
Remembering William Gilbert, miner and inventor who died on…
Research volunteer, Frank Johnson, has been investigating the story behind the Titanic Memorial window from our collection. Read on to see what he discovered about the life of William Gilbert.
The Titanic Window
This stained-glass window was erected to commemorate the life of William Gilbert, a Cornishman who lost his life during the HMS Titanic disaster of 1912 at the age of 47. The text at the centre of the window reads “Nearer my God to thee” and shows ‘arts and crafts’ design used in stained glasses of this period.
The window was donated to the Museum in 2004 by the current Gilbert family after inheriting it from the Carleen Wesleyan Chapel which closed in the 1990s. Its inscription reads, “In memory of William Gilbert who lost his life in the Titanic Disaster of 1912 aged 47 years.”

The Life of William Gilbert
William Gilbert was born in Breage on 26 July 1864 and baptised on Christmas Day that same year. His family history involved mining on his father’s side – a trade he would continue in adulthood.
Much of his father Thomas Gilbert’s time was spent in Butte, Montana, USA where, like many Cornish people at the time, he had emigrated for work in the booming American mining industry. To make ends meet back home, Gilbert’s mother, Elizabeth Williams, ran a grocery shop which William would later use as a makeshift workshop.
William was one of five children in the Gilbert family – the only other survivors were brother Thomas (to avoid confusion this article will refer to him as Thomas II) and sister Mary. During his youth, he balanced a wheelwright’s apprenticeship under a ‘Mr. Joyce’ with assisting his mother in her shop. By the mid-1880s, the Gilbert family had moved to Carleen – located just north of Breage and nearby Pollardras – at the property of 1 Gilbert Row. This building was commissioned by Thomas Gilbert for his expanding family and still stands today, with extensions and modifications made in later times under the new name Rose-In-Vale.
Following in his father’s footsteps, William emigrated to Montana in 1892 and joined his fellow Cornish miners there. Around this time, he also registered as a Mine Agent at the Lodge of Freemasons in Helston, though the precise date of this registration is unclear. By 1900 he was a citizen of Montana and according to a population survey lived on Park Street in Butte.
By this point, his father had returned to Cornwall to live out his final years and died in 1902. Mary Gilbert also moved to Montana in the new decade, as she appears on a 1910 survey. She ran a boarding house for Cornish immigrants and introduced Cornish pasties to the local community.
William would spend the 1900s working in Montana and making occasional visits to New York City and Cornwall. One such visit to Cornwall occurred in 1912, which coincided with the Titanic’s preparation for her maiden voyage. William chose to take the Titanic as his means of returning to America. He registered a second-class ticket, serial number 30769. Like many second-class and third-class passengers, he went down with the ship and his remains were never recovered.

William Gilbert remembered
William’s story does not end with the Titanic disaster, however. Following the incident certain parties endeavoured to preserve the memory of his life. In Breage, opposite the town’s parish church, lies a family gravestone on which William Gilbert’s name is inscribed among other family members. The inscription reads “With Thomas, Eliza Gilbert. Also of William, their beloved son, who lost his life in the wreck of the Titanic, April 15th 1912, aged 47 years.”

The following month on 8 May, a Gilbert family nephew was born who was named William in his honour (to avoid confusion this article will refer to him as William II) and in later years wrote a publication detailing his recollection of his namesake. In 1913, the Mansion House Fund provided William’s mother with compensation after his death was confirmed.
William II’s testimony asserts that William had a keen interest in electrical engineering and technical drawing and a self-made inventor who registered several patents. An anecdotal story claims that one night he built an electrical motor which vibrated with such intensity that it woke up everyone in the house. He also enjoyed constructing models and even built a violin from scratch.
When in Montana, he attempted to patent some of his creations, though the success of these efforts is unknown. Another of his hobbies was photography, which he was able to indulge in by converting his mother’s grocery storeroom into an impromptu dark room for developing.
William’s personal life has scarce information beyond what is provided in William II’s testimony. It claims that William had never married but enjoyed the company of women and had some form of relationship with Miss Eustace of Ashton – though the depth of which was never disclosed. William did not have any children, though the Gilbert family continued through Thomas II and Mary.
A second mention of his life was provided by Sid Blake, a fellow Cornishman who ran the Cornish Arms Hotel in New York City. William was known to frequent the hotel during his visits to the city and was firm friends with Blake. After the list of Titanic deaths was made public, Blake wrote a column in the now out-of-print Butte Tribune newspaper (succeeded by the Montana Standard) expressing his sadness at the loss of so many fellow countrymen and mentioned William by name.