At the end of A Night to Remember, Walter Lord printed a vicious anonymous letter accusing a Titanic survivor of cowardice, claiming he had been stopped from entering a lifeboat by Major Archibald Butt and later returned dressed in women’s clothing. Lord removed both the sender’s name and the survivor’s name. So who were they? In this Case Note from The Titanic Provenance Files, Damon follows the evidence behind one of the stranger documents in Titanic history. We examine why William Sloper is probably not the unnamed survivor, how Edward Ryan’s story shows the difference between being mistaken for a woman and actually dressing as one, and whether the accusations involving Major Butt may have been assembled from existing Titanic rumors. Most importantly, what does this letter actually prove? Is it evidence that a cowardly act occurred aboard RMS Titanic, or merely evidence that someone accused a survivor of one? The investigation now continues into Walter Lord’s surviving papers at the Caird Library and Archive of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. The letter survives. The accusation survives. The names, for now, do not. Next week, Veronica Hinke joins The Titanic Provenance Files for a considerably more civilized discussion of Titanic food, drink, Edwardian dining, and the Robert Burns cocktail. Here are links to the books mentioned in this Case Note: Day of Infamy by Walter Lord https://amzn.to/4giClqy Miracle at Dunkirk by Walter Lord https://amzn.to/4giClqy At Dawn We Slept by Gordon Prange https://amzn.to/4wUWFVD Miracle at Midway by Gordon Prange https://amzn.to/4x2PhIl A Night to Remember by Walter Lord https://amzn.to/4hHPKuW The Night Lives on by Walter Lord https://amzn.to/4gFnSqc Lastly, here's a copy of the email I sent to the Caird Library and Archive team: Dear Caird Library and Archive team, I am researching an item from Walter Lord’s papers in the Lord-Macquitty Collection for The Titanic Provenance Files, a podcast examining Titanic history through original documents, objects, and other evidence. At the end of A Night to Remember, Lord reproduces in full an accusatory letter that had been written to a male Titanic survivor shortly after the disaster. In the published book, Lord deliberately removes both the name of the correspondent and the name of the survivor who received it. The letter accuses the survivor of attempting to enter a lifeboat, being prevented from doing so by Major Archibald Butt, and later returning dressed in clothing allegedly worn by his wife during the voyage. Lord states that the letter came to him through a descendant of the survivor. I am trying to determine whether the original letter, a copy, or any accompanying correspondence survives among Lord’s research papers at the National Maritime Museum. I have been looking through the catalogue for the Lord-Macquitty Collection, particularly the unpublished Titanic correspondence in LMQ/7, but I have not been able to identify the item from the catalogue descriptions alone. Would you be able to advise: Whether this letter can be identified within the Lord-Macquitty Collection;Its catalogue/reference number, if known;Whether the original archival item retains the names that Lord omitted in A Night to Remember;Whether the item is open to researchers, and if not, the basis or duration of any restriction; andWhether it would be possible to obtain a research scan remotely if access is permitted.I also want to be clear about the purpose of the inquiry. We are not looking to “out” or embarrass the survivor named in the letter. Quite the contrary. One of the conclusions emerging from our research is that male Titanic survivors were very often subjected to accusations of cowardice or of escaping disguised as women simply because they had survived. In several cases, those accusations appear to have had little or no evidentiary basis. Our hope is that identifying the recipient, if the surviving papers allow it, might actually make it possible to examine the accusation more carefully and potentially clear the name of someone who may have carried an unjust stigma for decades. Identifying the sender could be equally important. Knowing who wrote the letter might reveal whether the accusation came from an eyewitness, from someone repeating secondhand gossip, or from a person with a personal, social, political, or professional bias against the survivor. That context could materially change how the letter should be interpreted as historical evidence. My particular research question is therefore not simply “Who was he?” or “Who wrote it?” but whether identifying the people involved would allow us to better understand the provenance of the accusation itself and determine what, if anything, actually happened. I would of course respect any archival, copyright, privacy, or publication restrictions attached to the material. Thank you very much for any guidance you can provide. Even confirmation that the item cannot presently be identified or accessed would be extremely helpful to the research. Best regards, Damon Henrichs Host, The Titanic Provenance Files titanicprovenance.com Submit a Case File: Support the show For show notes, source notes, updates, and future case files, visit https://titanicprovenance.com/ The Titanic Provenance Files is hosted by Damon Henrichs. This podcast explores Titanic history, provenance, public memory, and historical evidence. It is not an appraisal service and does not authenticate or value private artifacts. Because the most interesting question is often not what happened. It’s how we know what happened. 🎙️ Support The Titanic Provenance Files: If you enjoy the show and would like to help support independent research and production, you can contribute here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2627541/support
