Former home of RMS Titanic officer Harold Lowe

What is it? 

Harold Lowe moved back to his hometown of Deganwy in 1931, and bought a property on Deganwy beachfront 

Where is it? 

1 Marine Drive, Deganwy, LL31 9DA 

What’s there? 

The building is still there and is a private property. The house is on Marine Drive, which runs parallel to Deganwy beach 

Facts - 

▪ Harold Godfrey Lowe was born in Bryn Lupus, Deganwy, in 1892. He spent most of his childhood in Harlech and Barmouth. At 14, he ran away from home in Barmouth where he had attended school and enlisted in the Merchant Navy 

▪ The first record of him on a ship is as an ordinary seaman in 1900. He joined the White Star Line in 1911 and was appointed Fifth Officer of the new RMS Titanic the following year. 

▪ He was widely praised afterwards for his courage in returning with a lifeboat to the area where the ship had sunk, where he pulled four men from the water. He then steered the lifeboat to two of the Titanic’s collapsible lifeboats, saving further lives. He was the only Officer to go back for survivors in a lifeboat 

▪ He has been portrayed as a hero in fictional accounts of the disaster including the 1997 film Titanic, in which his part was played by Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd. 

▪ In 1913 he married and settled in Colwyn Bay. He had two children with his wife, Ellen – Florence and Harold. He served with the Royal Naval Reserve during the First World War and rejoined White Star Line in 1919. 

▪ He retired from seafaring in 1931 and moved into 1 Marine Crescent, Deganwy. He pursued his hobbies of boating, fishing and shooting 

▪ after the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 became an Air Raid Precautions warden 

▪ He suffered a stroke in 1942 and died in 1944. His death certificate cited hypertension and “cerebral haemorrhage malaria (chronic)”. He had probably become infected by malaria as a young man sailing around Africa. He is buried in Llandrillo-yn-Rhos churchyard, Rhos on Sea