball-ptsd-and-the-titanic/
  17. https://www.vintagedetroit.com/titanic-survivor-boy-terrified-navin-field-detroit/
  18. https://www.sigtheatre.org/titanicticket/third-class
  19. https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2012/04/titanic_100th_anniversary_thom.html
  20. https://www.facebook.com/groups/270764112473385/posts/664831749733284/
  21. https://www.times-gazette.com/story/news/2012/03/06/titanic-survivor-s-grandson-to/19137007007/
  22. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16003740-echoes-in-the-night
  23. https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/echoes-in-the-night-memories-of-a-titanic-survivor/13676844/
  24. https://titanichistoricalsociety.org/titanic-menu/
  25. https://titanichistoricalsociety.org/
  26. http://chuckcowdery.blogspot.com/2012/04/my-friend-titanic-survivor.html
  27. https://www.geni.com/people/Frank-Goldsmith/6000000016124033883
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.