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Dexter St, Liverpool L8 1UY, Regno Unito
William Alfred Gaskell (3 May 1893 – 15 April 1912) was a RMS Titanic victim. It has been suggested that, with travel partner Joseph Fynney, he was one of the gay passengers aboard the Titanic.[1]
William Alfred Gaskell was born on 3 May 1893, at 20 Dexter Street, Toxteth Park, Lancashire, England, the son of Thomas Harrison Gaskell (1859-1933), a barrel maker and Eliza Brideson (b. 1865).[2]
On the 1911 census Gaskell was described as an apprentice cooper.[2]
Gaskell boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a second class passenger; travelling with him, on the same ticket, was Joseph Fynney, a rubber merchant, 35 years old. People reported that Fynney took great interest in helping the young men circling around him, and his neighbours complained about the late-night visits of these young men. A handsome bachelor, Fynney always brought back to visit his mother in Canada a different man with each trip.[3] Also this time, the purpose of the travel was to visit Fynney's family in Montréal, Québec.[2]
They both died in the sinking and Gaskell's body if recovered, was not identified.[2] He is remembered on his parents' tombstone at Anfield Cemetery in Liverpool.[3]
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