Titanic passenger saved three lives but lost his own: Ted’s lifebelt sacrifice was gift of life

HE sacrificed his lifebelt and held her glasses close to his chest as the icy waters drowned his hopes of a new life in America.

With just eight shillings in his pocket, 21-year-old Edward ‘Ted’ Lockyer left his lodgings in Southampton and boarded the Titanic as ticket number 1222.

He made his way to his shared third class cabin and prepared for the journey that would take him from London grocer’s assistant to the metropolis of New York, his friend Mr EJ Robbins and unimagined horizons.

Ted never made it, but his valiant actions ensured that three passengers who could have shared his fate went on to have a life he wouldn’t ever see.

His great niece, Southport resident Sue Williams, discovered his story while researching her late father’s family tree.

Just like the narrative of the recent Hollywood blockbuster, Ted’s eye was caught by a girl.

He and Bristolian Emily Louisa Badman, who had given up her job as a domestic servant to visit her sister in New York, talked and flirted, buoyed by the adventure on offer.

As the huge vessel launched from its final port of call in Queenstown, Ireland, Ted sent his last ever correspondence to his parents.

Dated April 11, 1912, he promised to “write again� and hoped “I shall land all right�.

Three days later, as a fondness grew between Ted and Emily, the Titanic struck the iceberg.

Emily was asleep when disaster befell the virgin voyage, but she soon awoke and dressed, startled by the commotion all around.

She wrote later that at this moment she went completely to pieces, and it was then that her new friend Ted appeared.

A calm head, he helped her into her lifebelt and led her to the relative safety of the lifeboats.

As she was about to board, she handed her spectacles to him for safe-keeping.

Her lifeboat was picked up by the Carpathia at around 6.30am that morning.

Ted wasn’t so lucky.

Another distant relative of both Southport resident Sue Williams and Ted Lockyer described what happened.

John Ades said: “He was in the water with a lifebelt, but he took it off and put it on a woman who had a child in her arms.

“He went under, but the woman and child were saved.

“Every Christmas after that my great aunt and uncle would be sent a little Christmas box of money as a thank you from the family of the woman whose life he saved.�

Emily arrived in New York, married a year later and went on to have three sons and a daughter.

She died on July 17, 1946 after a long period of illness.

Ted’s body was recovered from the sea and among his possessions, alongside his few shillings, some scissors and a silver watch, were the glasses Emily had so faithfully entrusted to him.